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OK, so iOS 6 has a load of decent new features, but Apple Maps isn’t one of them. It looks nice and is quite fast, but it’s not a patch on Google Maps in the UK. While we wait for Google to launch a standalone Google Maps app for iOS 6, here are some alternatives to tide you over.
First up, the only way to get a true Google Maps experience on iOS 6 at the moment is probably the simplest. Just bookmark maps.google.com on your iPhone or iPad; you can even add it to your homescreen and pretend its an app.
It’s just a webpage in Safari, which makes it slow, but it is Google Maps, including all the business, places and transport links you were used to.
To replace the lack of StreetView, download the free iFindView. It’s a bit clunky, ok, very clunky, but it’s StreetView and it’s free. It uses Apple’s Maps to plunk your man down, but then brings up a StreetView feed direct from Google. It’s better than nothing, until Big G comes up with something decent.
There are quite a few turn-by-turn apps for the iPhone, but most of them are paid. Here’s a free one that’ll do the job in a pinch. Check out Waze — it’s based on TIGER maps, which may or may not be accurate, but it’s free so worth checking out.
One of the other solid alternatives to Google’s mapping data is OpenStreetMaps. It’s not quite as comprehensive, but it’s miles better for finding places than Apple’s current effort. There are quite a few OSM-based apps, but most of them are paid. Here’s a complete list of apps that use OSM, but give this free app a try — OpenMaps.
It’s got a very minimalist UI, which I can’t say I found all that helpful when just starting off, but you get used to it. It’s free, but probably isn’t the best, so if you’ve got a fave, let us know in the comments.
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Don’t you just love it when the inspiration for an article comes from the rant of a commenter!
Well done Sam, that showen em!
We live to serve our readers
And you do a Bally good job of it too sir! Sycophancy aside (nod to darrell for the word of the day) when are we going to have a proper Giz meet up? It’s now 9 months since the launch Sam! I could have given birth in that time, lord knows it looks like i’m Gestating something in this humungous Gut of mine!
Seconded, either that or you come out with the Giz G+ circle and make that a Semi-Official event.
Thanks for this. I’ll use the ifindview one.
You forgot one. Buy an Android phone. Granted its not “free” but if you were going to buy an iPhone 5 anyway, then spending the same money on an Android phone instead would make it effectively free and you won’t have to worry about Google Maps possibly not making it through the approval process.
In the interests of balance I hear Nokia maps on windows phone is also quite good.
It is indeed as well as being a very sleek OS oh and the City Lense Augmented Reality app isn’t bad either, not to mention the Local Scout App
I said “in the interests of balance” not “in the interests of plugging Windows 8″
Aww. I think that since more people know Android you have to overcompensate when balancing windows phone
This is more for those who upgraded to iOS 6 last night and experienced the horror of Apple Maps for themselves for the first time. Had several friends complaining to me about it.
Understood mate, but the suggestion is still valid. I assume some of your mates (and you) are planning on getting an iPhone 5. I know a certain female editor of your acquaintance was, at least before she saw those HTC Windows Phones.
DJ,
How could Apple possibly deny a Google Maps app when there are literally HUNDREDS of other mapping apps in the App Store – most of them paid. THey would have to kick all of those apps out of the store and refund the purchases and then compensate the devs in some way in order to avoid an even bigger PR disaster.
I just don’t see this as a real possibility.
I agree that it is unlikely that Apple could get away with blocking Google Maps, because everyone would know why they were doing it. As you say, there are already loads of other mapping apps on iOS, so Apple would have no excuse. They could however do what they did with Google Voice and leave it in the approval process for ages, claiming they need to check it thoroughly.
One point no-one has considered. What if there was a non-compete clause in the contract Google had with Apple for use of the API. Would Apple have been powerful enough to add a clause that said “if we decide not to renew at the end of the contract you may not release a competing service on our platform until x months after the contract expires”
As shit as iMaps is. It’s perfectly useable for turn by turn to get you to a destination. Otherwise no other defense for that flaming pile of poop.
