Apple Maps simply obtained a giant enhance, and it’d get me to delete Google Maps

You may not bear in mind, however when Apple Maps first launched with iOS 6, changing Google Maps on iPhones, it was a catastrophe. Past missing many options Google customers took without any consideration, its protection was restricted. Typically that protection was inaccurate and even harmful — one story I vividly bear in mind reporting on concerned Australian drivers ending up stranded within the Outback. They needed to be rescued, which is perhaps essentially the most damning evaluate you would ever give an app.

I and lots of others largely averted Apple Maps for a very long time after that. I might dip into it sometimes to examine its progress, however then swap again to Google (or perhaps Waze) virtually instantly. The software program did shortly transfer previous its “disastrous” part, however there was no compelling purpose to drop Google, particularly for those who have been touring internationally or had a whole lot of bookmarked addresses. It’s best to see my bookmarks for Austin — the town is virtually smothered in stars.

Because the launch of iOS 26, I’ve discovered myself not solely utilizing Apple Maps much more, however toying with making it my default navigation app. That is not assured at this stage for a couple of causes, however Apple has made sufficient developments to at the very least ponder the concept.

What’s so particular about Apple Maps in iOS 26?

Figuing out the way you really drive

Strictly talking, there aren’t that many adjustments. Some persons are keen on the brand new Visited Locations characteristic, which borrows a cue from the Google Maps Timeline in letting you see the place you have been through the years. I do not discover both software notably helpful exterior of nostalgia — it is not like I am touring so usually that I am forgetting the very best locations to go to in Ottawa or Osaka.

There’s larger potential within the app’s new Apple Intelligence-based Siri searches, since I may hypothetically ask one thing like “discover BBQ eating places with free Wi-FI” and get significant outcomes. In apply, although, I hardly ever have an curiosity in looking out that method. I am both headed to a particular deal with — the health club, the airport, the physician, and so forth. — or I am content material to make use of the app’s fundamental filter buttons and browse for one thing shut by. Proximity normally reigns supreme, and when it would not, there’s much more to research than fundamental classes, facilities, or scores.

The factor that is caught my consideration with iOS 26 is a characteristic known as Most well-liked Routes. Apple Maps has lengthy been capable of predict the place you will be headed at a given time. The iOS 26 model of the app can’t solely warn you to related delays, however recommend the route you’ll usually, really take as one among your navigation choices.

That may not seem to be a giant deal. In lots of instances, it will not be — it’s a must to drive the identical route for some time for Maps to choose up on it, and your regular route will usually align with different suggestions anyway. We have all had these moments, nevertheless, when an app’s generic routes do not acknowledge the realities of the place they’re taking you. A left flip would possibly cross a highway that hardly has sufficient openings to make it safely — a backroad, in the meantime, may very well be in such dangerous form that it will injury your tires or windshield. In Austin, the place I used to stay, folks usually keep away from I35 or MoPac if in any respect attainable, regardless of these being the very best selections on paper. Most well-liked Routes ought to mean you can navigate with out being nudged into these kinds of traps.

There is not any equal of this characteristic in Google Maps but. It ought to be attainable, since it is not too arduous to extrapolate from Timeline knowledge. Till then, although, Most well-liked Routes may doubtlessly be a game-changing benefit for me and others. I am not making any agency conclusions till I’ve had some extra time behind the wheel.

The affect of cumulative upgrades

Laborious work is lastly paying off

Credit score: Apple

Returning to Apple Maps has jogged my memory of different issues the app has performed higher for some time. Maybe my favourite is its extra detailed voice directions. As a substitute of simply saying one thing like “in 400 meters, flip proper,” Siri will reference real-world markers, for instance turning that final immediate into “after the cease signal, flip proper” or “on the subsequent set of lights, flip proper.” I do not learn about you, however I discover uncooked distance figures meaningless in metropolis driving — I get extra out of watching how shut my arrow icon is to an upcoming flip.

Apple Maps can be intently built-in with the Apple Watch. When a flip is arising, my wrist vibrates. Instructions will proceed to show on the Watch if I get out of the automobile and I am nonetheless a ways away, and watchOS 26 may even spotlight close by Maps locations on its Waypoint watchface, no matter whether or not you will have the app open. None of that is truthful to Google, which does not have the identical stage of system entry, but it surely’s a bonus however.

The place issues aren’t higher, they at the very least really feel (largely) on par with Google Maps. Each apps have fairly thorough protection of Edmonton, the place I presently stay, together with 3D buildings and fundamental enterprise data. In addition they share incident reporting, and the flexibility to route you round main visitors delays. Neither is absolutely dependable on the subject of highlighting close by bike trails, which issues rather a lot to me now that I am riding my EUC additional away from house.

The pull of Google Maps

Why switching might not be attainable but

Credit score: Rivian

The largest downside of Apple Maps is its exclusivity. Whereas it has a beta internet interface, it is a pale shadow of each Google Maps and the model for Apple units — you possibly can’t even log in your Apple Account — and there isn’t any native Android app to talk of. That makes planning far much less handy than it’s with Google Maps, and sharing largely pointless except the individual you are sending a hyperlink to can be an iPhone proprietor. Should you dare to change away from Apple merchandise, your bookmarks will not carry over. From a flexibility standpoint, it is very arduous to justify switching away from Google Maps completely.

Apple additionally tends to path behind Google on the subject of bringing options to extra international locations. Whereas it is unusual to discover a place the place Google Avenue View would not work, the Apple equal (Look Round) is not even obtainable in each main US metropolis, not to mention with the ability to rely on it for a visit to Mexico or Jamaica. Typically, Apple’s priorities are weird. I am unable to get augmented actuality strolling instructions in Edmonton, a significant Canadian metropolis, however I can get them in Wigan or Southend-on-Sea within the UK.

The additional enterprise particulars Google collects could make a giant distinction, too. I can virtually all the time rely on a Google restaurant itemizing having a menu obtainable, whereas Apple boots you to third-party web sites or apps. Google location pages additionally are likely to show exercise ranges and customer opinions. Wrapping these items collectively, it is arduous to disregard how rather more helpful Google Maps is for making a choice. It is routinely my software of alternative for planning any trip. At greatest, I’d flip to Apple Maps for turn-by-turn strolling instructions after I land.

I will hold maining Apple Maps for a short while longer, at the very least. However in the long run, I feel Apple goes to must make some strategic enhancements to win me over fully.