Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

EM2013

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 2, 2013
2,490
2,326
I’ve always had significant locations disabled so I don’t know anything about it, other than it knows places your frequently visit.

1. Does this give you notifications about traffic accident delays on your commute prior to you leaving?

2. How does having this on affect battery life?

Looking to get notifications about traffic accidents so if anyone knows of any useful apps.

Was late to work this morning because of a major accident, which google maps said was a “five minute delay.” Don’t want to go through that again.
 

NoBoMac

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 1, 2014
6,274
4,954
#1 Rarely use Maps, so, no idea. In case of Google Maps, assuming they don't have access to that, as probably siloed to Apple specific stuff. Believe Google has something similar, so Google Maps will use their data.

But even then, guessing some slop in there as any map app would need enough datapoints over some amount of time to get a good idea. Eg. Might not pick up that accident is recent, cops showed up recently, shut down everything, busy road is funneling lots of traffic, ergo goes slow to bad quick.

#2: have never noticed any battery drain, as location services are on all the time. It's other stuff that seems to eat into it, particularly map apps that are running in foreground (updating view, pinging for alternate routes; GPS apps I use for workouts, hiking do not eat much power, from what I've seen).
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: EM2013

TheIntruder

macrumors 68000
Jul 2, 2008
1,766
1,278
In my experience as a light user of maps, and one who likes to keep distractions like notifications to a minimum (and set that way):

1) When I wake the phone, what it does is pop up a notification giving estimated travel time, and general traffic conditions "light, etc." I've never followed through and tapped on it, but I presume it just opens the Maps app and displays conditions.

2) No noticeable effects.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EM2013

bransoj

macrumors 68000
Jul 31, 2013
1,563
739
I've always had it switched on and cant say i've noticed it causing any battery issues.

As above as it learns your locations it will start to pop up and say when you should be leaving to get where you are likely to be going. If you tap on the notification it just loads Apple Maps with suggested routes to the location with an indication of travel time. This said its only going to be as good as the data that is being provided although in my experience its pretty good most of the time.

I use it in conjunction with entries in my calendar with addresses for those calendar entries and between them i always get a notification about when to leave or if i'm ahead of schedule when i connect up to the carplay in my car and open Apple Maps it shows me the location to navigate to without even searching for it. This morning for example i was away earlier than i needed to be so it only showed me the notification about travelling to work when i got in the car and hooked up my phone to the car. There have been mornings where i've been running a bit later or travel time is more than expected and its showing on my phone before i leave the house.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EM2013

EM2013

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 2, 2013
2,490
2,326
Thank you all for the info. I have turned it on.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.