Apple Business Connect: Claim and Optimise Your Apple Maps Listing

Roughly half of UK smartphones are iPhones, and on an iPhone the default map — the one Siri uses, the one CarPlay shows, the one that opens when someone taps an address in Messages — is Apple Maps, not Google. Apple Business Connect is the free tool for controlling what Apple Maps says about your business. Most UK businesses have never opened it, which is why the listing is so often wrong.

Why it matters

• Directions. A customer who asks Siri for directions to you is sent to Apple's pin. If it is 200 metres off, they arrive at the wrong door.
• Discovery. "Plumber near me" in Apple Maps returns Apple's listings, ranked on Apple's data. No Google Business Profile involved.
• Citations. Apple's data feeds and is fed by other sources. A wrong Apple listing propagates.
• AI. Siri and Apple Intelligence draw on Business Connect data when answering questions about local businesses.

Claim the listing

1. Go to businessconnect.apple.com and sign in with an Apple ID (create one for the business if needed — do not use a personal one that could leave with an employee).
2. Search for your business. If it exists, claim it; if not, add it.
3. Verify. Apple usually verifies by phone call to the listed number, sometimes by document upload or postcard. Have Companies House or a utility bill ready.

Fix the fundamentals

• Name, address, phone — identical to your Google Business Profile, character for character.
• Pin position — drag it onto the building entrance. Apple's pins are frequently on the road centreline or the wrong side of the street.
• Category — Apple's category list is different from Google's and shorter. Choose the closest; add secondary categories where offered.
• Hours — including special hours. Apple shows "Closed" prominently.
• Website and booking links — Apple supports "Actions": order, reserve, book, with links to your booking system or delivery platform.

Optimise

• Photos and logo. Apple shows a cover photo, a logo and a gallery. Upload the same strong set you use on Google.
• Showcases. Apple's equivalent of posts — offers and announcements that appear on the place card for a set period.
• Description. A short "About" field. Plain English, what and where.
• Reviews. Apple Maps in the UK shows ratings via thumbs up/down and pulls reviews from partners (Yelp, TripAdvisor, Booking.com depending on category). You cannot manage them in Business Connect, but keeping those partner listings accurate matters.

Multi-location

Business Connect supports bulk management: add locations via spreadsheet, apply shared branding and hours templates, and manage all pins in one account. The same discipline as Google — one listing per real location, branch-specific data — applies.

Service-area businesses

Apple has weaker support for hidden addresses than Google. You can list the business and set the address as not visible in some categories, but coverage of service areas is limited. For most SABs, claiming the listing with the base address hidden (where possible) and the phone and website correct is the realistic goal.

Maintenance

Apple accepts edits from users and from data partners, so the listing drifts. Check it quarterly alongside Google and Bing, and update it the same day as the others whenever the phone, hours or address change.

Apple Business Connect is in the Tier 1 sources we set up for every client — see the UK citation list — and the pin position is one of the things we check in every citation audit.

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