Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution/reddit
Apple Maps is Apple's big bet in the navigation space and serves as the iPhone's maker competitor to the almighty Google Maps.
The race between Apple Maps and Google Maps has gotten fiercer lately, especially as the Cupertino-based tech giant finally started listening to feedback and decided to provide users with some of the most requested features. iOS 17, which will debut this month for the iPhone XS and newer, includes support for offline maps, a feature that's been around for many years in Google Maps.
The increased focus on new features has seemingly reduced Apple's attention to the Apple Maps' reliability and stability. The app has been struggling with awkward bugs lately, and the most recent causes some mysterious black shapes to appear on CarPlay.
I noticed this behavior approximately three weeks ago when the first user reported a black triangle on the map when running Apple Maps on CarPlay. The user was running a beta version of iOS 17, so everybody believed it was all a bug caused by the new version of the iPhone operating system. A beta build is unreleased software with an increased likelihood of bugs, so such issues wouldn't be surprising.
Meanwhile, several other users encountered the same glitch, confirming that the black blocks appear on Apple Maps even on devices running iOS 16. As a result, it's a bug in Apple Maps and unliked with the new iPhone OS version.
As with everything happening in Apple's yard, the company has remained tight-lipped on the error, so nobody knows what's happening. Some users believe Apple Maps fails to properly render the map data, eventually displaying black blocks in the place where you'd normally find roads and buildings.
The good part is the black shapes always appear on the lower part of the interface, so they don't affect the navigation experience. They're inconvenient, ugly, and frustrating, especially for an application that is supposed to compete against Google Maps.
Apple is working around the clock on improving Apple Maps, and today's iPhone is living proof. The company is updating its application with new EV capabilities, preparing Apple Maps for a glorious feature in new-generation cars. Apple Maps will also play an integral role in CarPlay 2.0, the new version of Apple's car-optimized experience available in 2024 model year vehicles. Apple Maps will benefit from deeper integration into these vehicles, obtaining more data and therefore providing advanced navigation.
Reliability problems remain a big concern in the long term, especially as users are already tempted to switch to Google Maps because of the lack of features in Apple's software. One of the top requested features is satellite maps for navigation – Apple does offer satellite maps but disables them when navigation is enabled, switching to the default map layer.
The increased focus on new features has seemingly reduced Apple's attention to the Apple Maps' reliability and stability. The app has been struggling with awkward bugs lately, and the most recent causes some mysterious black shapes to appear on CarPlay.
I noticed this behavior approximately three weeks ago when the first user reported a black triangle on the map when running Apple Maps on CarPlay. The user was running a beta version of iOS 17, so everybody believed it was all a bug caused by the new version of the iPhone operating system. A beta build is unreleased software with an increased likelihood of bugs, so such issues wouldn't be surprising.
Meanwhile, several other users encountered the same glitch, confirming that the black blocks appear on Apple Maps even on devices running iOS 16. As a result, it's a bug in Apple Maps and unliked with the new iPhone OS version.
As with everything happening in Apple's yard, the company has remained tight-lipped on the error, so nobody knows what's happening. Some users believe Apple Maps fails to properly render the map data, eventually displaying black blocks in the place where you'd normally find roads and buildings.
The good part is the black shapes always appear on the lower part of the interface, so they don't affect the navigation experience. They're inconvenient, ugly, and frustrating, especially for an application that is supposed to compete against Google Maps.
Apple is working around the clock on improving Apple Maps, and today's iPhone is living proof. The company is updating its application with new EV capabilities, preparing Apple Maps for a glorious feature in new-generation cars. Apple Maps will also play an integral role in CarPlay 2.0, the new version of Apple's car-optimized experience available in 2024 model year vehicles. Apple Maps will benefit from deeper integration into these vehicles, obtaining more data and therefore providing advanced navigation.
Reliability problems remain a big concern in the long term, especially as users are already tempted to switch to Google Maps because of the lack of features in Apple's software. One of the top requested features is satellite maps for navigation – Apple does offer satellite maps but disables them when navigation is enabled, switching to the default map layer.
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