Impossible to escape advertising on iOS, present in the search engine of the App Store for several years. Things will get even more accentuated with sponsored content from the home page…
Advertising continues to invade services and applications! After the social networks – Facebook and Instagram are integrating more and more sponsored content to the detriment of the interests of their users – it is the turn of the manufacturers to give in to the sirens of this source of – comfortable – income. While Glance undertakes to display advertising from the lock screen of the smartphone, Apple is also preparing to add advertising in two new locations of the App Store, its application store, essential on iPhone and iPad..
Announcements from the reception of the App Store
Things happened gradually. Since 2016 in the United States and in 2018 in France, the App Store has included ads, in the form of banners, but only in the Search tab. They take the form of suggestions surrounded by a blue box, in order to distinguish them from simple recommendations. In the search results, Apple systematically places in the first place an advertisement for which the developers have paid in order to obtain the best position. In September 2021, the firm began asking users for permission to enable personalization of sponsored content. Today, it’s taking the next step by integrating advertising from the Today tab – in other words, the homepage – but also into the individual pages of each app, as it announced. on July 29, 2022, through three specialized media – 9to5mac, MacRumors and AppleInsider.
The Today tab is the area you land in every time you log into the App Store. It presents the latest news, best sellers and application suggestions based on those already uploaded to the platform. However, in the coming weeks, the firm plans to place sponsored content to promote an application, or to display a selection of software classified according to a specific theme. They will be identifiable thanks to the presence of a small blue cartridge on the side.
Advertisements will also be present in individual app pages. At the very bottom of the screen, there will be a “You may also like” section to suggest software that the user may like. Of course, the first application offered will be an advertisement paid for by the software publisher. Note, however, that ad buyers will not be able to target the pages on which to display their advertisements.
A somewhat contradictory policy
Since April 2021, Apple has encouraged iPhone and iPad owners to opt out of ad tracking. In May 2022, the firm even deployed an advertising campaign dedicated to privacy on television and on social networks. One of them depicts an auction during which several actors fight to acquire the data of an iPhone user. The addition of advertisements may therefore seem somewhat contradictory, although Apple ensures that these advertisements will respect its standards for the protection of privacy. The giant with the apple explains that “Apple Search Ads gives developers of all sizes the opportunity to grow their business. Like our other advertising offerings, these new ad placements are built on the same basics: they will only contain content from approved App Store product pages and will adhere to the same rigorous standards of confidentiality.” There is therefore a priori nothing to fear on this side, but that does not prevent this decision from impacting users, especially since they are obliged to go through this store to download applications, unlike Android.