Just 6 years ago, the Apple Watch was presented in society, a device that was an important leap for the apple company and that today is already one of the star products of the brand. Well, as incredible as it may seem, Google Maps had no dedicated app for this device until today, despite a failed attempt a while ago. And it is curious because this is one of the main GPS navigation applications in the world. But now we can already be happy to say that we can find it on watchOS.
So you can have Google Maps on your Apple Watch
Several weeks ago the company of the big ‘G’ announced that its application of maps for Apple watches was very close, although they did not give a specific date. In the last hours an update to the iOS app has been launched that finally brings compatibility with watchOS. In fact, the installation could be automatic in case you have these parallel downloads activated on your Apple Watch. If not, you can go to the watchOS App Store , perform a Google Maps search, and download it to your watch. As simple and fast.
First look at Google Maps on watchOS
It really is too early to do a complete review of the application on the watch and to say if its operation is correct and to what extent it can replace the native Apple Maps version that we found. However, we can already know the interface and the truth is that at the moment it leaves much to be desired. On an aesthetic level, one cannot blame much considering that it is an app designed for very small screens, but in terms of functionality it has a lot to implement. We find buttons to set the duration on prominent trips such as home or work, as well as those to edit shortcuts or activate the travel mode. But only appearance, since nothing can be done from the app without resorting to the iPhone. In fact, it asks that the app be opened on the mobile to be able to perform any of the functions it shows.
We understood that some more specific and even advanced functions such as reviewing the Google Maps TimeLine as on the iPhone was not going to be possible, but the truth is that we expected a little more independence from the iPhone for the watch app. If we start a route from the phone, we do find that the clock gives us directions on where to move and the estimated time of arrival. This is extremely useful and is visually identical to what we found with the native map app.
We will have to wait for future versions of this app in watchOS to see if we see improvements and especially for those devices that are LTE, since in them it is understood that it should work more independently. In any case, we are happy to have such a popular and necessary application on a device like the Apple Watch after so many years.
