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13 handy hidden tricks for Google Maps on Android

Accept advantage of all Maps has to offering by tapping into these easily overlooked features and options.

Who doesn't dearest Google Maps? The Maps Android app helps those of us with oatmeal for brains discover our way anywhere, without having to burn down any neurons or exercise any synapses. It even helps us observe places to option upwards tasty cuisine — like, uh, oatmeal (yum!).

But there's much more to Google Maps than meets the heart — and odds are, you aren't taking advantage of at least a few handy hidden features lurking within the Maps Android app. With Android 12 right around the corner and more shiny new Android goodies showing up past the day, I thought information technology'd be a fine time to swoop deep into this ever-evolving Android anchor and think through some of its more off-the-beaten-path advanced options.

Take a few minutes to explore these possibilities the next fourth dimension you've got Maps pulled up on your phone, and get ready to feel the world around you in a whole new way.

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1. Automated trip arrangement

Way back in 2016, Google came out with an awesomely clever app called Trips. Trips tapped into all the info already in your inbox and automatically created impressively organized, piece of cake-to-manage bundles of plans from your incoming itineraries and confirmations. Information technology. Was. Spectacular.

Simply then, well, Google Googled. Subsequently a few short years, the company killed off Trips and left those of us who'd come to rely on its smarts stranded, without any comparable replacement.

Or so it seemed. Fast-frontward to today, and much of Trips' planning intelligence has quietly fabricated its fashion into the master Maps app. You lot only practically demand a map to notice information technology.

And then hither's the secret: Open up up the Maps app on Android, tap the Saved tab at the bottom, and and so scroll down and look for the circular Reservations button. Tap that, and whatsoever flights, car rentals, restaurant reservations, or other travel-related plans you've got will show up in an organized listing — culled direct from the confirmations in your Gmail inbox too as your Google Calendar.

Want to look back on by adventures? Yous've got information technology: Merely tap your contour motion-picture show in Maps' upper-right corner, and then select "Your Timeline" from the carte du jour that comes upwards and look for the give-and-take "Trips" on the bar at the top of the screen. At that place, in that tucked-abroad spot no sane person would ever go effectually to finding, you'll see detailed info about any wanderings Google has compiled over the years.

Google Maps Android: Trips JR

And merely a reminder: If you'd rathernon take this info pulled over from other Google services into the Maps app, y'all can disable the feature or restrict how far back it goes by turning off or limiting Web & App Activity in your Google privacy settings.

2. Instant driving mode

Google Maps and Assistant now work together to give you a driving style that puts common mid-trip functions front and heart and makes 'em every bit easy as can be to actuate whilst on the road.

Past default, that mode pops upwards whenever you lot actively start a new Maps navigation. But with a couple quick tweaks, y'all can make it evenmore useful past telling it to get-go up on its own whenever you connect to your vehicle'due south Bluetooth system — or fifty-fifty simply whenever it detects that you're driving.

To find those options, tap your profile movie in the upper-right corner of the Maps Android app, then select "Settings" followed by "Navigation settings" and so "Google Assistant settings" (whew!).

At present, on the screen that comes up next, look at the lines labeled "When continued to motorcar's Bluetooth" and "When driving is detected." In the first case, you can inquire Maps to burn down upwardly driving mode instantly as soon as a connection is made —or yous can instruct it to pop upward a prompt and ask you lot if you lot want that to happen every time such a connectedness is established. On the machine-driving detection, the pop-upwards prompt is your simply option beyond the default "practise nothing" behavior.

Google Maps Android: Driving mode JR

And one more tip to keep in mind: If you ever want to summon driving mode on your ain, you lot can always actuate Assistant (by saying "Hey Google" or using any Assistant-summoning command you lot prefer) and then saying "driving style" — or you tin give yourself a i-impact push for launching the style by long-pressing on your home screen, selecting "Widgets," so scrolling downwards to the Maps section and touching and holding the "Driving Mode" widget to place it anywhere on your home screen.

