Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
Waze has received a new update on iPhone and CarPlay, and this time the changelog revealed a critical fix for users.
Google-owned Waze is often considered the top alternative to Apple Maps. The crowdsourcing engine that powers the app allows users to report traffic incidents. The data is then used by Waze to generate alerts for other nearby motorists.
The application also collects data from devices where it’s running, trying to determine where traffic jams occur. As such, the routes it provides are generally faster than in the case of Google Maps and Apple, as it knows precisely where slowdowns take place.
It’s not a secret, though, that Waze has been malfunctioning in various ways on CarPlay. The parent company is trying to deal with at least one bug with the new update.
Waze version 4.93 for iOS devices addresses a crash that happened when the app was loading the map. In other words, if you launched Waze and waited for the app to load, chances are you encountered a crash. I experienced this behavior occasionally, but simply relaunching the app typically brought it back to a working state.
It’s not known how many users were affected, but this was a critical bug, nonetheless.
In the meantime, Waze is facing increased competition on iOS, including from Apple itself.
Apple Maps, the native mapping service on iPhone and CarPlay, has stepped on Waze territory with incident reporting features. Already available for users, the new options work just like in Waze, allowing the reporting of incidents spotted on the road. Users can send only three types of reports, namely accidents, speed traps, and other hazards.
The adoption of this feature is still fairly limited, and in my time with the app, I rarely came across a reported incident. Most likely, diehard Apple fans will eventually start using it, especially as the new maps continue to roll out to more users.
Apple announced its detailed maps in mid-2018, but the release to users worldwide is happening slowly. The updated experience is already available in the United States, but most of Europe is still waiting to get the new maps.
Waze is also working on other important updates for its application. On Android Auto, for example, Waze is preparing the support for Coolwalk. Announced in January, Coolwalk is a big Android Auto redesign that allows users to run multiple apps on the same screen. To take advantage of the new layout, apps need to be updated for this design.
The Waze Coolwalk support is already in the beta stage, but for now, no timing information is available for the public launch. The next update could include this feature, especially as the current reliability data collected from testers indicates a rather stable experience.
The application also collects data from devices where it’s running, trying to determine where traffic jams occur. As such, the routes it provides are generally faster than in the case of Google Maps and Apple, as it knows precisely where slowdowns take place.
It’s not a secret, though, that Waze has been malfunctioning in various ways on CarPlay. The parent company is trying to deal with at least one bug with the new update.
Waze version 4.93 for iOS devices addresses a crash that happened when the app was loading the map. In other words, if you launched Waze and waited for the app to load, chances are you encountered a crash. I experienced this behavior occasionally, but simply relaunching the app typically brought it back to a working state.
It’s not known how many users were affected, but this was a critical bug, nonetheless.
In the meantime, Waze is facing increased competition on iOS, including from Apple itself.
Apple Maps, the native mapping service on iPhone and CarPlay, has stepped on Waze territory with incident reporting features. Already available for users, the new options work just like in Waze, allowing the reporting of incidents spotted on the road. Users can send only three types of reports, namely accidents, speed traps, and other hazards.
The adoption of this feature is still fairly limited, and in my time with the app, I rarely came across a reported incident. Most likely, diehard Apple fans will eventually start using it, especially as the new maps continue to roll out to more users.
Apple announced its detailed maps in mid-2018, but the release to users worldwide is happening slowly. The updated experience is already available in the United States, but most of Europe is still waiting to get the new maps.
Waze is also working on other important updates for its application. On Android Auto, for example, Waze is preparing the support for Coolwalk. Announced in January, Coolwalk is a big Android Auto redesign that allows users to run multiple apps on the same screen. To take advantage of the new layout, apps need to be updated for this design.
The Waze Coolwalk support is already in the beta stage, but for now, no timing information is available for the public launch. The next update could include this feature, especially as the current reliability data collected from testers indicates a rather stable experience.
Google News