It is… ish… I asked the new & improved Siri “Take me to my nearest Tesco” & it did direct me to a Tesco store… only 60 miles away – not any of the other 5 in my area! Siri should stick to doing the weakest link!
Siri IS the weakest link.
It just needs to get as much data as it can, i.e. business addresses, Street names (Correct). But so far the turn by turn has proved very good with post codes, so you could google the address and then copy and paste the post code into iMaps and away you go.
I wish Apple and Google could make a map together.
What’d be the point? It’s not like Google need anything from Apple to make their system better.
Fairy Dust!!!
I think OpenStreetMaps is great – it has loads of extra details like footpaths, bridleways etc. that Google Maps doesn’t even have.
For the cyclists among us, OpenCycleMaps is great – Based on OpenStreetMaps data, but with added details like on-road cycle lanes, national cycle routes etc. (Oh, and it’s got pubs and bike shops – literally everything you need for a nice bike ride).
Why not just use Google Maps through the browser? Sure, it’s probably slightly slower, but the interface, maps, and features will all be very familiar.
Because it’s very slow. Maybe the iP5 will speeden it up, but I’ll wait for Google to bring an App out.
I worked it out
For the £599 you pay for an iPhone 5 you can buy yourself
An offline Galaxy S3 from Amazon warehouse £350.00
A 64GB (giving you 80GB) Class 10 Micro SD Card – £43
And a Google Nexus 7 – £199.
And still have change for a dozen Apples
That’s a bit like saying for the price of a BMW you could buy a Skoda with a bigger boot, buy a trailer and still have money left over to buy a Ford Transit.
Oh but it’s worse, because at least those cars aren’t stuck running Android.
Ha ha!
But… Android is better than iOS now that it’s not 2008, and the S3 hardware is certainly not worse than iPhone 5, and that’s a free Nexus 7… sooooo really it’s like paying for a BMW but getting a Mercedes instead, with sexy chick in the passenger seat giving you blowjobs whilst you drive around squealing with excitement, running through red lights and picket fences.
Sorry, got a bit lost with my analogy there…
Google are giving you all that just to make you buy Android?
I thought their business model of selling Nexus 7s for a loss was desperate but sexual favours with every purchase. Daym!
Anyway, I have an android phone next to me which is my ‘reserve’ phone now that I’ve sold the 4S and am waiting for the 5. Already really bored of it. When are they going to get round to finishing the OS?
Oh, that’s interesting. What phone, and what’s unfinished about the OS?
Excuse me for butting in here but are you saying iOS is a “finished” OS? I hope you are right. A finished os means there will be no iOS 7 and iOS will stay just as it is while all the unfinished OS’s keep getting better. Considering that iOS 6 has features found in Android since it’s previous iteration and doesn’t catch up with Jellybean I think you should limit the snide, don’t you?
You’re right, I was asking the wrong question.
Well it was a lot more of a finished OS before these problems with Maps not being finished (it works perfectly for me with what I use it for, and I need to use a separate app which hooks into the iOS maps app for transit). Before, I felt that Android was unfinished with how buggy and slow it was, its no longer buggy or slow on Jellybean but the app development kit needs to be improved as iOS seems do better with app polish and reliability. But I reckon people into whichever eco system suits them best
.
people buy into***
BMW Every time
OK fair one. No one expects a Spanish Inquisition.
My comments aren’t do to with future features or functionality; more attention to detail. It’s well documented that apps and areas of the GUI frequently render incorrectly with the buttons offset and out of reach or the memory leaks and the whole interface freezes due to resources being taken.
HTC had a good crack at trying to get past this issue in the 4.x OS and totally ruined the multitasking (which is a very nice feature in Android, but for the memory leaks) but there are a lot of mini-errors which mostly are due to it being an ‘open’ platform available to different devices with different configurations, which in my opinion are inexcusable in a consumer product showing the sandboxing in iOS even though not popular, is actually a good thing.
