Apple Maps vs Google Maps vs Waze: The best navigation apps for your phone in 2021 (2023)

Gone are the days of pulling origami-style paper maps out of the glove compartment of your car to determine your location. Today, almost everyone has a smartphone with their own or third-party mapping app that provides driving, walking, or biking directions. In fact, navigation apps make great general guides for everyday life, as they can show you the cheapest fuel in your area or the nearest fast food restaurant. But which map app is the best?

Deeper insight: our best-tested tips

Buying Guide: Apple Maps vs Google Maps vs Waze: The best navigation apps for your phone in 2021

platform performance

The three card applications in this matchup:Apple Maps, Google Maps and Waze – are completely free. You don't have to worry about additional microtransactions or advertising banners. However, there is certainly something being sold, but that happens in the background. Then more.

You can access all three apps in different ways. Google Maps (a native Android app) and Waze (Google's driver-focused navigation app) are available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Apple Maps comes pre-installed on every iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, but there's no Google Play Store version. The application is exclusive to Apple and is automatically disqualified from the contest if you are an Android owner.

As for the web options, feel free to explore them.google mapsand Waze through your favorite web browser. Both services allow you to plan trips on the desktop before sending directions to their respective mobile apps. Unlike Google Maps and Waze, Apple Maps lacks a browser-based version. To make up for this, Apple released its MapKit JS code to allow web developers to add Apple Maps services to websites. For example, privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo recently switched to using it for map-related searches and route planning.

driving direction

Apple Maps, Google Maps ywazeBoth provide satisfactory directions, but they differ in many ways. Google has the most extensive and informative maps, a boon for its Google Maps and Waze products. Apple Maps got off to a rocky start nearly a decade ago, but it's made great strides to come close to rivaling Google Maps. All three apps offer voice-guided, hands-free operation via the Google Assistant or Siri on their respective platforms.

If all you do is drive, Waze is the best option. Google Maps and Apple Maps will work just fine, but Waze does better when it comes to driving to a new place from your current location. The maps are simpler than the others, with larger symbols, brighter colors, and less distracting on-screen elements. Waze also encourages its users to crowdsource their traffic. Its enthusiastic community of drivers is much more alert than its competitors about traffic jams, accidents, police operations and road closures.

It's worth noting that Google Maps is the only one of the three apps in this roundup that lets you download maps for offline use. Apple Maps and Waze allow you to save your last route search in the app, allowing you to work in areas with patchy coverage, but you can't search for a new route or a saved trip.

Rider's Choice

Unlike Waze, Apple Maps and Google Maps offer many options for alternate types of travel. Driving directions come first, but both apps also provide directions for walking, biking, and public transportation. there is evencarpoolOptions that link to popular services like Uber, Lyft, and Lime.

For cyclists, Apple Maps has the upper hand in terms of user interface and overall features. When your phone's screen turns off, Apple Maps will automatically turn on and show you the nearest directions. Google Maps has an option to prevent turn-by-turn directions from going into lockdown mode. However, if this option is not enabled, the app will send a push notification asking you to unlock your phone. Apple Maps also clearly marks traffic lights, stop signs, and steep hills along your route so you can plan accordingly. However, cyclists have reported that Google Maps gives better results, avoiding routes with excessive hills or additional traffic that would make the route difficult.

A rich map or a simpler interface?

Apple Maps and Waze offer cleaner, easier-to-read interfaces compared to Google Maps. That being said, Waze offers the clearest overall map in terms of visual contrast and readability. Unfortunately it is for drivers only.

With a map that offers information at a glance, Apple is right behind Waze. Major landmarks and businesses are clearly legible, and Apple Maps' big, bright green "Go" button is more immediate than Google Maps' smaller blue "Home" button. Apple Maps also has useful indicators for temperature and air quality.

Apple Maps matches Google Maps business hours, ratings, and website links. However, if you dig deep enough, you'll find that Google has more extensive maps. Google Maps not only covers more international locations, but also has excellent indoor building maps. If you're visiting a city, Google Maps likely has detailed (multi-story!) internal maps of malls, convention centers, museums, and other public buildings. All this extra information makes the Google Maps interface a bit cluttered.

For everyday use, Apple Maps is easier to read, but Google Maps is a little digital Athena with all the wisdom in the world, if you know where to find it.

dies extras

In addition to basic map information, Apple Maps and Google Maps offer additional features that intelligently extend the navigation experience. Google Maps has long offered more cool extras, but Apple Maps has caught up and taken a more thoughtful approach to some Google features.

Let's take Google Street View as an example. This handy feature lets you dive into the map and get an overview of the area using 360-degree photos compiled from Google's fleet of car photography and crowdsourced images. Street View is available in more locations than Apple Maps' Look Around feature. However, Look Around is easier to use. While Street View takes up the entire screen of your device, Look Around splits the view between the 360 ​​photo and the map. This allows you to see where you are while looking around you. In terms of usability, Look Around is simply better than Street View, especially when you're lost. Waze does not have that feature.

Of course, Google countered Apple's Street View by launching Live View AR mode. Use your phone's camera to provide turn-by-turn directions and use augmented reality to project directions onto the world in front of you. It even highlights certain landmarks. Live View takes all the great features of Street View and makes them even better. Apple Maps and Waze don't offer anything like that.

While Google Maps and Apple Maps have terrain, satellite, and 3D display modes, Apple Maps 3D Flyover mode is simply more impressive than Google's version. Flyover 3D makes selected cities look like little dioramas and is an impressive display of technology. It's great, but still not particularly useful.

If you value privacy, Apple Maps is the right choice. Your Apple Maps searches and directions stay on your device, not in the cloud. Apple Maps location history is tied to random identifiers and resets over time;Google makes it difficult to remove this information. If you care about privacy and have an iPhone, the choice is clear.

You can go your own way