After three long years the prodigal son has returned. Google just announced that Google Maps is coming back to the Apple Watch. It’s also adding support for the Apple CarPlay Dashboard.
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Google Maps x Apple Watch
Maps was removed from the Apple Watch back in 2017, but it’s finally found its way back. On Tuesday Google announced its return.
“When you’re out and about, smartwatches help you stay connected and see essential information at a glance,” Google said in a blog post.
“With the Google Maps app for the Apple Watch, you can easily navigate by car, bike, public transit or on foot.”
The Apple Watch Google Maps app allows for estimated time of arrivals, as well as step-by-step directions for places you have saved, such as home or your workplace. Other shortcuts are also available on-wrist.
If you need directions for an un-saved location you can do so by starting the navigation from your phone and then picking it up on your Apple Watch.
This feature will be rolling out in the coming weeks so stay tuned.
CarPlay Support
The other big Google Maps news is its now support by the CarPlay Dashboard. This means you can keep Google Maps open on the dashboard while multi-tasking.
“In the CarPlay Dashboard you can now switch or pause songs from your favourite media app, rewind or fast forward podcasts or audiobooks, or quickly check calendar appointments without ever leaving turn-by-turn navigation in Google Maps,” Google said in a blog post.
As you can see in the demonstration below, all of the info is displayed in a split screen view. This functionality was rolled out in iOS 13 and third-party app support for split screen was added in iOS 13.4 earlier this year. Now Google Maps will be able to use it, too.
Google Maps is available on Apple CarPlay from today.