Anyway, since I’ve now signed onto my Android phone via the internet, all of my bank details and login information are probably available in the public domain. <- This is me being satirical about the inherent security flaws present in all releases of Android in case you're wondering.
No worries, Live long and prosper.
I never noticed any this in my 2 years with Android before I got my 4S.
If anything, with iOS I’m always wondering where the hell the back button is, as all the apps are so inconsistant! And when are Apple gonna finish the notification bar? If you’re gonna copy Google at least do it right, where’s the power widget? 3 levels of menu just to turn on Bluetooth!? please! And why do notifications appear at the top then disappear!? what’s the point in that, if you miss them and you’re not on the screen with your icon to see the badge how do you know you’ve got a message (without turning on the obtrusive popup).
I’m counting down the days until the next Nexus is announced, Android has evolved more in the 12months I’ve had my iPhone than iOS has done in 5 years!
“It’s well documented that [makes up a bunch of shit that never happens]…”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word – Vague expressions with the use of a passive voice (“it’s well documented”) to avoid specificity of an authority.
In other words, just plain ol’ making shit up! You made a lot of shit up in that post, here is a summary of the shit you made up
-GUI has rendering bugs where buttons just appear in random places
-Memory leaks
-Android constantly freezes
-HTC One series have memory leaks
-A lot of inexcusable “mini-errors” (iOS apps crash more: http://bit.ly/yJC8qC)
-Inherent security flaws present in all releases of Android
Show me where these are “well documented”. Good luck!
But what a great analogy it was! This should be Google’s next slogan for the Nexus, I can see it now… “The new Google Nexus, like getting sucked off in a Mercedes Benz”
…and ending up with an itchy red rash afterwards.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/04/13/widespread-android-virus-could-hide-in-popular-app-updates
http://thenextweb.com/asia/2012/07/08/new-android-virus-mmarketpay-a-found-on-100000-chinese-smartphones-and-in-9-app-stores/
There you go Kauz; documented. I could print them if that fits better with your Wikipedia (community-based information) explanation of the word?
I can see Google moving away from iOS, why bring out an app for Maps and other services to support a it? No needed.
Google has the products we love to use each day with that functionality that is expected. So Google should use this as an opportunity, not to panda to Apple, but to shun iOS – as I expect that more people want Google services than want Apple services, so be brave, dig in and let them choose. Apple have gifted them a chance to break.
Hell, they should go a step further than block all Google products and services on iOS, so you can’t even do a Google search in a browser – that would learn them.
Apple took away YouTube so Google made it available to download on App store – how many people have already downloaded what’s been forcefully removed? (I have, its in the same tile space as before!). Google WILL release an iOS maps, so people can continue to have what they want. Just a shame it wont be the default map app.
I understand that, my point is that Google need to wake up. Apple want to bully the market and are really free to do what they want. So Google should play them at that and pull all iOS supported apps, and block all web access from iOS, and even OSX, machines. Just serve a message, ‘This device is not supported by Google products and services – click to android store.’ Because, sure Apple has its fans that are going to buy Apple, but give the bulk of the population the choice between Google and Apple and Apple will lose every time – we can live and function without Apple.
So if Apple want a war, just give them one, show them who holds the real power and control – game over.
Google pretty much do that with Windows Phone. No Google Maps in the browser. They keep breaking third party access to YouTube without providing their own app.
Not necessarily. Google gets money for YouTube from people watching the videos, seeing the adverts beforehand. It’s in their interest for YouTube to be as easy as possible to use on any device. Google Maps on the other hand are a selling point – the original iPhone had maps so that it would sell better, and so on. Now Google Maps are so much better than Apple Maps in terms of information and accuracy, it’s a selling point. I doubt Google will do Google Maps for iPhone unless they need to – it doesn’t give them any of your information (Gmail, G+), doesn’t make you more likely to use the service (Google Drive) and certainly doesn’t make them any money.
