If you have spent time on your Google Business Profile but never looked at Apple Maps, you are in good company. Most small businesses have not. But every iPhone uses Apple Maps by default when someone asks Siri for directions, taps an address in a message, or searches for a business in the Maps app. If your listing there is missing, out of date or showing an old phone number, those customers get the wrong information.
Apple Business Connect was Apple's free tool for managing that listing. In 2026 Apple brought it together with its other business tools under the name Apple Business, at business.apple.com, and existing Business Connect listings were moved across. The steps below apply whichever name you see.
Why Apple Maps matters for local businesses
- iPhone users who search in the Maps app or ask Siri for a nearby business see Apple Maps results, not Google's.
- Addresses tapped in Messages, Mail and Calendar on an iPhone open in Apple Maps by default.
- Apple Maps listings are built from a mix of data sources. If you do not claim yours, it may carry old or incomplete details.
- Your place card can show photos, hours, a call button and action links such as booking or ordering.
Step by step: claiming your listing
- Go to business.apple.com and sign in with an Apple Account. Use one tied to the business rather than a family member's personal account.
- Register your business as a company or small business when prompted, giving the legal and trading details asked for.
- Search for your business location. If it already appears on Apple Maps, claim it. If it does not, add a new location.
- Confirm the business name, address, phone and category. Use your real trading name with nothing added.
- Verify that you are authorised to manage the business. Apple typically offers a phone call to the business number, and may ask for documents in some cases.
- Once verified, complete the place card fully.
Filling in your place card
| Field | What to enter | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Your trading name as it appears on your sign | No town names or keywords |
| Category | The most specific accurate category, then a few secondary ones | Match what you chose on Google where Apple has an equivalent |
| Hours | Regular hours plus special hours for bank holidays | Update before Christmas and Easter |
| Phone and website | The same number and website as everywhere else | Link to a location page if you have several sites |
| Photos and logo | Your own photos of premises, work and team | A clear cover photo matters most |
| Action links | Book, order, reserve or view menu, where supported | Point to the page that completes the action |
| Showcases | Timely offers or news, where available | Keep them current or leave them off |
Service-area businesses on Apple Maps
Apple Maps is built around places, so it suits businesses with premises customers visit: shops, restaurants, salons, clinics, gyms, garages and offices. If you are a mobile or home-based business, think carefully before adding a location, because a pin on your house invites people to turn up there.
If you do add a home-based business, check how the address will display and whether Apple offers an option that suits a business without a public address at the time you set it up. If there is no suitable option, it can be better to rely on Google, Bing and your website rather than publish your home address on a map.
Action links, photos and ratings
Action links are buttons on your place card that take the customer straight to doing something: booking a table, reserving an appointment, ordering food or viewing a menu. Depending on your category and country, Apple supports links through its partners and, in some cases, links to your own website.
If you take bookings online, this is the most valuable field on the card. Someone who has found you on Apple Maps and taps Book is much further along than someone reading your opening hours. Point the link at the exact booking page, not your home page, and test it on an iPhone to make sure it opens properly.
If you do not take online bookings, a clear call button and accurate hours do the same job. Make sure the phone number on the card is answered during those hours.
Apple's place card gives a lot of room to images, and a listing without your own photos may fall back on whatever imagery Apple has from elsewhere. Upload a cover photo that says immediately what kind of place you are: the shopfront for a shop, the dining room for a restaurant, the treatment room for a clinic, a finished project for a builder with a showroom.
Use your own photos, taken in good light, without text laid over them. Add your logo so the listing is recognisable in search results. Refresh the photos once a year, or whenever the premises change.
Apple Maps shows ratings from Apple users and can also show reviews and photos from third-party providers, depending on the country and category. You cannot directly control those, but the same habits that build Google reviews apply: good service and a consistent request to customers.
Do not try to encourage ratings with incentives. The same UK consumer protection rules on fake and concealed incentivised reviews apply regardless of the platform.
Categories, hours and multiple locations
Apple's category list is its own, not a copy of Google's, so do not assume the same wording exists. Pick the most specific category that genuinely describes the business and add secondary ones only for significant parts of what you do. A café with a small gift corner is a café.
Hours matter more on Apple Maps than many owners realise, because Siri and Maps use them to say whether you are open right now. A customer asking Siri for a pharmacy that is open late will be sent elsewhere if your listing still shows last year's hours. Add special hours for bank holidays and any closures.
Apple Business supports several locations under one company account, and larger organisations can manage locations in bulk or through approved partners. Some point-of-sale and listing management providers now sync directly with Apple, which is useful if you have more than a handful of sites. For two or three locations, adding each one manually is manageable.
Keeping Apple in step with everything else
Apple is one of the three map platforms most of your customers use, alongside Google and Bing. Whenever your hours, phone number, address or website change, update all three the same day, along with your website. Inconsistent details confuse customers and weaken the signals search engines and AI assistants use to describe you accurately.
- Set a reminder a fortnight before each bank holiday to add special hours on Google, Bing and Apple.
- Keep one shared note with your approved name, address, phone, hours and description, and copy from it every time.
- Check your Apple Maps listing from an iPhone every few months, as a customer would see it.
Claiming your Apple Maps listing is another job you can do in under an hour, and it is free. If you would rather have all three map listings set up and kept consistent for you, it is part of our local SEO pack at £49/month.