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Apple Maps now used 3x as often as Google Maps on iOS, serving 5B requests per week

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It’s no secret that when Apple Maps launched back in 2012 it had more than its fair share of issues. The issues included things like incorrect turn-by-turn directions, mislabeled landmarks, and much more. Three years later, however, Apple has been working to remedy the issues its had and according to a new report out of The Boston Globe, the improvements aren’t going unnoticed by users.

According to the report, Apple Maps is now used three times as often as its “next leading competitor” on iPhone and iPad, with more than 5 billion map-related requests ever week. The mysterious “next leading competitor” is obviously Google Maps, which for a significant amount of time following the launch of Apple Maps was the go-to service for iPhone and iPad users.

In the entire market, Google Maps still holds a lead. Google’s offering reportedly had twice as many users in October of this year as Apple Maps. This is due in large part to the fact that Google Maps is supported on both iOS and Android, while Apple Maps is obviously limited purely to the former of the two.

One the biggest reason for the growth in use of Apple Maps is the integration of the service into third-party apps. Going into Yelp for instance allows you to instantly find directions via Apple Maps, while the Starbucks app shows all surrounding stores and allows navigation via Apple Maps.

Of course, Google provided the mapping data for iPhones until 2012. It was then that Apple decided to ditch the company in favor of its own, custom-built solution. It was a risky move that hurt the company’s reputation at the beginning, but it has since done a lot to regain customer trust.  “We are fast learners and we are fast at fixing things,” said Apple marketing VP Greg Joswiak. “We learned the maps business incredibly fast.”

The growing trust of Apple Maps among iPhone users is important for the Cupertino company. It likely means that customers will turn to Apple’s first-party apps in other instances, as well, instead of going in search of third-party solutions, as was the case when Apple Maps launched in 2012.

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Comments

  1. Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 8 years ago

    I just had a ride with Uber and the driver was using Waze, he showed me what Waze could do and it was pretty damn cool. I actually thought it was better in a lot of ways. Anyone use Waze?

    • Graham J - 8 years ago

      Yep it’s pretty popular. I use it daily for cop reports and eta notifications.

    • iali87 - 8 years ago

      Google onw waze and google maps implement some of waze features inside!

      • iali87 - 8 years ago

        When would I be able to edit my comments!

    • twelve01 - 8 years ago

      Which was acquired by Google

    • crichton007 - 8 years ago

      I used to use Waze religiously until they started tracking your general location at all times even when the app is turned “off”.

  2. Graham J - 8 years ago

    I’m sure Siri integration has a lot to do with it too.

  3. standardpull - 8 years ago

    I gave up on Google Maps a few years ago – Waze was much better then, and Google Maps was 2nd banana.

    But then Waze got terrible with new features like voluminous annoying ads and crazy directions (fortunately you can turn of the “social annoyances”).

    When I got my iPhone 6 with iOS 8, I just ended up preferring Apple Maps – accurate, fast, and no annoyances. And that’s impossible for Google to beat with their ad-centric business model.

    • iali87 - 8 years ago

      What are you talking about!? Google map is very rich and Waze is just part of google now.

      • Charlypollo - 8 years ago

        Don’t waste your time. This is the typical story of how apple, with half done products, miraculously turned better than the entire competition. The whole world knows that Google maps is light years ahead of any mapping solution currently available.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        Funny that, being ‘lightyears ahead’ becomes meaningless to people who use an iPhone. Let that sink in for a minute.

      • standardpull - 8 years ago

        Yes, got to agree – Google bought Waze and subsequently ruined it.

  4. Louis Veillette - 8 years ago

    Sure these numbers are true, but what this article fails to mention and perhaps, THE main reason for Maps popularity on iOS is that this application comes bundled with iOS. And there’s even no way to remove it, while you have to manualy download Google Maps if you want to use it.

    Also, many iOS users being mostly media readers and players, instead of power users, most don’t even know ( or care ) that the map application on their device isn’t GoogleMap and they’ll never bother to download it.

    So in essence, it’s like comparing Safari’s vs Chrome popularity on iOS, for the same reasons.

