Google Maps

Google Maps Review: 4.7 on iPhone, 3.2 on Android

Ask Maps Compares Driving Against Transit

The AI panel takes a question — how to reach the airport by six to collect someone — and returns a comparison rather than a route: driving at nineteen to twenty-nine minutes with advice to leave by half past five, and the train alternative at forty-six minutes for $11.80, each with its own start button. That is the useful shape for a decision, because the answer includes the fare and the traffic assumption. Ordinary navigation sits underneath it, with speed limits shown, delays marked on the route and a re-centre button when you wander off.

Layers, Lists and Business Pages

Three things keep it installed after the driving is done. Business pages carry opening hours, a price band, review counts, photos and buttons to reserve a table or order — often more current than the restaurant's own website. Shared lists let several people collaborate on a set of places, with an invite button and a count of how many are saved. And the layer picker goes well past satellite and terrain: transit, traffic, cycling, Street View, air quality, wildfires and a 3D view, each toggled from the same sheet.

The Widest Rating Gap in This Catalogue

Apple's store shows 4.7 from 7.35 million ratings. Google's own store shows 3.2 from 19.5 million reviews — the lowest score of any app reviewed here, on a product with more than ten billion installs. The Android complaints centre on interface changes and battery use rather than on the maps themselves. The listing also carries a Contains ads badge, with sponsored pins appearing in search results, and Google Play records twelve collected categories including location, though it declares no third-party sharing. Neither store lists an in-app purchase, so the only money in the app moves between businesses and Google rather than through the user.