How to Make Waze the Best Navigation App
Waze has long been one of our favorite navigation apps , and while Google acquired Waze back in 2013 , the two still exist side-by-side. Google Maps is great, but with the right settings, Waze can be amazing, especially in high-traffic cities.
As Google adds more Waze-like features to Maps, it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish between the two. For driving, though (Waze is in no way useful for any other form of transportation), Waze is generally better at re-routing on the fly, alerting you to police and various incidents, and focusing more on the experience of getting you to your place of residence. … destination faster. It’s all about little features like Waze’s congestion score and road closure information .
Personally, I never found Waze useful until I lived in Seattle and Los Angeles. Social features and insane rerouting make sense in big cities with congestion issues. But by default, Waze is still a little confusing. You have to dig into the settings for it to really shine.
Customize how Waze chooses your route
People often complain that Waze will take you through crazy streets to save you 30 seconds before your trip. However, you can sort of change that. Go to Settings> Navigation> Routing Styles and select Shortest. This will force Waze to find the shortest distance between two points instead of the fastest. In my experience, Waze will still guide you around traffic or other congestion, but it’s not that hard. You can also always check out other route options by clicking the Directions button after entering the address (which, by the way, you should always do anyway to avoid the silly left turn that will get you stuck).
While you’re in the navigation options, make sure you like the way Waze decides to guide you on toll roads, freeways, and dirt roads.
Clear map
Waze is a social app, part of which means people can report all kinds of accidents, police whereabouts and other similar incidents. This can be great, but it’s also pretty mind-boggling that all those little icons appear on the map as you drive. So, you can go into settings to customize what is shown on the map. Go to Settings> Display Settings> Show on Map, then uncheck anything that doesn’t interest you. This simplifies the visuals to make it easier to understand what’s going on.
Customize your gas preferences
One of Waze’s best little features is the gas station and pricing information. Go to Settings> Gas stations and prices, and you can customize how Waze will show you the nearest gas stations when you search for them. You can customize your preferred fuel type, the specific gas stations you like, and how the information is sorted (by price, distance, or brand) when you search. This seems like a minor feature, but it’s really nice when you live in a condensed area with highly fluctuating gas prices.
Use the “Send ETA” option
If you use Waze, chances are good that you live in a city that suffers from severe traffic congestion. This means that it is quite difficult to catch up on something. While I’ve never been a fan of creepy friend tracking apps like Apple’s Find My Friends , I use Waze’s “Send” ETA feature all the time when I’m traveling long distances, or on airport runs. Tap the time at the bottom of the screen, then tap the Send ETA button and you can send your friend your location and ETA if they have Waze installed. That way, they’ll know when you run into traffic or whatever, and you don’t have to text them to tell them you’re running late.
Turn it off when you are not using it
Waze loves to track your location all the time. At best it’s a drain on your battery and at worst it’s a privacy issue. Luckily, Waze has a power button. Just tap the Waze icon in the bottom left corner, then tap the power icon. Waze will go into sleep mode, in which it will not consume battery power and transmit traffic data.