APPLE

Apple Maps is gaining more and more users from…Google Maps

iPhone users have more and more reasons to choose Apple Maps over Google Mapswith some customers praising the clear transit directions and more visually appealing design.

This is what emerges from a new report from Wall Street Journal. While Apple Maps comes pre-installed on all iPhones, the vast majority of iPhone users in the US have Google Maps on their phone as an alternative.

But if before many people preferred Google Maps on iPhone, today things are changing. More and more people prefer to use Apple’s alternativeabove all for a clearer interface, for ever more detailed information and for the perfect integration with iOS.

For example, Jane Natoli, a Google Maps “power user,” told the WSJ that she finds herself using Apple Maps after an experience using it at the airport. The app knew you were at the airport and offered recommendations for shops and restaurants in your terminal. It also had clearer information that was easier to interact with than Google Maps.

“It made me rethink some of my previous prejudices about it,” Natoli says. “Whatever initial reputational hurdle Apple Maps faced, I think it has overcome it.”

Many users like them Apple’s design and easier-to-read directions, especially street names. On Google Maps it is sometimes difficult to understand the street name, no matter how much you zoom in, at least according to some users.

A recent Georgia Tech graduate shared a similar opinion. At night, while driving, he said the streets are easier to look at on Apple Maps and that there are fewer points of interest cluttering his vision. “Apple is really good at making things look good,” he told the WSJ.

Apple Maps was launched in 2012 and was quickly criticized for incomplete and inaccurate mapping data, leading some iPhone users down dangerous paths. Apple CEO Tim Cook had to publicly apologize for the frustration the app caused customers, and soon after iOS chief Scott Forstall was ousted from the company.

Since then, Apple has made significant improvements to Apple Maps, integrating new features and fixing some serious bugs. Live traffic information and pedestrian navigation options were added to Maps in 2013, which is also the same year Maps was extended to OS X. In 2015, Maps was updated with Nearby, a feature that offers local points of interest and transit directions in a handful of cities.

In early 2020, Apple completed a comprehensive overhaul of its maps in various parts of the world, with significantly greater detail including updated buildings, parks, sports fields, swimming pools and more. The new Look Around feature in select cities is similar to Google’s Street View, and the updated maps have since rolled out to more countries. In iOS 17, coming this fall, users will be able to download maps for offline use in Apple Maps, something Google Maps users have been able to do for some time now.

The praise for Apple Maps isn’t universal, however. One user told the WSJ that she was often sidetracked by Apple Maps as she walked around Boston, while another user said her experience using Apple Maps via CarPlay had often added time to her commute by taking her through neighborhoods with stop signs in an effort to avoid traffic.

In general, from the catastrophic beginnings of Apple Maps, things have now changed and the challenge with Google Maps is more open than ever. And you, which one do you prefer to use on your iPhone?

Giuseppe Migliorino