How do you find places, get directions, and discover nearby attractions? With Apple's built-in Maps app, that's how!
Updated February 2017: Now reflects the latest iOS 10 updates.
Apple's Maps app gives you everything you need to get where you're going and find interesting places along the way. It can tell you where you are, what direction you're facing, what's nearby, and how to avoid traffic. Maps can show you the ground in 3D and can take to the sky with Flyover. It can even provide turn-by-turn voice navigation for driving, walking, and — in some regions — public transit, including buses, trains, and ferries.
How do you use the Maps app? Here's everything you need to know to get started!
Maps for iPhone and iPad
- What's new in the Maps app
- How to find locations and get directions with Maps
- How to share location and directions with Maps
- How to delete your search history and prior destinations in Maps
- How to use Siri with Maps
- How to enable and use Maps extensions
- Best Maps app extensions
- How to change settings for Maps
- How to report a problem in Maps
- How to use Maps with CarPlay
Reader comments
Maps App: The Ultimate Guide
Apple please update because is almost useless for me
Not quite every feature can be found in Maps...
A way is needed to plan and save trips for future usage, as when trying to figure out the route of a multi-stage or discontinous trip (collections of trips could be called or saved as "journeys") over some time span like a few hours or maybe days for example.
Not all my trip planning is done on the fly or involves just one segment, or one segment followed immediately by another with that in-between segment thing of looking up the next routing in Maps.
The app could even go as far as predicting travel times and timings on those future trips or journeys by looking up and comparing to historical traffic data or public transit timetables for those particular days-of-the-week and locations, and then adjusting accordingly when the travel becomes realtime.
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Also the ability to adjust trips or journeys on the fly would be good.
So if I were going from points A to Z, then I could ask to divert to, or go via points B, C and D as necessary ("hey guys, I heard they do great tacos at C, lets go via there!") with a simple Siri request, or maybe even just some arbitrary re-routing by the physical dragging of previously computed routes in the Maps interface.
I made some of those suggestions directly to Apple via their feedback mechanism some time ago. So I'm hoping it's something that is or was already being actively considered or implemented (maybe in iOS12) as I am in no doubt that there must be many others with such requirements.
Hey how do you delete recents on Maps? In iOS 10 add biking routes, and avoid tolls options on driving directions!!!!!
Maps is almost useless to me for navigation. There are no options to define preferred route types or avoidances. There is no info on current actual speed or speed limits. To be fair, Google Maps shares most of those failures as well, though Google does give the option of avoiding tolls and/or highways.
On the plus side, Maps accuracy of, well, maps, received a significant improvement when Apple started using TomTom for the cartography source.
For speed/speed limits, I've found Waze and HERE maps to be the best two options. Fortunately, my speedometer works so I can just check that for my current speed :P. Snark aside, I consider those to just be 'nice to have' features, and fortunately we have choices for alternating mapping apps if we need them. If I need accurate traffic routing, I switch to Google Maps. If I just need basic directions, Apple Maps integration with Carplay has been sufficient for me. It's about 50/50 usage for me.
Google maps to avoid tolls. Google maps to show bike paths, walking paths, public transportation, and accurate directions, including traffic...Looks like Google FTW
As an iPhone user I agree that Google Maps is way better Apple Maps here in the UK.
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whenever i see apple maps updates all i notice is new 3d flyovers a bunch of eye candy and nothing useful they got all this money and maps is still terrible
I agree, they still have a lot of improvements to make. When they showcased 3D flyovers all I could think was BFD. I need reliable and usable maps, not this 3D flyover eye candy.
The last few longer trips I made I ended up using Google Maps, it seems that the traffic data is far superior also.
Suppose to be major map updates in iOS 10 finally
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Most of my past gripes with Maps has been taken care of, however they are still unacceptably slow with updating changes in roads. There was a new on ramp to the highway built near my house over a year ago, and Apple Maps still tries to make me take the wrong (old) route which puts me in the opposite direction. Google Maps updated it within a month of completion. I've submitted multiple updates with no luck. Hoping that iOS 10 shows the correct roads near my house. Otherwise, it's 'good enough' to use with Carplay while driving. I'm very interested in seeing how well real time traffic re-routing works with iOS 10, which Google Maps and Waze currently do better.
The app is sorely in need of a "Highways Preferred option". On several trips, maps took me off a major highway on to back traffic roads with stop lights, etc. Even though maps thought I was taking the shortest (or quickest) route, I would have preferred to stay on a highway.
Google maps ALWAYS does this to me! Just to save me 30 seconds, it'll take me to all kind of back roads.
Maps transitions are still pretty useless in London and I suppose in other European cities. For instance they tell me that to get to Trafalgar Square, I need to catch an Overground train from Bush Hill Park but does not care to mention what time the actual train is, just that "it runs every 10 minutes". Come on Apple, there are train times. Just copy the way Google Maps does it and you can nail Europe!
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I think I love and hate Apple Maps in equal measures. Things I hate though are
1 - I just wish they would add a speedometer like conventional Navigation apps always have with maybe even speed limits too? It's really not too much to ask.
2 - No Street View. Well not yet anyway I've heard it's slowly coming so I can still rely on Google Maps for that in the meantime
3 - I wish the Maps Destinations Widget would include Home, Work or repealed visited places etc all at once
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Also. These instructions in the item are outdated. You can't (well I can't seem to find a way) find a place on Apple Maps then share it to Google Maps etc to get navigation directions now in IOS 10?
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