However, Google Maps has the added advantage of letting you add multiple stops to your route ahead of time. Regardless of which one you have, you can be sure that the optimal route will get you to your destination in roughly the same amount of time. It’s a bit strange that both apps offer primary routes that are similar, but the alternates were so wildly different. Instead the only alternate routes on offer were so wildly different that all three routes diverged almost as soon as I left home. Likewise Google didn’t have any suggestions that involved leaving the freeway one exit later. Apple Maps skipped the toll road, even when I’d set it to allow tolls, and wouldn’t give me the option of taking it. Neither app gave me much option to alter the routes. Going by train is a little different: Google Maps thought I’d get there in 58 minutes, versus 57 minutes on Apple. It doesn’t matter how you intend to travel either, since Apple Maps and Google Maps can generate directions for drivers, walkers, cyclists, and those travelling by public transport.Īs far as navigation goes, the differences between Google Maps and Apple Maps can be almost identical, or they can be as different as any route between two points can get.įor instance, driving from my house to our London office generated identical 51 mile routes and an ETA of 1 hour and 13 minutes. Both apps will also suggest alternate routes if the one you’re on is particularly congested, though neither of them are as aggressive as the Google-owned Waze. But as soon as you have a turn coming up it’ll change and let you know.īoth services are capable of telling you what current conditions are like on your route, including traffic, road closures, and so on. So if you need to stay on the freeway for another ten miles, that’s what it’ll say. Both services follow your progress as you travel, including travel time and journey distance, your current ETA, and the most relevant instruction at that point in time. There’s very little difference in how Apple Maps and Google Maps actually gets you places. Google Maps’ excess information can be distracting sometimes, and that’s the last thing you need if you’re lost and struggling to orient yourself. It also has information for complex highway interchanges, something Google Maps has included for some time.īoth apps have the information you need, but Apple Maps’ less-is-more approach makes it much easier on the eyes.

As of iOS 15 Apple has also started adding this information, with turn lanes, bus and taxi lanes, and crosswalks. Google Maps had also started rolling out more superfluous, but still useful details, like stop signs, crosswalks, and so on. Likewise both of them use a dark mode that makes it easier on your eyes during any late-night driving you need to be doing. The only real difference is how much surplus information is on display, including businesses, smaller road names, and so on. Roads, locations, landmarks, it’s all there.

That said, both of them always show the essentials no matter how you’re viewing the map. Similarly, Google shows you more information when you zoom further in, but it does start showing a lot of that information much sooner than Apple Maps does. While it has a lot of information at its disposal, Apple Maps doesn’t actually show you very much unless you zoom all the way in. Like its interface, Apple Maps has opted for a more minimalist approach to its map design. All of these things will vanish if you tap the middle of the screen, so you can see a pure uncluttered map, but it’s still all a bit much. Likewise at the bottom of the screen is a menu giving you access to the Explore and Commute features, saved locations, local news, and the option to contribute to Google’s mapping database. If you’re ever needing to find a restaurant or gas station fast, that’s likely to be very useful.

At the top of your phone screen is the search bar, which also houses account information and sits above dedicated buttons for finding local amenities. Google on the other hand, has buttons and toolbars all over the place. Left: Google Maps Right: Apple Maps (Image credit: Tom's Guide)Ĭrucially, that search bar stays where it is until you click on a place, and if you want to get rid of it all you have to do is tap the X button in the corner.

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