{"id":241478,"date":"2026-05-07T20:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-i-compared-two-of-the-best-navigation-apps-heres-my-pick\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T04:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:50:20","slug":"google-maps-vs-apple-maps-i-compared-two-of-the-best-navigation-apps-heres-my-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/07\/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-i-compared-two-of-the-best-navigation-apps-heres-my-pick\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps vs. Apple Maps: I compared two of the best navigation apps &#8211; here&#8217;s my pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-2026\/\">Google Maps vs. Apple Maps: I compared two of the best navigation apps &#8211; here&#8217;s my pick<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-2026\/\">https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-2026\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-05-07 20:43:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.zdnet.com\">www.zdnet.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <span class=\"c-shortcodeImage_credit g-outer-spacing-top-xsmall u-block\">Elyse Betters Picaro \/ ZDNET<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Follow ZDNET: <span class=\"c-commerceLink\"><span>Add us as a preferred source<\/span><\/span> on Google.<\/p>\n<h3> ZDNET&#8217;s key takeaways <\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Google Maps wins for fast routing, AI, and rich discovery features.<\/li>\n<li>Apple Maps is cleaner, simpler, and geared toward Apple users.<\/li>\n<li>Both apps are close, but Google Maps is more powerful overall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;ll admit it: I&#8217;m a Google Maps person. I use it for driving, walking, looking up restaurants and businesses, checking out what a parking lot looks like, travel planning, and occasionally falling into a Street View rabbit hole that might begin with &#8220;What does my old childhood home look like today?&#8221; and end with me exploring the ancient streets of Rome, dreaming of visiting one day.<\/p>\n<p>But I once preferred Apple Maps. As a longtime Apple user (I got my first Mac when I was 14, nearly 25 years ago, and I switched from Verizon to AT&#038;T in 2007 just so I could get the first iPhone), I will always try everything Cupertino releases. So, back in 2012, when Apple Maps first launched, I gave it a shot. I can&#8217;t remember how long I used it for, but it was a couple of years at least. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Also: Google Maps vs. Waze: I&#8217;ve used both, and one is much better<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I ignored the haters. Let&#8217;s be real, Apple Maps was a punchline after its disastrous launch. But at some point, I followed the crowd. Overtime, I became entrenched in Google apps. Eventually, it became obvious that Apple Maps was my backup maps app, the one I&#8217;d accidentally open instead of Google Maps. But I know Apple Maps has steadily improved. <\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m a tech editor by day, so I&#8217;ve seen and written about countless updates to Apple Maps over the last decade. For example, with iOS 26, Apple added a Preferred Routes feature, which learns the routes I take most often and warns me about delays before I leave. <\/p>\n<p>With these kinds of updates in mind, I set aside my Google Maps bias and compared both apps feature by feature. Which one is better in 2026? Which one should I actually use? Has Apple Maps finally done enough to make me quit Google Maps for&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/article\/google-maps-vs-apple-maps-2026\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Maps vs. Apple Maps: I compared two of the best navigation apps &#8211; here&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.zdnet.com\/a\/img\/resize\/93e41c7359fe13154cb4a714bcfccadc413c179a\/2026\/05\/04\/bc124274-1f48-4d8a-bfab-859396726dc0\/google-maps-vs-apple-maps.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&height=675&width=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[69,77],"class_list":["post-241478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-ios","tag-ios-26"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241480,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241478\/revisions\/241480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}