I have all three of them on my iPhone (Apple Maps, Google Maps & Waze), but use Apple Maps 99% of the time as I find its UI the most elegant and least cluttered. This way I can concentrate on the road, rather than lots of minute details popping up on both Google and Waze. Also, in my experience, none of the three actively reroute you in France if traffic gets hairy. They all warn me nicely I will be stuck in traffic for an X number of minutes, though. 😉
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Google Maps and Waze Updated With New iPhone and CarPlay Features
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I wonder if this means Waze have finally added the roundabout lane guidance they announced earlier this year. Nothing bugs me more than approaching a roundabout and finding I'm in the wrong lane.
Google Maps gives current speed now, too. Though not sure why anyone would use it, considering there's an actual, far larger, far more accurate speedometer right in front of the driver's face.
And I'm quite certain that's not how Google calculates ETA.
ohhh thank you! I was looking at the settings for maps. Appreciate it
No question that Apple Maps is better aesthetically and provides better lane and turn guidance. It is less likely than Google to route me down a back alley or poorly-maintained road. Apple Maps seems to know about more local road closures than Google. It is far easier to share ETA with someone using Apple Maps (it is impossible from the Google Maps CarPlay interface). Apple Maps announces speed checks, but has stopped displaying their locations on the map in CarPlay, which is annoying.
BUT…
It still lacks the breadth and accuracy of POIs that Google has, it has no crowd-sourced review functionality, it does a terrible job with “near you” suggestions in most places, and submitting changes and corrections to Apple is an exercise in frustration. I submit changes which are easily verifiable, and I’m often asked for a photo (which I usually don’t have), or they will make the change and a month or two later it will revert back to the wrong information (the latter happens frequently with incorrect POI locations on the map.)
Right now, I have three “In Review” updates, one submitted in May and two in June. All of them had documentation, web link to the merchant, or photo submitted, but none of them have been completed. I submitted trailhead parking information for an incorrectly-located parking area which could be clearly verified with Apple Maps’ own satellite view, and it took repeated submissions of the same change to get them to fix it, but they really just added a new POI with the same name and left the incorrectly-located pin still on the map. Frustrating.
By contrast, I routinely submit changes with evidence to Google Maps, and it is infrequent that I am asked for more information. Even when I am, the change is made within a day or two once submitted, which is almost never the case with Apple Maps.
Another huge annoyance of Apple Maps is that if you select a route other than the “best” route and then miss a turn, Maps will reroute you onto the “best” route and ignore your previous selection of the alternate route. This forces me to stop the car, end navigation, ask for directions again and select the alternate that I originally chose.
I’ve tried Waze in the past, but it always seemed to cause the phone to heat up more than the alternatives, and would burn through battery when not charging. Not sure whether things have improved since that experience.
BUT…
It still lacks the breadth and accuracy of POIs that Google has, it has no crowd-sourced review functionality, it does a terrible job with “near you” suggestions in most places, and submitting changes and corrections to Apple is an exercise in frustration. I submit changes which are easily verifiable, and I’m often asked for a photo (which I usually don’t have), or they will make the change and a month or two later it will revert back to the wrong information (the latter happens frequently with incorrect POI locations on the map.)
Right now, I have three “In Review” updates, one submitted in May and two in June. All of them had documentation, web link to the merchant, or photo submitted, but none of them have been completed. I submitted trailhead parking information for an incorrectly-located parking area which could be clearly verified with Apple Maps’ own satellite view, and it took repeated submissions of the same change to get them to fix it, but they really just added a new POI with the same name and left the incorrectly-located pin still on the map. Frustrating.
By contrast, I routinely submit changes with evidence to Google Maps, and it is infrequent that I am asked for more information. Even when I am, the change is made within a day or two once submitted, which is almost never the case with Apple Maps.
Another huge annoyance of Apple Maps is that if you select a route other than the “best” route and then miss a turn, Maps will reroute you onto the “best” route and ignore your previous selection of the alternate route. This forces me to stop the car, end navigation, ask for directions again and select the alternate that I originally chose.
I’ve tried Waze in the past, but it always seemed to cause the phone to heat up more than the alternatives, and would burn through battery when not charging. Not sure whether things have improved since that experience.
Waze is the best when it comes to police presence. Is google maps going to feed data from waze to display more often the police?
I use all three but Waze the most... for the Po-Po mainly. Like how Waze will notify even when using a destination in Apple or Google Maps. The detail in Apple Maps is excellent.
Waze is also superior in removing alerts (e.g. "Is the flooding/police car/pothole/construction still there?"). It's ridiculously easy to tap Y/N depending on what you are seeing.
Waze is also superior for what it doesn't have: distractions. Apple and Google directions show a lot of POI's and eye candy, but if I'm in an area I'm not familiar with, I just want to get to my destination. Once there, then I can see what neat things there are to do/see/eat.
My mind is legitimately blown that anyone could claim Waze has less distractions than Apple. Are we talking about the same apps?
Idk because that's never come up for me, but I would think so. Even if not, does that really need to be suggested?
Maybe they do, but everytime I use them, they show far fewer alerts, ie police, hazards, etc compared to Waze. There is no comparison, unless I am missing something.
