Brand Creation — Unverified status

Overview

This page covers the brand creation process for organizations that have not yet completed verification, the constraints that apply before and after phone verification, and what changes when document verification is approved.

Business Owner Organization Onboarding

Business owners are not required to complete organization verification before accessing Apple Business features, though some features are unavailable and others have limited capabilities until verification is complete. After signing the Terms of Use and providing organization details, the organization is created in an unverified status. Brand creation is available immediately.

note

Agency organizations follow a different path and must complete verification during onboarding before portal access is granted. The constraints described in this document do not apply to agencies.

The unverified status persists until the business owner initiates a verification action — either a phone-based location verification or an organization document submission.

Brand Creation Process

With the organization unverified, the business owner can create brands and begin configuring some features immediately. Features configured at this stage will not be published until verification is completed — see Feature Constraints by Verification Stage.

1. Create a brand. Provide a brand name, primary category, country, and website. The brand is created immediately and available for configuration.

2. Add a logo. Upload a logo image. The logo will be manually reviewed before it is published and cascades to associated locations.

3. Add a cover photo. Upload a cover photo. Passes through the same media pipeline as the logo. Unlike the logo, the cover photo does not require manual review and publishes as soon as the image is validated.

4. Add a location. Search for and select a location. The location is created but is not yet published. It requires individual verification before it can go live.

5. Verify the location by phone. The business owner calls to verify the location. On success, the location is approved and published. The brand is now phone-verified.

6. Add Business Caller ID (optional). Business Caller ID (BCID) can be configured at any point after brand creation. The configuration is held and will not publish until full organization verification is approved.

note

Verification can also be initiated via document submission at any point after Step 1. Submitting organization documents transitions the organization to IN_REVIEW and the brand to IN_REVIEW. Steps 2–6 can continue in parallel while the review is in progress. See Feature Constraints by Verification Stage for how document approval affects brand status and feature availability.

Feature Constraints by Verification Stage

A brand transitions through up to three stages depending on the verification actions taken. The features available to the organization differ at each stage.

Before Verification

The brand has been created but no verification action has been taken. Features can be configured but publishing is restricted.

Brand created and available for configuration
Logo and cover photo can be uploaded and enter the media pipeline
Logo requires Apple Business review before it is published to Apple Maps
Locations can be created
Locations are not published — each requires individual phone verification Branded Mail is not available — requires an ACTIVE brand with a published logo

Business Caller ID (BCID) can be configured but is not published

After Phone Verification

At least one location has been verified by phone. The brand and its assets are partially active, but organization-level features remain locked.

Logo published after Apple Business review; cascades to all associated locations
Cover photo published without Apple Business review; cascades to all associated locations
Additional locations can be added, each requiring individual phone verification Branded Mail is still not available — ACTIVE brand required

BCID is still not published — full organization approval required

After Document Verification (ACTIVE)

Organization document verification has been approved. Features are unlocked.

BCID published

Branded Mail available, subject to Apple Business review
New locations can publish without additional verification
If the brand had prior phone-verified locations, new locations are checked against the brand's category and website domain. If either condition is not met, the location is held for Apple Business review before publishing.
If the brand had no prior phone-verified locations, all new locations publish automatically.