Photo: Google forums
While Google Maps is the world’s leading navigation apps, with updates released regularly, at least on Android, this doesn’t necessarily mean everything is always working just flawlessly.
A problem reported recently on the official Google Maps forums highlights one big annoyance of the app.
First and foremost, some say that closing Google Maps always requires one extra step, simply because the app places a notification in the notification center that needs to be tapped to shut it down entirely.
In other words, even if you press the small “x” button in the navigation screen, Google Maps doesn’t actually end the navigation and continues to provide directions with the notification in the notification center. Pressing the “Exit navigation” option in the notification is the only way to close the app, some users say.
But it’s getting worse. Others claim that not even tapping this option shuts down the app, so in some cases, a full reboot of the mobile device is the only way to go.
“Got my Pixel 5 yesterday and noticed mine does this. Pressing exit navigation does nothing, neither does closing the tab from the open tabs menu. Only restart gets rid of it,” someone said in a message posted in mid-February.
Fortunately, Google confirmed a few days ago that it’s working on a fix, thus acknowledging the problem on Android devices.
“Thanks for flagging this to us. We are aware of the issue and are working on the fix!” a Google Community Manager briefly said.
Of course, no other specifics have been shared, so for the time being, it’s not exactly known when this fix could land. The good news is Google Maps for Android keeps getting updates regularly, so we’ll keep an eye on the new builds and let you know when things are finally back to normal.
First and foremost, some say that closing Google Maps always requires one extra step, simply because the app places a notification in the notification center that needs to be tapped to shut it down entirely.
In other words, even if you press the small “x” button in the navigation screen, Google Maps doesn’t actually end the navigation and continues to provide directions with the notification in the notification center. Pressing the “Exit navigation” option in the notification is the only way to close the app, some users say.
But it’s getting worse. Others claim that not even tapping this option shuts down the app, so in some cases, a full reboot of the mobile device is the only way to go.
“Got my Pixel 5 yesterday and noticed mine does this. Pressing exit navigation does nothing, neither does closing the tab from the open tabs menu. Only restart gets rid of it,” someone said in a message posted in mid-February.
Fortunately, Google confirmed a few days ago that it’s working on a fix, thus acknowledging the problem on Android devices.
“Thanks for flagging this to us. We are aware of the issue and are working on the fix!” a Google Community Manager briefly said.
Of course, no other specifics have been shared, so for the time being, it’s not exactly known when this fix could land. The good news is Google Maps for Android keeps getting updates regularly, so we’ll keep an eye on the new builds and let you know when things are finally back to normal.
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