Agree to disagree, but compared to the others, Waze has never failed me
Also, unlike the others, Waze allows you to report incidents and other things while you're not navigating whereas Apple Maps and Google Maps require that you actively have a destination in (unless that's changed and I'm mistaken)
Yup, and that's because all of those reports for things like police, lane closures/road work, etc are all user reported
I'm surprised Waze still exists. I'm sure Google will just merge it into the main maps app eventually.
Tried Apple Maps again and it makes the same ridiculous errors. I’m driving on a freeway in Southern California through Orange County. The freeway exit I need to take is closed due to construction. Apple Maps rerouting solution: take a freeway exit 23 miles down the highway (ignoring 15 additional exits along the way), get off the freeway then get back on the freeway, go 23 miles and get off on the exit on the other side of the freeway. Waze solution: get of at the next exit (1 mile) and take a major surface street.
The BIG problem is this is similar to the rerouting issue I had with Apple Maps from last summer. With a different freeway exit closure, only that time Apple Maps wanted me to go 26 miles down the highway. While 23 miles is an improvement to 26 miles, it is still not reliable enough to be depended on. Especially if I’m driving somewhere unfamiliar and I cannot recognize idiotic rerouting recommendations.
The BIG problem is this is similar to the rerouting issue I had with Apple Maps from last summer. With a different freeway exit closure, only that time Apple Maps wanted me to go 26 miles down the highway. While 23 miles is an improvement to 26 miles, it is still not reliable enough to be depended on. Especially if I’m driving somewhere unfamiliar and I cannot recognize idiotic rerouting recommendations.
The difference between Waze and Apple maps is that apple maps does everything for you automatically and Waze is user guided.
I will never forget the one time I was traveling in I-35 near San Marcos, Texas, with the endless construction there is and delays. You can always tell who uses Waze also, because Apple Maps was telling me to wait in traffic and after twenty minutes of standing still with the same ETA, I switched to Waze and lo and behold it suggested an alternate route that took me to the backroads of Texas I wasn’t even sure of For like a good ten minutes.
There was few drivers who followed me through the same route, which is how I know there’s other drivers on the same app but it was amazing to drive around the congested traffic and made me merge back on a cleared area of the highway right driving back to civilization. Waze
Apple Maps might look pretty and refined in certain downtown maps, But aside from Po-Po sightings, I always choose yes when it suggest a faster route. Believe me I’m hesitant also, like I usually choose no, just because I’m confident the traffic’s not that bad, but then I see the road color turn to red and see the real issue why the delay is and regret not choosing the suggested route.
It depends on the vehicle, some manufactures feature complete CarPlay integration, you will get the heads up display notification, Apple Watch feedback, immediate lane suggestion and the usual audible warning if enabled. Waze can be modified to just remind me with sounds that a turn is coming up, but the UI for CarPlay bombards with notification turns every 250 feet when the turn Or exit is less than two miles.
Last edited:
I’m pretty sure the speedometer in your vehicle is not more accurate. In fact, it’s probably less accurate, as most read high.
Um, yes. Why would you pay to use an express lane if you didn’t need to based on traffic conditions? If there is traffic in the regular lanes, I want it to tell me to use the express lane(s).
My experience with apple maps and Waze is that you can enable or disable tolls or express lanes that include HOV, Apple Maps settings are simpler but you can go into nauseating detail in Waze.
As a matter of fact I forgot to disable it on a recent trip and I got hit with two toll fees LOL, that was my bad because I had a car rental recently that had a toll tag in florida. Whoopsies.
apple maps needs to show traffic on surrounding roads like my 20 year old garmin does. that way you can intelligently make your own routing decisions if need be. i'm not sure why it hides this information, it just the color of the road for heavens sake.
it also should have an option to use an offline map but still use live traffic data, instead of the current all or nothing approach.
it also should have an option to use an offline map but still use live traffic data, instead of the current all or nothing approach.
Waze is the only way to get around in New Jersey traffic while staying sane.
I'm unsure if Google Maps is as good, because the potential cost of switching apps is too high. I need the real-time routing around traffic and the indicator of exactly how long -- in minutes -- we can expect to remain in traffic. These two features take much of the stress out of a very popular network of highways.
I'm unsure if Google Maps is as good, because the potential cost of switching apps is too high. I need the real-time routing around traffic and the indicator of exactly how long -- in minutes -- we can expect to remain in traffic. These two features take much of the stress out of a very popular network of highways.
Very good point. Why does Apple Maps and Google Maps require you to have a destination to report incidents? Very poor. Love Waze and will stick with it, until the others handle the alerts like Waze does. It has never failed me either and there are still a ton of people using just based on all the Wazers I see when I use it.
If there’s an accident 8 miles ahead blocking the regular lanes on a highway, it’s good to get a head’s up to use Express Lanes. If traffic is clear ahead, you can stay on regular lanes, especially if it costs more to use express lanes.
I also like that you can see heavy traffic on other roads; Apple Maps only shows traffic on your route.
(Judge for yourself which is simpler. Knowing how a building looks is cool and all, but the images obscure the surface roads.)
Last edited:
Yes, but more people uses waze report to report police presence, objects on road, etc
Google maps users doesn’t seem to care.
I know because i got a ticket while using google maps and noticing after that waze had a police presence reported. Switched to waze after.
Yeah, Apple Maps only has “avoid tolls.” It doesn’t have the same granularity as Waze to do toll, express, HOV, etc.