Google Announces New Maps and Waze Features for Your iPhone
Toggle Dark Mode
While Apple Maps is tightly integrated into your iPhone experience, there are still many valid reasons to use Google Maps or even prefer Waze. Now, Google is adding additional incentives to consider switching to — or staying with — its mapping apps.
Last month, Google Maps added a GPS speedometer to the mix, bringing the feature over from Android, which has had this tool since 2019. Although both Apple Maps and Google Maps have long let you display the speed limit when it’s available, Google Maps now enables you to keep track of how fast you’re going and alert you if that’s too fast. It also works over CarPlay.
However, it looks like that was just the start. Google announced five more significant updates across Google Maps and Waze to help you “stay informed on the go,” including new incident reporting, guidance, camera alerts, and more.
Whether you’re hitting the road for a weekend getaway, navigating a new city to track down that must-try food truck, or trying to avoid traffic on your way to school, Google Maps and Waze show you the information you need to get to your destination in the best way possible. Today, we’re launching even more helpful information to keep you safer and informed while on-the-go.
Waze has long been the leader in crowdsourced navigation. One of its early claims to fame was that it allowed people to easily report road hazards and other information to help other drivers. Apple Maps gained limited hazard reporting in iOS 14.5 and later partnered with HAAS Alert to automate hazard alerts, but those are both things that Waze already had, and Apple Maps has never quite reached the same level of sophistication.
With this week’s update, Google is taking incident reporting to another level, making it even easier to update other drivers on the go when using Google Maps. The icons to make reports are larger and more easily tappable, and other drivers can more readily acknowledge and confirm these with a tap.
It’s still not quite as easy as calling Siri to report a road incident in Apple Maps by voice, but of course, Apple Maps reports are only good for other Apple Maps users. Plus, Google Maps and Waze offer more specific categories, letting drivers report things like construction, lane closures, and stalled vehicles rather than only generic “hazards.”
Google Maps has always been great at helping you reach your destination, but it’s not always clear where you’re supposed to go when you get there. However, Google is expanding its guidance in many urban areas so that you’ll be able to figure out where to enter a shopping mall or apartment complex or where to find a nearby parking lot.
On the Waze side, Google is adding more detailed camera alerts to help you “be more aware during your drive and comply with local laws.” While other users in the Waze community will have to submit these cameras, they can now differentiate between the types of cameras so you’ll know if you’re approaching a red light camera, carpool lane camera, speed limit camera, or even one intended to check to make sure you’re not starting at your phone while driving.
Waze users can receive and share more details on traffic events, giving drivers some insights into what all the red lines on the maps actually mean — and possibly when they’ll clear up. For instance, if an event like a parade or sporting event impacts traffic, you’ll know why and get an idea of how long the delays will last.
Finally, Waze is also getting a small upgrade to add Lock Screen navigation, which has long been standard on Apple Maps and Google Maps. That’s coming to Android this month, although iPhone users will have to wait until the fall, perhaps to take advantage of new developer features in iOS 18.
In the meantime, new camera types and traffic events in Waze are rolling out globally for both Android and iOS now, while new guidance in Google Maps will start appearing “in the coming weeks.”
