Understand the
billing cycle

How the billing cycle works

Apple Search Ads campaign charges will usually occur every $500 (U.S.) spent, or every seven days, whichever comes first. When you reach the billing threshold, you’ll receive an email notification at the email address you specified when you set up your payment card. You can also view and download your invoices on the Billing page.

Note that campaigns set up for multiple countries and regions may appear on more than one invoice or as more than one line item on an invoice, depending on the country or region where the ads run and the corresponding Apple billing entity. For example, a campaign that includes France and Japan will appear on invoices from Apple Distribution International Ltd. and iTunes K.K. Advertisers in Russia should receive invoices from Apple Distribution International Ltd. only.

If you’re using Apple Search Ads Advanced, you may want to generate custom reports that break down campaigns by country or region and billing entity to compare with your invoices. When creating custom reports for this purpose, set the time zone to UTC to match your invoice, and use the following:

  • Dimensions: Campaign ID, Campaign Name, Country or Region, Budget Order Number, and Billing Entity

  • Metrics: Spend and Taps

How credit card customers
are charged

The way we charge your account will change to reflect how your budget is being spent in each region.

Multiple charges may appear because they’re itemized to show each legal entity where ads appeared, usually every $500 (U.S.) or seven days.

For example, if you’re based in Australia but run a campaign in the U.S. and UK, the charges will be itemized on your billing summary to show every country and region where your ads appeared. Depending on where your ads run, you may see up to five separate charges on your billing summary at one time, but they shouldn't exceed your $500 (U.S.) threshold. Advertisers in Russia should receive invoices from Apple Distribution International Ltd. only.

Please note that if you plan to run ads on the App Store in multiple countries and regions, you should notify your credit card company or debit card issuer to ensure that there won’t be any issues processing foreign transactions.

How paused app promotions and campaigns
affect billing

Pausing app promotions or campaigns doesn’t delete your account or payment card information. The payment information you added to your account remains secure while your app promotions or campaigns are paused, and won’t be charged until they’re reactivated.

How to review your
transaction history

If you pay by credit or debit card, you can review transaction details anytime. Here’s how:

  1. Sign in to your account.
  2. Click your account name at the top right of the page.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Go to the Billing page.
  5. Go to the Invoices section of the page.
  6. Click the specific invoice you’d like to see.

If you’re using Apple Search Ads Advanced, you’ll see a list of transactions identifying the campaign and campaign ID the transactions occurred under, along with the number of taps received and the amount billed to your account. You can also monitor other financial metrics such as ad group spend and average CPA in your Campaigns dashboard and in the Charts dashboard.

If you’re using Apple Search Ads Basic, you’ll see an invoice that includes the transaction period, campaign ID, campaign name, countries and regions, number of installs, and charges.

Note that the amount on your credit card invoice may differ slightly from your online transaction totals. This is because your credit card is billed according to UTC, while your account uses your selected time zone. To review your Apple Search Ads Advanced account in the same time zone as your billing history:

  1. Go to the Charts dashboard for the campaign you want to view.
  2. Select UTC in the time zone menu in the footer.

Your chosen date range may change slightly to reflect UTC time differences. The search terms, age, gender, and location reports are not viewable in UTC.