    • jedwards87 - 8 years ago

      You sound like another I am an elite and you are stupid because you us iOS Android fanboy idiot. I find it funny that the average Android user thinks they are a power user and superior to iOS users. Love how you are able to sum up millions of users to make yourself feel better about the average knowledge you have of others. Idiot.

      • iali87 - 8 years ago

        All I see is that you are the idiot. He never said or talked about power users or anything. Everyone knows that the integration of Apple maps in IOS and there is no way to change default apps on IOS is the main reason for Apple maps being more popular on IOS. The example He gave about chrome vs safari is another proof of his point

      • He’s got a point though. Even after you install the Google Maps app, you can’t set it as a preferred map source. So in order to use Google Maps app, you’re forced to copy and paste all addresses manually. The only exception (I’ve seen) is tapping addresses on Google sites will lead you to the Google Maps app.

      • Charlypollo - 8 years ago

        You Apple sheeps need to take your head out of your butt and start reading properly. I won’t even bother to explain the post because you just seem like a retarded iDiot.

      • jedwards87 - 8 years ago

        I am talking about the mind set of Android users you morons. Just like your comments right here. Everyone look at me….I am an elitist and you are an idiot and sheep. I love Google and will do whatever they tell me to because I follow them blindly like the lemming I am. Talk about idiots.

    • twelve01 - 8 years ago

      Same can be said for other platforms. I think the big takeaway is that Apple Maps took a serious PR hit from the botched launch, but for the most part has recovered. A big part of this is the fact that it’s preinstalled, benefits from greater integration, and user indifference. That said, it’s a pretty solid service that is much improved since launch.

    • Smigit - 8 years ago

      Sure, but that applies to most Android handsets when it comes to Google maps and in turn would no doubt contribute the Google Maps dominance when you look at usage across the board rather than just on iOS.

      • Darrell - 8 years ago

        Of course Google Maps is used much more overall because of Android, but consider how many iOS devices are sold every quarter. That’s not a small amount of users.

    • transamken - 8 years ago

      You’re a power user but you haven’t caught on to the fact that we’ve been able to set 3rd party apps as default since the last iOS 8 update. SMH.

      http://ioshacker.com/how-to/make-ios-8-use-google-maps-default-simple-trick

  5. Cody Kochmann - 8 years ago

    I dot know what happened. I was a google maps user for years and the latest changes have made it a babbling, hard to understand, ill timed mess compared to Apple maps. I’ll still use them for finding places, but it’s worth two maps searches to get directions I can actually understand without it saying each step with at least 30 syllables 3 times per turn.

  6. twelve01 - 8 years ago

    I use Apple Maps almost exclusively, and find it to be very reliable. The few times I’ve used Google Maps in the last few months (usually initiated by another passenger) I’ve had issues. Not saying that Google is inferior – just feel that it is wildly overhyped in terms of driving navigation. I’ll grant that its superior when it comes to transit.

    During a trip last Spring to a remote part of Wyoming, my girlfriend and I used Here (then owned by Nokia). A key feature of Here Maps was the option to download and store maps for offline use. It worked pretty well, and I had hoped Apple would buy them out.

    • monty72 - 8 years ago

      That’s what I was hoping, I’ve used Nokia/Here mapping for years on Nokia phones and at the time they were way ahead and still pretty good. I still use here maps on my phone for those times when I’ve got no signal. Turns out that the Audi/VW group have just bought Here Maps from Nokia.

    • shoegazer4 - 8 years ago

      try that in europe or australia

  7. Smigit - 8 years ago

    I tend to use both Apple Maps and Google. Apple Maps for directions since I prefer how addresses are delivered and find the routing reliable enough, and Google Maps to find points of interest since the database is richer. I’m not keen on the spoken directions Google Maps gives however. Occasionally I’ll still use the Tom Tom iPhone app too, which has always been rather good in my opinion.

  8. Koatsey - 8 years ago

    Depending on where you are Apple Maps is considerably less accurate. I’ve seen this in a few locations all over the world. For example if you look at Grand Cayman it’s obviously a map produce just after Hurricane Ivan, I assume this as half the island is missing as it’s covered in water. Oh and to make matters worse Hurricane Ivan was 10 years ago. So I feel that whilst Apple Map’s are good only Google and Nokia/Microsoft Maps have been disciplined and doe more areas not just major conurbations… I don’t say this lightly given I’m an iPhone and Mac user…

    • Darrell - 8 years ago

      this is really more of a result that Apple Maps is only 3 years old while Google Maps is 10. Consider how far Apple Maps will improve in only 2-3 more years at this point.

