- Google Maps for Apple Watch is back in the App Store after a three-year break.
- It can get directions from your phone or quick access to home and work.
- It’s not quite as powerful as Apple Maps, but it’s an important alternative.
It’s been a month since Google announced the return of Maps for Apple Watch, and now it’s finally here. Google has released the Apple Watch version of Maps (via 9to5Google) as part of an iOS app update that brings some common navigation options for your wrist.
This isn’t as independent of your iPhone as Apple Maps, but it does provide a lot of vital information to get around the city. You can quickly get directions to your home, work, and saved destinations. You have to start navigation for every other destination on your phone. However, Google Maps can provide detailed driving, biking, public transit, and walking directions in the Apple Watch app.
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The app is also a mostly well-behaved Apple Watch citizen with vibration-based directional cues (similar to Apple Maps) and a complication to quickly start routing from your watch face. However, there are no live maps. Unlike Apple’s solution, if you need visual confirmation of where to go, you need to check your iPhone. Otherwise, limit yourself to basic on-screen hints with symbols and street names as the only reference points.
You won’t necessarily replace Apple Maps with the Google app then. This is especially true if you own an Apple Watch with a cell phone and want to leave your iPhone for a short walk to the home business. However, this gives you an important alternative. It’s also good news if you’re a fan of the Google ecosystem. You can use the map software on a smartwatch even if you are not using a Wear operating system.