Finally, there’s that little clause in the dev agreement about not copying something Apple did.
Bakes,
There are also 5000 mapping apps in the store not made by Google and a lot of them paid ones. So – if Apple are going to disallow Google from a mapping app they will have to kick out the other few thousand and refund the money spent on the paid ones.
Really don’t see that happening…
First, Apple don’t refund you if something gets removed from the store – it stays on your phone, and you can’t redownload it. There are not many other mapping applications in the app store – and most of them do not merely duplicate the functionality of the Apple produced app. Most of them are either dedicated turn by turn navigation apps, which have been around since long before iOS6 (and thus work on phones without Siri) – there are a few left which attempt to compete and all invariably use OpenStreetMap.
No big map provider has attempted to launch a proper iPhone set of maps to compete with the default.
Bing have a series of maps, showing that they have the infrastructure – but the app only works in London. This is almost certainly there to pacify Apple.
Were Google to produce an app that directly competed with Apple’s app, it would acknowledge that Apple’s own data is bad. Above all, Apple’s maps get better with people reporting the mistakes in said maps – and if there’s a vast exodus to Google maps, Apple loses out massively, in both PR terms and technically.
Sam, I am worried. What if Big G doesn’t put out an iOS maps app to try forcing a few people to move from Apple to Android?
Then there will be much pointing and laughing..
How’s Amazon’s map offering coming along? I seem to remember there being an app in its early dev a few months back?
Apple Maps. Everyone’s laughing.
I have an iPad 2 and now iOS 6. Other than the Maps, a new Clock icon and more options in the Settings, can anyone tell me what is actually different??
The Music App’s volume knob shines around when you tilt your iPad 2 and above
(NOT iPad 1,HAHAHAHA)
Wasn’t that in iOS5?
I can’t get this to happen at all and I just wasted 5 minutes trying.
I don’t even care. Any other ‘features’ to note?
Your wifi might not work…
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/09/did-ios-6-screw-your-wi-fi-heres-how-to-fix-it/
No.
I must have been thinking of the developer previews reviewed a few months ago.
After reading the Giz article about ios6, i am glad that i gave away my ipod to my brother and really happy with S3. But i admit the default music player in S3 is horse crap. A piece of advice to all the S3 owners get Winamp Pro from play store and wala….
I’d have suggested PowerAmp over Winamp tbh, but the sentiment is the same!
Winamp has llama whipping awesomeness. Therefore automatically wins
On a PC, I’d concur completely, but I’ve been less than wowed by the Android port.
I prefer Poweramp – possibly the most quality app on the Play store.
But yes, I’m yet to find an Android phone with a decent stock player.
I don’t understand why there hasn’t been more intelligent discussion in the blogsphere and from tech writers regarding the troubling economics of Apple building out a Maps platform capable of competing with Google.
TomTom are able to do it because they sell dedicated in car navigation systems and now license their data to most every OEM out there. Google are able to do it even better because MAPS creates more search click-thrus and is a major driver of their bottom line in regards to search and ad dollars. As a result they have advertisers and non-advertising businesses lining up to make sure their data appears correctly in Google Maps and every correction is a lead in to a potential new advertising partner. It’s literally a self replicating lead generation database that Google sells to other BtoB vendors.
Now with Apple there is no obvious rev stream from device sales or search or ads. So it begs the question exactly what are they trying to accomplish commercially andf how do they expect to compete in a world where Google can just put out an app or simply give their POI data to any of the OpenSource players for free if Apple play hardball.
It doesn’t make economic sense for a company not involved in ads or search to try and force their way into this space and that begs the question of how much cash they are going to be willing to throw at this cat fight before they quietly retreat and let the players with a real commercial interest get back to work.
These are the sorts of questions I’d love to see you guys explore every now and then. You know – the relevant ones…