Apple Maps in India: It’s 2020 and still way behind Google Maps

Apple’s mapping service launched back in 2012. It’s been almost a decade but Apple Maps still has a lot of catching up to do. Google Maps is preferred by commuters globally and rightly so because it has regularly updated with useful features.

Apple Maps enabled its ‘Nearby’ feature in India just yesterday. This feature lets users find nearby places for services like food delivery, groceries, medical stores, petrol pumps and restaurants. In other markets like Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands, Apple Maps rolled out real-time transit information.

Apple Maps went through a major update last year with iOS 13. It introduced more useful features and visual changes as well. Apple Maps is still way behind especially due to its limited availability in many countries. Apple, like Google, launches or tests its features in the US. But the wider roll-out for Apple Maps takes longer than Google Maps.

For example, Apple Maps started showing Covid-19 testing sites this April but this feature is limited to the US and Puerto Rico. Google Maps however rolled out this feature in India last week.

It’s fair to say that Google Maps has wider availability thanks to its Android dominance and it works on iOS too. Apple Maps is however limited to iPhones.

Apple Maps has only now expanded real-time transit to six more countries in addition to 32 cities in Australia, China and the US. Its Nearby feature too which is now available in India, rolled out to 30 more countries.

Turn-by-turn navigation on Apple Maps arrived in India just last year. It has now been expanded to more countries like Bahamas, China, Greece and Uruguay. Google has had this feature for the longest time and it even introduced this on the Maps Go app for low-end Android phones in 2018.

Apple Maps is slowly but definitely catching up to Google Maps. But it looks like Google Maps will still be the go-to app for directions.