How to get your Apple Ads invoices out of Gmail for your accountant

Short answer: Apple Ads issues an invoice each time it charges a campaign. Apple says that's usually every $500 of spend or every seven days, whichever comes first. That can mean a lot of separate invoices each month. Search your inbox for Apple's invoice emails, save the PDFs, and then check them against Settings › Billing › Invoices in Apple Ads. That list, not your inbox, is the complete record.

Why Apple Ads sends so many invoices

Apple Ads bills per campaign. According to Apple, charges usually occur every US$500 of spend or every seven days, whichever comes first, with a different threshold for some currencies. Campaigns that run in several countries or regions can appear as separate line items or on separate invoices. (Apple Ads help: Understand the billing cycle)

In practice, a small advertiser can end up with many invoices for small amounts, each with its own billing period, and the periods can overlap. Ask your accountant whether they want each invoice or a monthly summary.

The manual way

1. In Gmail, search for Apple's invoice emails. For example: from:apple_ads@email.apple.com subject:"Apple Ads invoice", plus after: and before: for the month. Mind the month boundaries: Apple bills in UTC.
2. Open each email and save the invoice.
3. Put the files in one folder or ZIP for your accountant or your accounting software.
4. Check against Apple. Sign in to Apple Ads, open Settings › Billing, and compare the Invoices list with your files. Anything on that list that isn't in your folder can be downloaded there.

How one BillyBox customer does it

On the day one customer connected their Gmail, they picked out one month's Apple Ads invoices and exported them as a single ZIP, then did the same for another month. They included Apple's weekly App Store Connect analytics emails in the same selection, saved as PDFs of the email.

You don't have to classify anything first: in BillyBox you can select documents and export them straight away.

How it works:

1. Connect your inboxes. Gmail and Outlook connect directly, and other providers work over IMAP where the provider allows it. If your Apple Ads login and your company mail use different addresses, connect both. Starter includes two inboxes.
2. BillyBox keeps the attachment. The Apple Ads invoice emails we've seen carry the invoice as an attached PDF. BillyBox stores that file as it is and reads the vendor, amount, date and billing period from it.
3. Find and select the invoices. You can search across all months, select what you need and export it as a ZIP of the files, with a manifest.csv listing them.
4. Then do the Billing-page check. BillyBox can only find what reached the inboxes you connected.

The other half: App Store income

If you also sell apps, your accountant will probably want to see that income too. Apple's weekly "App Analytics Weekly Summary" email shows a proceeds figure, but it is an analytics summary. It is not Apple's monthly financial report, and it is not a payment record.

The monthly financial reports are in App Store Connect:

• How to get them: open Reports, choose Create Reports, pick the fiscal month, then Download Reports.
• Format: a compressed .gz file containing a tab-delimited text file you can open in a spreadsheet.
• Who can download: you need the Account Holder, Admin or Finance role.
• When: reports follow Apple's fiscal calendar and are only generated for periods with purchases or refunds.
• Email alert: you can ask Apple to email you when each month's reports are available. (App Store Connect Help: Download financial reports)

Payment arrives once your agreements, tax and banking details are in place and your earnings pass the payment threshold. Bank fees can make the deposit differ from the report. (App Store Connect Help: Overview of receiving payments)

Keep the reports in the same folder as that month's Apple Ads invoices. BillyBox doesn't import these report files today.

A suggested monthly checklist (confirm with your accountant)

• Apple Ads invoices for the month, checked against Apple Ads › Settings › Billing › Invoices
• The App Store Connect financial report for the fiscal month, if you sell apps
• The bank deposit for that payout
• Invoices from any other ad networks you use

FAQ

How often does Apple Ads send an invoice?

Apple says each campaign is usually charged every $500 of spend or every seven days, whichever comes first. Each charge appears as an invoice on your Billing page, so several campaigns mean several invoices.

Where can I download all my Apple Ads invoices?

In Apple Ads, open the account menu, then Settings › Billing. The Invoices section lists your invoices for download.

Is the App Analytics weekly email a financial statement?

No. It is a summary of impressions, units and proceeds. For your books, use the monthly financial reports in App Store Connect.

Can BillyBox download invoices from the Apple Ads website?

Not today. BillyBox collects what arrives by email, including the PDFs attached to invoice emails.