  9. Don Horne (@DonHorne) - 8 years ago

    While Apple might pat itself on the back I still see no comparison with Google Maps. Google’s up-to-date transit information near me in Notifications alone is indispensable.

  10. jayeshm - 8 years ago

    Apple maps is still useless outside the US. Even as an iPhone user, google maps is the only game in town. In 3 years they still have m house in the middle of the sea,

  11. Robert Lach - 8 years ago

    Is this a big surprise? The user interface of the iOS Google Maps App is so bad, so non iOS like, that I hate it to use.

  12. Dino Celotti - 8 years ago

    Outside of the USA, Apple Maps falls flat fast. Google’s transit directions throughout Europe are almost flawless (apart from in the moment transit changes/delays) while transit isn’t even available in most of Europe with Apple. I find Google’s drive times far better at approximating traffic impacts in real time too.

  13. Hanley Leung - 8 years ago

    search will be next. then we can stop looking at all the ads that dominant google results now.

  14. Hanley Leung - 8 years ago

    then main reason i use apple maps more than google maps now is the siri turn by turn integration while i’m driving. it’s so seamless and so easy to use when i’m driving that it got me used to using apple maps now. The transit directions are not just as good on apple as they are on google as well, if not better due to having the subway station layouts integrated into the directions also now.

    People also like to blame apple for making a bad call to get rid of google maps, but the word was that google was not giving IOS turn by turn directions and holding that out as a way to push people to android forcing apple to try and build their own:
    http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304543904577398502695522974

    • shoegazer4 - 8 years ago

      you do realise there are people in the world outside of the US right?

    • Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

      Apple Maps are junk in the UK. Business listings are comically limited and out of date. No street view. Traffic data is basic at best. And voice search works just as well in Google Maps as it does in Apple Maps.

  15. Jude Noronha - 8 years ago

    May I suggest the Here maps from Nokia. I’ve used all types of maps including Google, OSM, Garmin etc. But I find Here maps the best. I’ve heard 3 out of 4 cars GPS are powered by Here maps. Best of all you can download the whole World or any portions of it. It is free for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, any PC/mac/linux Browser – so you never get imprisoned with one OS vendor.

    Here maps even works perfectly when flight mode is on (as the entire maps can be used offline with turn by turn navigation). So you don’t have to have any data plan to use it.

  16. triankar - 8 years ago

    I’d be preferring Apple maps if it wasn’t so un-intelligent in understanding what I’m searching for.

    Examples:
    – I’m looking for (directions to) a very famous location, like a theatre or mall in my town. So I query for “, ” and Apple Maps can’t find it. Google finds it straight away. This is its weakest point: finding businesses and other points of interest
    – I query for a part of the city (area name) and I think last time I did that, it sent me off to Casablanca or thereabouts. Most of the times it comes back with a search failure
    – it often fails to locate known street addresses that are otherwise visible in the current map view (like when I’m searching for a given street number in a street I’m viewing)

    So, no, Apple Maps has a long ways to go before I stop using Google Maps. Or perhaps this is in my country. But I’ll grant them that WHEN it finds what I’m looking for, it otherwise works beautifully.

    • triankar - 8 years ago

      ok, the commenting system removed content in angled brackets, so I’ll rephrase:
      … I query for “{point of interest}, {city}” and …

  17. Last week i tried Apple maps, and got disappointed from it once again. I looked for nearest ATM and it send me to look in different country good job Apple. Then i just opened Google Maps and found ATM in 200 meters from me. I am sorry but Apple maps are years behind Google maps.

  18. Yesterday I had the chance to use Apple Maps, instead of Google Maps which I use daily.
    I confirm that (in Italy, at least) Apple Maps is still worse than GMaps. A lot.

  19. Inaba-kun (@Inaba_kun) - 8 years ago

    I guess laziness trumps quality then. It’s really not difficult to install Google Maps, which gives you street view, business listings which aren’t years out of date, accurate traffic, and offline capabilities.

