This is the second time this week I’ve seen a MacRumors writer jump in to “defend” their work - something I have not noticed before. When did this shift happen and become okay?
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iOS 18.4 Adds a Highly-Requested Setting to iPhones — But Not in U.S.
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Well, sort of. In some cases the name to location mapping will come from outside the navigation app, e.g. if you say "directions to the nearest supermarket" then Siri itself may attempt to resolve that based on your current location, because the integration point doesn't let you say "supermarket near me", but addresses and coordinates.
If you are not just trying to express a preference or corporate loyalty, but if instead Apple Maps just doesn't have a good dataset in your region - it hypothetically may still have issues that carry forward to all navigation apps.
But we'll just have to see where it lands. That page (which went up a few days ago) is insufficient, and the only public-facing doc on the internet. I suspect we'll see more soon, maybe next week.
Yeah, I'll be honest, having Google Maps call out turn by turn in a parking center, falling over a minute behind on robotic voice callouts, is the closest I've ever come to throwing my phone out the window while driving out of frustration. I'm not sure whether Apple Maps has good enough data in every region, though.
Many sites do this and tactically it makes sense. However, strategically I wonder if this is a bad idea.
A unique aspect compared to other sites is that you are forum heavy; this helps even more as services acting as news aggregators are taking away direct engagement across the industry, and thus sites like yours are being insulated from loyal readers (and a big portion of ad revenue.)
The impressions for a site like macrumors should come from positive user engagement, and not merely drumming up extra page loads via vague article titles.
I only use Apple Maps, Google doesn’t need to know where ai go when I drive, I’m not going to make it easy for them anyway
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update introduces an option to set a default navigation app, other than Apple Maps, but unfortunately this new setting is limited to users in the EU.
But I’m in the US (no funky region changing involved) and when I ask Siri for directions home it uses Waze, which I remember setting up years ago.
I guess I need to dig into how I did that, but there must at least be some ability to “default” to other apps? If there is, that should probably be included in the article for clarification.
Is your phones “region” set differently?
I’m with you on this “not in the US” thing needing clarifying. I don’t doubt that the EU is getting something the US doesn’t (yet) have, but it’s not that the US iPhones *only ever* default to Apple Maps.
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Sounds like Apple Maps since they don’t seem to know about roads built or changed in the last decade or so.
Apple are happily raking in billions of dollars 💸 every year for funnelling user’s search queries (and data) to Google.
The are being paid off by Google to make it the default search engine.
It’s choice that allows you to choose a non-Google search engine in Safari.
And choice that allows you to install an internet browser that does not default to using Google as a search engine.
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*in your experience.
I’m curious, where is this road? And did you submit a change? Low traffic roads sometimes need to be pointed out by someone, which is why every map software has an easy to access feedback system.
It was in a suburb outside Stockholm where the roads at that time had been built around 5 years earlier.
No I don’t submit anything to Apple, I tried that once when they still listed a restaurant that had closed 4 years earlier and it got denied (after 6 months) and then it stayed unchanged for another 2 years or so. That showed they weren’t interested in improving their low quality data, I went back to using Google Maps instead.
But I did check my nearby area when this thread came up and there are still plenty of things missing like 30% of the restaurants opened in the last 4 months missing and so on (all of them are on Google Maps). And this is in the center of Stockholm so there’s plenty of people around.
It’s Google who I find a year behind Apple Maps in most cases on road developments. I live in one of the fastest growing parts of the US and Apple Maps always has new roads before Google does. And it’s not me just leaving feedback for one or the other. I do both. Google is just slower to approve and update.
That is how they pay to keep improving their maps app. Either way is at the bottom of the app so its barely noticeable.
I don't worry about this because here in the USA, Apple Maps in iOS 18.x versions are actually excellent. I've never had any trouble navigating around northern and central California using Apple Maps.
It's Apple who chose to "fracture" iOS by limiting this setting option to the EU.
Apple fractures other products/markets too e.g., they fracture the browser market by not allowing non-WebKit browsers engines on iOS/iPadOS as they are on other platforms. Any time Apple or another company limits or restricts certain features/capabilities or alternatives on their products they are fracturing products/markets.
It’s the EU who forced Apple to fracture iOS, by forcing a business model change.
That’s an incorrect opinion.
A generalized puff type of statement.
The EU requires Apple to follow local laws/regulations if they want to continue to business there. It was Apple, not the EU, that decided to "fracture" iOS by limiting this setting option to specific locations.
Wrong. Browsers and markets are fractured because of Apple's alternative browser engine restrictions e.g., Firefox having to use WebKit on iOS while using its native Gecko engine on other platforms.
Therefore the eu forced a business model change in the eu.
Your opinion is as wrong as you say mine is. Going back to the original comment.
I have just bought and begun using an Android phone.
European law enables consumers (and developers) to “do” certain things and make certain choices that OS.
There’s factually a duopoly for such operating systems - and that restricts consumer choice. Which is why European legislation is appropriate market regulation for that.
A duopoly isn’t the choice we want.
Business models that rely on anticompetitively stifling or excluding competitors do not deserve protection in markets that lack competition.
While there is certainly a healthy, competitive market for smartphones (which remains largely unregulated), the same can’t be said for their operating systems or apps.
Correct, but when there is no anticompetitive stifling and crappy laws are enacted anyway…
I see not one consumer beneficial reason for this optionality to be geo-restricted
This sort of thing shows the worst side of Apple
If your Maps are great, people will probably stick with it as the default, but if you care about and respect your users, you should let them choose. They should also get to choose wherever they are, not just in jurisdictions where you're being forced to allow it.
This sort of thing shows the worst side of Apple
If your Maps are great, people will probably stick with it as the default, but if you care about and respect your users, you should let them choose. They should also get to choose wherever they are, not just in jurisdictions where you're being forced to allow it.
When a company that operates on of the biggest streaming services in the world can “tax or deny” their competitors marketing to a large part of consumers, it’s anticompetitive.
That’s as true for Spotify and Netflix as it is for Maps.
And as much on iOS as it is on Android.
Though we may agree to disagree.
Even more reason this default navigation app toggle should be deployed worldwide for all iOS customers
Agree completely
Apple needs to realize this is an "operating system" and not simply a vessel for Apple Apps and/or Services Revenue.
Users should have more choice in how it works and what the defaults are to best suit their needs.
It’s not the biggest in the world. And one company can’t tax another company jnless one company wants to use another’s assets for distribution.
We’ve been for the most part disagreeing for two years.