What Are Apple Showcases and Why Do They Matter in Today’s Search?

Apple products are everywhere, with more than 2.35 billion active users worldwide. Apple Maps — pre-installed on every iPhone, iPad, and Mac — is already in your customers’ hands and attracts almost 918 million users each month.

Yet many businesses still focus almost exclusively on showing up on Google, overlooking the visibility they could be gaining on Apple.

That gap matters more than ever. In the age of AI search, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT pull data from across the web, so if your business isn’t present on platforms like Apple Maps, you’re less likely to appear in their recommendations at all.

That’s where Apple Showcases come in: a powerful way for businesses to stand out on Apple Maps, scale their reach, and stay top-of-mind (and top choice) for local searchers.

What Are Apple Showcases?

An Apple Showcase module appears on a business’ Place Card in Apple Maps. Only one Showcase can be live at a time, and it can run for up to 365 days (with a default of 90 days). Using Apple Business Connect — the platform that lets businesses control how they appear on Apple Maps and across the Apple ecosystem — you can easily create Showcases to promote new items, such as:  

• Local deals or limited-time specials
• Upcoming events
• Important brand or location updates
• Mobile app downloads

Businesses use Showcases to stand out from competitors on Apple Maps and strengthen their brand reputation in search — becoming the brand customers choose during local discovery. By keeping their Apple Maps profiles regularly optimized and customer-ready, brands stay relevant, active, and top-of-mind to both new and returning customers.

Take this real world scenario for example:

Imagine you run a frozen custard business and want to boost app downloads so customers can earn rewards for their loyalty (and enjoy some good custard along the way). You could use your Apple Showcase to promote the app directly on your Maps listing.

A few weeks later, you might update the Showcase to highlight your holiday custard flavors, helping maintain your reputation as a reliable, up-to-date, and helpful brand. When customers search for a place to eat on the holiday, your timely, relevant update could be the reason they choose you.  

What Does an Apple Showcase Look Like?

An Apple Showcase is designed to be short, eye-catching, and locally relevant — giving your listing just the right amount of visibility without overwhelming the viewer. Each Showcase includes the following elements:

1. Header

This is your title — limited to 38 characters. Make it count with clear, compelling copy that communicates your offer at a glance.

2. Body

This is where you expand on your offer — in 100 characters or fewer. It’s short, so make every word matter. Stick to plain text (no symbols or emojis) and aim to drive action or interest quickly.

3. Image

Good visuals capture the consumer’s eye, every time. But make sure you keep the visual clean — this means no overlaid text, logos, or unrelated graphics. The image should clearly support your message and follow Apple’s image guidelines.

Use a 1:1 ratio image between 492 x 492 and 4864 x 4864 pixels.

4. Actionable Links

Always include a call to action, so you maximize the conversion and click-through rates of your Showcases. Apple offers Action buttons such as:

• Website
• Call Now
• Get Directions
• Rate Us
• Share This Place

Pro tip: Use UTM links to track how many clicks your Showcase receives.

5. Start and End Date

Through the Uberall platform, you choose when your Showcase goes live and when it ends — or you can simply let it expire after the default 90 days. As mentioned before, only one Showcase can be live per location at a time, and the dates cannot overlap  

Why Should I Post Business Updates on Apple Maps?

The most simple and perhaps most compelling answer to this question right now is that Showcases return an average click-through rate of around 40%. That means that, if done well, your Showcase is likely to attract — and possibly convert — two in five customers, either online or in-store.

Apple Showcases are designed to spark direct communication with local customers and draw attention to time-sensitive offers and events. Here’s why they shouldn’t be left out of your brand marketing strategy.

1. Better Organic Local Search and Engagement

Posting regularly to Apple Maps via Showcases increases customer engagement and drives more actions — from website visits to in-store traffic — especially for customers searching for local deals in the Apple ecosystem.

And the impact doesn’t stop at Maps. Your updates can also surface through Siri and other built-in Apple services on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. As natural language search becomes second nature, with more consumers vocally asking their devices for business recommendations in the area, a solid Showcase strategy gives you a stronger chance of being discovered in those key moments.

2. Superior Performance on Apple Intelligence

Apple’s new Apple Intelligence capabilities are only going to amplify this. It’s designed to deliver smarter, more personalized recommendations across its ecosystem. That means when someone asks Siri, “Where’s the best coffee near me?”, Apple’s AI will deliver answers by prioritizing businesses that are most visible in LLMs.

By publishing consistent, high-quality Showcases, you demonstrate activity and trustworthiness — signals Apple’s AI is more likely to reward with recommending you. And with OpenAI now integrated directly into Apple products, the content in your Showcases won’t just influence Maps results, but also how your business is described in AI-powered answers.

3. Greater Visibility in AI Search

This takes us naturally to what is really on everyone’s mind: We arrive at the power of Apple Showcase posting within the context of AI search.

AI engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity look for updated businesses first, with complete, contextualized, and trustworthy profiles. Your regular Showcases will help you increase your presence in recommendations and search. Especially with Apple’s new OpenAI integration.

The consistency of your brand messaging and positioning across a diverse range of sources has, for this reason, never been so important. If users ask ChatGPT, for example, “Where can I go for good donuts in downtown Manhattan?”, you’ll want to make sure your business not only appears in that list, but also that the description reflects your selling points over competitors, your products, your rating, deals, and any recent updates about that location.

This might come from a mix of sources – what your website says, what Google says, what other websites say – but it also comes from what your listings say. If all your listings, content, reviews on Google and Apple reveal that your offering is the best in the area, LLMs are going to use this to describe you. It’s not enough anymore to change only the content on your website and hope that this is how LLMs will describe you. Apple Maps therefore serves as a critical part of LLMs piecing together this kind of information about your business.

Do You Need Apple Showcases and Google Posts?

The short answer is “Yes.” Search evolves quickly and Apple’s expanded ecosystem is leaning more towards local discovery, so it’s best to focus on building the right online foundation.

Just like any new visibility feature, your success often depends on consistency. If your competitors are leveraging Showcases while your listings stay static, you risk fading into the background. Diversify how you attract customers and make sure your brand appears anywhere your consumers are searching.

Your posts don’t need to be anything flashy — focus on interesting, short, relevant, hyperlocal updates that will repeatedly foster familiarity and trust.

You’re probably thinking (fairly): “Great, another channel to post on and monitor …” But the best location marketing software helps you scale and streamline your posting efforts across multiple channels, to the right profiles at the right time, in just one click.

Uberall’s AI-powered local social management helps you write posts from scratch and analyze your past content to generate engaging, on-brand posts in seconds. In short: whether it’s Google Posts, Apple Showcases, or both, every update becomes an opportunity to connect with your local customers and bring them through your doors.  

Don't Miss Out on What Apple Showcases Can Do for Your Brand

What’s clear in today’s online landscape is that brands will have to connect with customers beyond their website — beyond the Google ecosystem.

Cohesion and clarity across platforms has always mattered a bit. But now, when LLMs are regurgitating your brand story for you — it's never been more important to get your story straight across as many channels as you can.

Apple Showcases gives you a powerful means to reach billions of Apple users and stay top of mind in Apple Maps and top of AI recommendations.