Google Maps may be more popular, but Apple Maps has a lot to offer as well. This week’s iPhone tips will help you get started with the Maps app.
iPhone tips: get more out of Apple Maps
Apple Maps not only helps you get from A to B, but also, for example, with sharing your expected time of arrival, or ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). You can read all about it in this week’s iPhone tips!
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1. View a location with Apple’s version of Street View
We’re starting this week’s iPhone tips with an option that looks like Street View. Street View is a term mainly associated with Google Maps, but Maps also has its own version, which Apple simply calls Look Around. The principle is essentially the same.
You can’t look around everywhere, but you can in most cities. You start it by tapping on the square with the binoculars. If you don’t see the square, first put a pin on the map. If you don’t see it yet, then you are in a place where it is not possible. Looking around works the same as in Street View.
2. Delete location history
Number two of these iPhone tips is about your location history. One of the main advantages of Apple Maps is that Apple is committed to privacy. This means that Apple does not store any information on a remote server, but keeps everything on your iPhone and hides your exact location after 24 hours.
But if you’d rather Apple Maps not remember where you’ve been at all, you can easily clear your location history. This is how you do it:
- Open the Settings app;
- Tap ‘Privacy & Security’ and then ‘Location Services’;
- Tap ‘System’ and ‘Key Locations’;
- Tap the ‘Clear History’ button.
Your iPhone may ask you to enter your passcode, or to verify that it’s you with Face ID, but that’s all you have to do.
3. Create personal guides
Number three of these iPhone tips shows you how to create personal guides. If you’re going on vacation or planning a day out with friends or family, Apple Maps can help you organize everything. The guides feature lets you gather everything in one place and share it with others. You can do this with places that you find interesting, such as museums.
Tap the museum of your choice, then tap More. Then choose ‘Add to guides’. Select New Guide, give the guide a name, then tap Create in the top right. You can now add future locations to this collection with one tap.
4. Share your arrival
If you have arranged to meet someone at your destination, it can be useful to let them know when you will arrive. Apple Maps can send real-time updates of your ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival), so you don’t have to do anything yourself. In number four of these iPhone tips you can read how to activate the ‘Share arrival’ option.
Once your navigation is active, tap the arrow at the bottom right and tap ‘Share arrival’. Then tap ‘Open Contacts’ and choose the person you want to share your arrival with.
When you go back to your card, you will see a line at the bottom of the screen that says Share with 1 person. If you tap on this, you will see who you have shared your arrival with and you can stop sharing with a tap on ‘Unshare your arrival’. As long as sharing is active, the person will automatically receive updates via text message whenever there is a change to the ETA.
5. Pause your podcast
Number five of these iPhone tips is for anyone who listens to a podcadst or audiobook while driving. Normally, Apple Maps just talks through it while giving directions. You always miss something from your podcast. Fortunately, you can also set playback to pause and automatically resume when Apple Maps stops prompting you. You set it like this:
- Open the Settings app;
- Tap ‘Maps’ and then ‘Spoken directions’;
- Enable the ‘Pause spoken audio during directions’ option.
6. Use Compass Mode
We conclude this week’s iPhone tips with Compass Mode. Navigating via a map can be quite confusing if you don’t know the area. Then it can help to use the ‘Compass mode’. The idea is that your iPhone becomes your compass. The map then rotates depending on where your phone is pointing.
Tap the Location arrow at the top right until it turns into a vertical arrow with a line sticking out of it. You know it’s working when a compass appears underneath. The compass isn’t 100 percent accurate, especially if you’re indoors or surrounded by trees or tall buildings, but it will give you a pretty good idea of ​​which direction to go.
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