MapQuest Tops App Store Charts After Refusing 'Lake America' Change

[MacRumors]

MapQuest is in the spotlight this week after refusing to change "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America" on its map following an executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump last week. As of Monday morning, the MapQuest app is the top free iPhone app on Apple's App Store charts in Canada and fourth on the equivalent U.S. chart.

For our younger readers, MapQuest was once a popular service back in the days when printing out directions on a sheet of paper was common for road trips, before the arrival of smartphones with apps like Google Maps and Apple Maps.

MapQuest does offer its own iOS and Android apps, but the brand is nowhere near as popular as it once was. Until now, at least. MapQuest today announced that hundreds of thousands of people have downloaded its apps since Thursday, and it said it was seeing roughly a 50× increase in usage of its map as of August 30.

The top free iPhone apps in Canada as of August 31​

"We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they're familiar with," said MapQuest general manager Doug Berger, in a press release. "Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app."

Google Maps is now showing the "Lake America" name to U.S. users, but Apple has yet to follow.

We're not changing it. pic.twitter.com/NdeE9v2BNO— MapQuest (@MapQuest) August 27, 2026​

Note: This discussion thread is located in our Political News forum with special rules.

Article Link: MapQuest Tops App Store Charts After Refusing 'Lake America' Change

 

[turbineseaplane]

These private corporations are under no obligation to follow the Executive Order, which doesn't apply to them.

Good on MapQuest. 👏

This is another attempted distraction from rock bottom poll numbers, a war of choice Don got himself stuck in and the Epstein files which he's all over.

 

[cjsuk]

They earned it!

 

[Kkspire]

It’s not hard to top the charts with new downloads though…

 

[ShivneelSingh]

I can already see that old man throwing a tantrum and threatening to shut them down.

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

Competition is extremely good for us the consumers. I wish Mapquest had street view.

 

[jsavvy]

Yay, more changes or refusals to change that doesn't matter!

 

[Astuces iOS]

Donald Trump will take this down !

 

[blacktape242]

in other news....

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yay, more changes or refusals to change that doesn't matter!

What matters is that the actual job of President isn't being done.

 

[Slo Pesci]

Was thinking of switching, is Mapquest any good for real?

EDIT: Its trash. Can't even find the settings to change from miles to kilometres lol

 

[Skwoodge]

In Canada …

Was thinking of switching, is Mapquest any good for real?

No.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they're familiar with

So they kept the name of the country "Turkey", right?

Oops, they didn't. Pop quiz, can anyone in these forums properly type the name of the country without any form of assistance? No autocomplete or spell check or searching for stuff.

 

[surfzen21]

Now we need to unify Niagara Falls under United States sovereignty. 😎

 

[B4U]

BTW, they also kept the name of the Gulf of Mexico too.

 

[Edgecrusherr]

Who could have guessed that it is good PR to not jump when a mentally ill dictator wannabe says so. Maybe MapQuest will get a meaningful resurgence from this.

 

[Skwoodge]

So they kept the name of the country "Turkey", right?

Oops, they didn't. Pop quiz, can anyone in these forums properly type the name of the country without any form of assistance? No autocomplete or spell check or searching for stuff.

It’s all performative. Like when companies don’t make their logo the pride flag in countries in the Middle East during pride month.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Was thinking of switching, is Mapquest any good for real?

With all the Maps apps, it depends what you are using it for.

 

[turbineseaplane]

It’s all performative. Like when companies don’t make their logo the pride flag in countries in the Middle East during pride month.

The only one being "performative" here is Trump.

 

[Edgecrusherr]

What matters is that the actual job of President isn't being done.

Exactly. That's heart of the issue. He's just a petty cry baby conman who pulls stunts like this to deflect from how ineffective and harmful he really is.

 

[attohs]

I feel like we are living in a sitcom that has the absolute worst writing staff, but we keep getting renewed for some bs reason

 

[ghostface147]

Who here had a family member that used to go on mapquest and print out the directions to their location?

 

[Skwoodge]

Who here had a family member that used to go on mapquest and print out the directions to their location?

I mean I used to do that and it was terrible half the time. I ended up using those bing map book things … also terrible. Modern GPS is wonderful.

 

[jon9091]

What matters is that the actual job of President isn't being done.

In his defense, he’s been very busy picking out curtains, and marble, and gold crap to glue on the wall.

 

[groove-agent]

I'll give Mapquest a try...