Its vs. It's
This is one of the most common mix-ups in everyday writing — an apostrophe changes the meaning entirely.
Its
The possessive form of "it" — shows that something belongs to it. No apostrophe.
- The dog wagged its tail.
- The company updated its policy.
- Every rule has its exception.
It's
A contraction of "it is" or "it has." Always has an apostrophe.
- It's raining outside.
- It's been a long day.
- I think it's going to work.
Why Its and It's get mixed up
This is the one that catches careful writers, because it seems to break a rule they learned correctly: that an apostrophe shows possession, as in the dog's bowl. So it feels as though "the company's profits" should become "it's profits".
It doesn't, because possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe: his, hers, ours, yours, theirs, and its. The apostrophe in it's has a different job. It marks letters left out, exactly as in don't or can't. It's always means "it is" or "it has".
The test is to read the sentence aloud with "it is" in place of the word. If that still makes sense, write it's. If it doesn't, write its.
Common mistakes
The company raised it's prices in March.
✓The company raised its prices in March.
"Raised it is prices" makes no sense. The prices belong to the company, so the possessive: its.
Its been a long week.
✓It's been a long week.
This is "it has been", so it takes the apostrophe.
The app has lost some of it's best features.
✓The app has lost some of its best features.
Possessive again: the features belong to the app.
Quick way to remember
If you can replace it with "it is" or "it has" and the sentence still makes sense, use "it's." Otherwise, use "its."
Questions
Is "its'" ever correct?
No. There is no such word in English. The only two forms are its (belonging to it) and it's (it is, it has).
Why doesn't the possessive take an apostrophe when "John's" does?
Because its is a pronoun, like his and hers, and pronouns already have their own possessive forms. Nouns such as John and company need the apostrophe; pronouns don't.