3. Pinned places

Detect yourself meandering to the same places or making the aforementioned extended drives ofttimes? Save yourself some fourth dimension by tapping into Maps' easily overlooked trip pinning system. Information technology lets you save common trips and then pull 'em upward quickly for on-need, hassle-free navigation whenever you lot need it.

You tin can pin a trip from a couple dissimilar places inside the Android Maps app:

  • When yous're searching for a specific destination within the Maps app, look for the Pivot control at the bottom of the screen after y'all've tapped the push button to bring up directions.
  • From the principal Maps screen, tap the Go tab at the bottom and then look at the app's suggested places based on your contempo activity. If y'all see the trip you desire there, tap the pushpin icon aslope information technology to pin it.

Whichever way you lot go, anything you've pinned volition ever announced at the top of the app's Go tab from so on out — and starting a new navigation to that destination will only be one more tap from in that location.

4. Location saving

Recollect fashion back in the early days of Android when 1 of the nigh popular apps was a simple little tool called Machine Locator? No? Well, I do — but then again, I've been writing about Android for approximately 973 years now. (Related: I may or may not be a wise, if somewhat shriveled, tortoise elderberry.)

These days, that app is long gone — but little-known fact: Maps itself can do exactly what it used to do and save any location you lot want, and so help you mosey dorsum to information technology later.

The next fourth dimension your noggin needs a retention aide, just open up up Maps and tap the blueish dot that represents your current location. That'll pull upwardly a large ol' honkin carte du jour, within which you lot'll see the incredibly useful "Save parking" option. (And don't let yourself be fooled: While its official purpose may revolve around parking, you can simply every bit easily use the characteristic to saveany kind of location for any reason yous desire.)

Tap that option, and that's information technology: Your current location will be burned into Maps' retention. If y'all want to add extra info to help your own mushy mammal brain later, swipe up on the bar that says "Parking location" at the bottom of the screen. You can then enter notes about your saved location (what level you parked on, how many oatmeal-serving establishments were in the vicinity, so on), attach photos (y'all making silly faces in front end of diverse passersby, etc), and create an alert to remind y'all almost the location afterward a certain amount of time has elapsed.

Google Maps Android: Save parking JR

When you lot're fix to get back to your car — or whatever sort of spot y'all've saved — all you've gotta do is tap that same "Parking location" bar at the bottom of the Maps app or look for the "Parking location" notification from anywhere in your phone.

v. Location sharing

Next up: Assist someone discover yous — or possibly but give 'em an update on your whereabouts and progress — by tapping the blue location dot within the main Maps screen and and then selecting "Share location" from the menu that comes up.

That'll let you give anyone a link to follow your location in real-time on a map for a specific corporeality of time or until you turn the feature off. You tin can even beam the link straight into another app or service on your phone to become information technology wherever you need.

vi. Incognito mode

On your mode to a hole-and-corner lair? Well, await at you, Bruce Wayne. Pin this bit of info to your amygdala: If you tap your profile flick in the Maps app and so select "Turn on Incognito fashion," Maps will temporarily stop saving your location and using it for any future purposes. And no one — not fifty-fifty Google — will know where you are.

Not to worry: Your secret's safe with me.

7. Location collections

One of the Android Maps app'due south well-nigh underappreciated features is its ability to let you create collections of places and then revisit 'em or share 'em with other human being person-people later. Information technology's like a super-specific sort of bookmarking service that'southward all about locations and connected straight to your favorite navigation genie.

To take advantage of the system, tap the Saved tab at the bottom of the Maps app, and so look for the section labeled "Your listing." Tap the "New listing" command within that area of the screen, and you tin can then requite your fancy new listing a name and a description and decide whether yous want information technology to be private, shared merely with specific people, or public for anyone to detect.

Google Maps Android: Collections JR

With shared lists, yous can fifty-fifty opt to permit other people edit and add their own items into the mix — an easy way to collaborate with colleagues, cousins, or chinchillas on a listing of lustworthy luncheon spots or places to finish by on your next business outing.

