A photoacoustic apparatus includes a light source a supporting member configured to support a receiving element that receives a photoacoustic wave generated through irradiation of a subject with light generated by the light source and that outputs a time-series reception signal a control unit configured to set a plurality of measurement positions at which the supporting member is located when the subject is irradiated with the light at a plurality of timings a moving unit configured to move the supporting member to the plurality of measurement positions a signal data obtaining unit configured to generate reception signal data by reducing a data amount of the time-series reception signal in accordance with a measurement position among the measurement positions, and store the reception signal data and an information obtaining unit configured to obtain information about the subject on the basis of the reception signal data.
