Remember that time Tim Cook apologized for the terrible Maps app?
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Apple Maps has always been Apple’s second-worst app, beaten only by Siri for jokeworthiness.
And yet, in recent years, it has gotten not just good, but great.
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At launch, Apple Maps was pretty bad for reasons we shall get to.
Apple’s slick Look Around feature totally dunks on Google’s clanky Street View, for example.
People arereally starting to like it.
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And Apple’s map service has one huge advantage over Google’s.
These features were eventually added, but they were not good.
Things were so bad that Apple CEO Tim Cookmade a public apology.
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We already know this.
Google tracks us all over the internet.
But with Maps, it can track you in the real world too.
Not just your location but the places you search for and visit IRL.
Apple, on the other hand, is all-in on user privacy.
“Especially since Google makes a lot of its money from ad sales and user data.”
And Apple has managed to improve Maps massively, even while respecting users' privacy.
In some ways, Apple Maps is now even better than Google’s offer.
It’s less of a messy user-interface disaster than Google’s offer, for one.
Directions, too, are excellent, especially for public transit.
But Google still has the edge in terms of sheer data.
“While Apple Maps has made significant strides, Google Maps still has its strengths.
But for most people, Apple Maps is way past being good enough.
I rarely use Google Maps now.
It’s taken a while, but Apple has built a world-class map service.
Now, if only it could take the time to fix Siri.