8. In-app media controls

Why swipe around to control your music when you can do it right from the master Maps interface? Maps has the ability to add together audio controls directly into the app and so you tin see your currently playing tunes and shuffle effectually as needed within a prominently placed bar in the app's navigation area.

To get started, open upward Maps' settings, select "Navigation settings," then tap "Assistant default media provider." Pick from one of the bachelor options, and whatever service you choose will testify up within your navigation interface and also respond to whatever spoken commands issued to Assistant about audio playing.

9. Locked orientation

Sometimes, information technology seems similar it'd exist easier to understand a map if north were always facing up. Well, skillful news, my swain orientation-obsessed organism: You can actually tell Maps to keep a consistent, locked orientation with north at the acme whenever information technology's navigating. Simply look in the "Navigation settings" section of the app's main settings and find the option labeled (rather appropriately) "Keep map due north upward." Actuate its toggle and then balance easy knowing yous'll never demand to do that awkward head-pivoting, trying-to-figure-out-which-way-yous're-facing maneuver over again.

10. Permanent night mode

In that same "Navigation settings" section of Maps' settings lies an understated option anyone with sensitive peepers volition exist pleased to uncover: the power to set Maps' color scheme into a permanent night mode whenever navigation is agile.

Past default, Maps manages this setting on its own and switches betwixt a light and night scheme as it sees fit. If you'd rather avoid glary distractions all the time, expect for the "Colour scheme" setting and switch it from "Automatic" to "Night."

eleven. A quieter vocalism

I don't know about you, but I've lost count of the number of times I've had Maps navigation going and music playing from my telephone at the same time — and so jumped in my seat when that lovely navigation genie's voice cuts in and somehow seems 7,000 times louder than the song behind information technology. In that location'south actually an piece of cake fix for that, though: At the very superlative of the "Navigation settings" section of Maps' settings sits an option chosen "Guidance volume." Try changing information technology to "Softer" — or "Louder," if you lot dare! — and run into how that suits your ears.

12. Specific restaurant suggestions

Browsing through the Maps app is an underrated way to find something tasty to eat, whether you're planning to become somewhere or place an order for delivery. Simply navigating your style through the maze of culinary options in your expanse tin become overwhelming fast, particularly if y'all have a specific sort of nourishment in mind.

Well, accept notation, y'all hungry, hungry hamster: Afterward borer the "Restaurants" option at the top of the primary Maps screen, yous can actually narrow down the types of places that'll show up as suggestions. Y'all can selection from a sprawling range of variables, too — everything from the establishment'south hours, ratings, and whether it delivers to what kind of cuisine it serves. You tin even filter based on whether you've visited a identify before and whether it's child-friendly, delivery-ready, and even vegetarian-prepared.

The fox is to tap the little control icon in the upper-left corner of the restaurant search screen, then but go to boondocks on selecting whatsoever filters seem correct.

Google Maps Android: Restaurant filters JR

A delectable level of control, wouldn't ya say?

13. Voice commands

Last but not to the lowest degree, you'd exist forgiven for forgetting — or maybe not ever knowing — but Maps has its own custom set of voice commands that work whenever you're in the midst of a navigation. All you've gotta do is say "Hey Google" or activate Banana in any mode you prefer, and so shout out the command in question.

So buckle upwards — here are some of the more intriguing possibilities:

  • "How's traffic ahead?"
  • "How's traffic home?"
  • "Show the route overview."
  • "Testify an alternate road."
  • "What's my ETA?"
  • "What road is this?"
  • "What's my next plough?"
  • "Navigate home."
  • "Avert tolls."
  • "Avoid highways."
  • "Find a gas station."
  • "Take me to Best Buy."
  • "Find a eating place."
  • "Detect me somewhere that serves oatmeal, gosh darn information technology."

That concluding one may or may not work, only hey — information technology's always worth a shot.

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Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves upwards tasty morsels about the human being side of engineering science. Hungry for more? Join him on Twitter or sign up for his weekly newsletter to go fresh tips and insight in your inbox every Fri.

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