Photo: Bogdan Popa/autoevolution
The traffic reporting system is what sets Waze apart from the rest of the crowd in the navigation space. The app also comes with several extras, including a small widget that few people know existed.
The widget support on iPhone has been around for a while, being integrated into the left-side panel available on iOS.
The widget allowed users to configure the home and work addresses and then see the driving time from their current location without launching the app.
Here's how the whole thing worked. Imagine you were at work and wanted to see how long it'd take to arrive home. Simply tapping the home icon in the widget displayed the driving time predicted by Waze. The travel time was determined using the typical Waze je ne sais quoi, mixing the fastest route to the destination with real-time traffic information.
According to the Google-owned company, few people used the widget. This is why Waze decided to retire this feature completely, with the latest version of the app pulling it once and for all.
Oddly enough, the widget was one of the best Waze features on the iPhone. The company doesn’t seem to be planning another widget for Apple users.
iOS 14 launched with a new widget experience for iPhone owners, allowing users to add it to the home screen. At the same time, iPhones also sported a left-side widget panel that offered an older design for certain apps, including Waze. Now that the navigation app no longer uses the old widget, a newer design to use the latest iOS improvements would make perfect sense.
Google Maps already offers new-generation widgets on the iPhone. The navigation app can display real-time trip info, as well as the latest traffic conditions, location details, store opening times, and reviews on the iPhone home screen.
In the meantime, more big Waze features are currently in the works. The highly anticipated Android Auto redesign – the support for Coolwalk – is already in the beta stage, with the public rollout projected to take place shortly. Coolwalk allows applications to run side-by-side on Android Auto in an interface similar to the CarPlay dashboard.
The navigation apps – including Google Maps – are provided with access to the largest card. These solutions need to be updated to run in the dedicated pane, and Waze is projected to be improved on this front in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the demise of the Waze widget is bad news for many users, despite few people actually using it or even knowing about it. Those who used it are left with no option to quickly get driving information to their most common destinations. The version that removes the widget support from iOS is 4.92, so once you install it on an iPhone, the feature is gone completely.
The widget allowed users to configure the home and work addresses and then see the driving time from their current location without launching the app.
Here's how the whole thing worked. Imagine you were at work and wanted to see how long it'd take to arrive home. Simply tapping the home icon in the widget displayed the driving time predicted by Waze. The travel time was determined using the typical Waze je ne sais quoi, mixing the fastest route to the destination with real-time traffic information.
According to the Google-owned company, few people used the widget. This is why Waze decided to retire this feature completely, with the latest version of the app pulling it once and for all.
Oddly enough, the widget was one of the best Waze features on the iPhone. The company doesn’t seem to be planning another widget for Apple users.
iOS 14 launched with a new widget experience for iPhone owners, allowing users to add it to the home screen. At the same time, iPhones also sported a left-side widget panel that offered an older design for certain apps, including Waze. Now that the navigation app no longer uses the old widget, a newer design to use the latest iOS improvements would make perfect sense.
Google Maps already offers new-generation widgets on the iPhone. The navigation app can display real-time trip info, as well as the latest traffic conditions, location details, store opening times, and reviews on the iPhone home screen.
In the meantime, more big Waze features are currently in the works. The highly anticipated Android Auto redesign – the support for Coolwalk – is already in the beta stage, with the public rollout projected to take place shortly. Coolwalk allows applications to run side-by-side on Android Auto in an interface similar to the CarPlay dashboard.
The navigation apps – including Google Maps – are provided with access to the largest card. These solutions need to be updated to run in the dedicated pane, and Waze is projected to be improved on this front in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the demise of the Waze widget is bad news for many users, despite few people actually using it or even knowing about it. Those who used it are left with no option to quickly get driving information to their most common destinations. The version that removes the widget support from iOS is 4.92, so once you install it on an iPhone, the feature is gone completely.
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