Apple debuts new business tools for managing presence across email, calls and Tap to Pay | TechCrunch

Apple on Wednesday announced an expanded series of tools that will allow businesses to increase their visibility on Apple’s platforms via its free service, Apple Business Connect. Launched last year, the online portal lets businesses manage their presence across Apple’s 1.5 billion devices in areas like Maps, Siri, Spotlight search, Safari, and Wallet. Now, business owners will be able to integrate their branding into other Apple products, as well, including Mail, Tap to Pay on iPhone, and the Apple Phone app. In addition, Business Connect will open up to all types of businesses, not just those with a physical location, the company says.

Business Connect evolved out of a simpler system that had allowed businesses to manage their listings on Apple Maps, called Apple Business Register. Since the arrival of Business Connect in early 2023, “millions” of places around the world have begun to use the service to customize how their business appears to consumers. This involves the use of place cards, cover photos, logos, business photos, limited-time promotions and incentives known as “Showcases,” and action buttons for things like “order pickup,” or “view menu,” for example.

Businesses can also tap into insights to find out more about how consumers are interacting with their business, including how users came to find the business, and what actions they take once on the business’s place card.

With today’s expansion, Apple will make it possible for any type of business to establish a profile on the system, including businesses that provide services, operate from a home, or businesses that are fully online without a physical location.

In addition, all businesses will be able to further manage their brand’s presence across more Apple apps and features.

Through the dashboard, businesses are able to enter details about their brand, including things like the name, category, logo, and website, and preview how their place card will appear to consumers.

Later this year, this information will also be used to customize how business emails will display in Apple’s Mail app. Instead of the boring gray logo that appears today, the email can display the brand’s name and logo in the inbox. And, when clicking into an email, the brand will have an even larger presence with a colorful header at the top of the screen derived from the brand’s logo, in addition to the business’s name and logo.

This Branded Mail feature arrives alongside the newly redesigned Mail app for iOS 18, which now categorizes email and groups mail by sender. Similar to Gmail, iOS 18 will sort email into tabs, like Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. Apple says it won’t rely on whether or not a business has set up its brand through Business Connect to determine where the mail gets sorted, however.

Brands will undergo a review process after submitting their brand information, Apple says. They’ll also be able to manage multiple emails or branded domains — like marketing emails versus order confirmation emails. Brands can sign up for this option today and their logo will begin displaying to customers later this year.

Tap-to-pay is another area that will now feature the brand’s icon instead of the now generic category icon displayed today. The business’s name will also be customizable so it appears to customers the way the business wants it to during the payment process. With this change, Apple says customers will know when they’re making a payment to a trusted and verified business.

While not arriving until next year, the integration with the Phone app may be the most useful as it will identify calls by featuring the business name, logo and department, helping consumers better determine which calls may be unwanted or spam.

Apple says the features, which include a revamped Business Connect dashboard with contextually aware topics and tips, will become available to “most” businesses worldwide by signing up for Business Connect with an Apple account. They can also manage their location presence at scale through listing management agencies like DAC Group, Rio SEO, SOCi, Uberall, and Yext.

“We’re excited to offer all businesses — including those without a physical location — the ability to create a brand that appears across the Apple apps that over a billion people use every day,” said David Dorn, Apple’s senior director of Internet Software and Services Product, in a statement. “We designed Business Connect to empower businesses to present the best, most accurate information to Apple users. With today’s updates, we’re helping even more businesses reach customers, build trust, and grow,” he added.