Same product, new name, and a few new places your ad can appear.
If you are searching for one and finding the other: they are the same thing. Apple renamed Apple Search Ads to Apple Ads. The auction is the same, the campaign types are the same, your existing campaigns did not move, and every report you were reading still exists.
Most of the internet — including a good deal of Apple's own documentation, and most people talking about it — still says Apple Search Ads. You will see both for years.
"Search Ads" described where the ads were: the App Store search results. That stopped being the whole story as placements were added around the store — the Today tab, the bottom of product pages, the Search tab before anybody types anything. A name that says "search" is wrong about half of them.
| Placement | What triggers it |
|---|---|
| Search results | Somebody typed a query. The one everyone means. |
| Search tab | They opened search and have not typed yet. |
| Today tab | They opened the App Store. No intent expressed at all. |
| Product pages | They are looking at some other app. |
These are not equivalent. A search-results tap comes from somebody who just described what they want; a Today tab impression comes from somebody browsing. Search results is where the intent is, and it is where a small budget should stay.
No. Nothing to migrate, nothing to re-create, no setting to flip. If you learned this as Apple Search Ads, everything you know still applies.
Where it does matter is when you are searching for help: a guide written under either name can be current or ancient, and the name tells you nothing about which. Check whether it mentions placements beyond search results — that dates a page far better than the title does.
Yes. Apple renamed Apple Search Ads to Apple Ads. Same auction, same campaign types, same reports, and existing campaigns were unaffected. Both names still appear widely, including in places Apple has not updated.
Because ads stopped being only in search results. Placements were added across the App Store — the Today tab, product pages, the Search tab before anyone types — and a name saying "search" is wrong about several of them.
No. Nothing to migrate, nothing to re-create, no setting to change. Everything you learned as Apple Search Ads still applies.
Search results. That is where somebody has just typed what they want, so intent is highest and the budget needed to learn is lowest. The browsing placements reach people who have expressed no intent, which is a different and more expensive job.