    Apple Maps may have improved, but they were starting from a very, very low point.

    • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

      I wouldn’t necessarily call it lazy. Apple released Maps in 2012; 7 years after Google did. I have no idea how long Google has been designing their Maps service, but I would presume Apple only started when Google said “No!” to Apple’s request for turn-by-turn data. That was just a year prior. Some people (not you specifically!) need to understand how things evolve. ‘History is there for a reason’.

  20. Javier Rapoport - 8 years ago

    it was mentioned that apple maps info is now used within yelp and starbucks… so every time I find a nearby starbucks in the app is it counting as “1 usage” of apple maps? if that’s the case, then it’s very likely that a majority of the people might *not* be using apple maps for navigation, it’s just that the increase of usage could be limited to those in-other-app queries… so, are people actually using apple maps proper or just querying apple maps data? two complete different things, that this article kind of touches upon but fails to fully explain

    not saying that apple maps might not have gotten much better than originally released, or even that it might be superior to google maps… but data for data’s sake without proper information is meaningless…

  21. Winston Philip - 8 years ago

    i often start in maps and end up in google maps.

  22. rsnyder6 - 8 years ago

    I’ve used Waze for navigation for several years now, since the time few so people were on it that I was the first traveling many of the roads I drove. The real time traffic info and routing seems to work really well for me. I almost always have it running when I’m in the car, even if going somewhere I know, or not even navigating.

    I use Apple Maps more than Google on the phone, though Google on the computer. Don’t use either a lot on the phone. Google still seems to be better at locating businesses that I search for, but they are not as far apart as they once were.

    Best thing about Apple Maps on the phone is the integration, especially with Siri. Unfortunately with Apple adding transit info to Maps, Siri integration with Waze seems to have a problem, though I’m off now to see if I can find a new way to make them work together.

  23. uniquified - 8 years ago

    I wish this article compared this scenario to the “Internet Explorer has more browser market share” argument of a decade or more ago. It’s the same thing – more usage because it comes preinstalled. It’s not a statement of quality – Google Maps is still years ahead on POI, routing, traffic, access to updates, turn-around time on fixes. I use Google Maps for these reasons. I just wish Apple would allow (or be forced to allow) 3rd party map app integration with Siri.

  24. dharrison9 - 8 years ago

    Of course, this probably includes Apple Maps requests handled by events in calendar, though Siri Suggestions and a myriad of other sources where Apple pings the Maps server, probably when you were just going to go to Google Maps anyway. The 3x as many requests probably, and seemingly doesn’t, incorporate the integration that Maps has in iOS that Google Maps can never accomplish.

    But good for Apple, right?

  25. Paul Andrew Dixon - 8 years ago

    Here in Japan the apple map is pretty useless… it’s not very detailed, and it doesnt help with transportation – especially trains :-(

    • AeronPeryton - 8 years ago

      Been living in Japan for three years. I only launch Google Maps when I want to find a specific store in a place I’m unfamiliar with, and it’s been a while since I’ve done that. Other than that, I always use Apple Maps because I’ve come to realize that the data, though sparser than Google, is more up to date. I stopped using Google Maps for directions on foot when it kept leading me to locations that were closed down or told me to walk through dead ends to a street on the other side of a house. And I no longer trust its transit directions because it told me to get on the wrong bus or train more than a few times, sometimes sending me in the wrong direction late at night when my only option to get back was hoof it to a busy road and hail a taxi.

      Apple Maps doesn’t offer as much outside of the US and UK, but because it’s a newer project than Google Maps it is ironically unburdened by tons of obsolete information. Google is apparently not interested in keeping their maps current, at least not in Japan. Every correction I’ve submitted to Apple Maps I’ve seen fixed. I launch the app and find things updated like locations translated to English and new iconography quite often. Whereas every correction I’ve submitted to Google remains unfixed. So I use it as little as possible and I take whatever it tells me with a huge grain of salt.

      Anyone who is serious about transit in Japan uses NAVITIME anyways.

  26. I take the bus to get places on my own so naturally I use Google Maps because Apple Maps doesn’t have transit info for my city. Once Apple expands Google is going to be gone.
    Google keep changing their app and is getting to the point that I’m irritated with it.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

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