Best Ways to Use Google Maps With Apple CarPlay

Depending on your technological, financial, or political interests, the world may seem a mess right now, but I think there is one thing that can inspire everyone. Google Maps has finally arrived in CarPlay.

To be honest, I never thought I‘d live tosee the day when Apple would allow anything other than its own services to live on your car’s digital dashboard. Little things like podcasting apps or YouTube, of course, whatever, but Google Maps? This is practically an admission that Apple Maps is a failure as it doesn’t take a genius (the bar) to realize that most CarPlay users – who probably used Google Maps long before Apple Maps existed – will switch to the Google app as soon as they “Is allowed.

The only reason I ever used Apple Maps at all was because it was the only app that worked seamlessly with CarPlay (Siri enabled, no less). Now that the gateways are open, I’m more than happy to be able to make Google Maps my primary and only mapping application forever.

Here are some tips to get you started, including a fun way to “use Siri” with Google Maps, thanks to iOS 12’s handy shortcuts feature.

Use a microphone

When you click on Google Maps in CarPlay, you get a little overlay that lets you choose the destination you want to travel to, access the app’s options, and, hiding in the bottom right corner, talk to Google Maps themselves. … While there is no (great) way to use Siri to load your destination into Google Maps – more on that in a moment – at least you’re only two taps away from being able to scroll your directions in Google Maps.

The first time you touch this microphone icon, you will be prompted to look at your device and allow Google Maps to access your microphone and enable its “voice search” capabilities. Do this and be prepared to save a lot of time compared to manually entering addresses. Plus, you probably shouldn’t be typing so much on your iPhone while you’re driving.

Try different routes

It’s a fairly simple feature, but I still appreciate that Google Maps gives you a few choices when you choose your route. Light things, the same as in Apple Maps.

I’m also a fan of how Google Maps will show you the effects of navigation changes right on the map itself. In other words, if you are contemplating a different route, you can quickly see if it really can save you time or not:

Indicate the routes you want to travel

Click on that settings gear in the upper right corner of Google Maps (on CarPlay) and you can choose from the usual set of options that Google Maps should consider when navigating anywhere: avoiding highways, toll roads and ferries. , For instance.

You can also enable satellite view for Google Maps, which I really like:

See how beautiful it is? Now you will have something to look at as you sit in traffic and waste your life on a terrible commute.

Your smartphone app has settings too

If you are worried that there is not much that you can configure on the CarPlay settings screen of the Google Maps version (try saying it in one go), don’t forget about Google Maps on your smartphone. At a time that’s safe for you, pull it up and use the Explore Nearby option to find nearby places you might want to visit, just like you usually use Google Maps.

Clicking on the hamburger icon in the upper left corner and then the gear icon will take you to the main Google Maps settings screen. In the Navigation section, most of the options should look pretty familiar: what to avoid on routes, whether you want your map to always face north, and so on. One of the options that interested me the most is the Save Parking Space option, which uses the movement of your device – presumably when it stops moving faster than a person normally walks, you park – to keep track of where you are.

In the Trips section of the Google Maps settings, you can also tell Google to use your Location History to better estimate your daily travel time. Yes, you will provide Google with information that may annoy privacy concerns among you. However, if I were driving to work on a daily basis, I would like to use every possible means I can think of to save as much time as possible while driving, or better yet, avoid accidents or slowdowns that can lead to deaths while traveling to work.

Remove Apple Maps from CarPlay

Forgive me for capturing this section because there is no way to permanently remove Apple Maps from the CarPlay interface if you’re ready to switch to Google Maps permanently. However, you can clear the first screen you see. With your iPhone connected to your car, go to Settings > General > CarPlay and click on the name of your car or receiver under My Car. In my case, this is referred to as “AV Receiver”.

On the screen that appears, you can remove third-party apps from the CarPlay interface and, more importantly, drag apps you don’t want to see onto the second screen. This is where I threw Apple Maps, since Apple won’t let you uninstall it for some unknown reason …

Open Google Maps “with Siri”

Here’s a big one. You can’t just tell Siri to get directions to a place – unless you want it to appear on Google Maps and not Apple Maps, that is. However, thanks to the fun Shortcuts app you can now download for iOS 12, you can use Siri with Google Maps. Little.

Here is a screenshot of the 3-step process I created and I’ll tell you about it under the photo:

The first step – ” Dictate Text” is what brings up Siri. Anything you tell her will be recorded and ultimately saved in Google Maps, so you’ll probably want to give an address. Just an idea.

In the second step, Show Alert , I make your iPhone display a transcription of what Siri heard what you said. If everything is correct, click OK to continue. If not, you can click Cancel and redo the shortcut one more time. Hope Siri understands you better.

Finally, whatever you agree to in the second step is uploaded to Google Maps, which should automatically open in navigation mode for the address if Google Maps can find it. I selected Driving by default, but feel free to edit my shortcut (or do more) for whatever mode of transport you prefer.

So far, the shortcut works well as long as you don’t try to use it through the Shortcuts widget in Today view on iPhone. I’m not sure why, but shortcut widgets seem to have some issues (at the time of this writing). Otherwise, the shortcut works fine.

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