Provided is a photoacoustic apparatus capable of recognizing variation in reception characteristic among a plurality of receiving elements that detect an acoustic wave in the photoacoustic apparatus, with a simple configuration unique to the photoacoustic apparatus. A photoacoustic apparatus includes a detecting unit including a plurality of receiving elements configured to detect an acoustic wave that is generated when an analyte is irradiated with light; a signal processing unit configured to acquire information about the inside of the analyte from a detected signal acquired from the detecting unit; an optical absorber configured to absorb the irradiation light; and a reception characteristic calculation unit configured to calculate reception characteristic information of the plurality of receiving elements on the basis of detected signals when the plurality of receiving elements receive an acoustic wave that is generated from the optical absorber.