# Apple Maps 145 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Maps and 206 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 9 years (5 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended for clean, intuitive turn-by-turn driving directions, good transit info and tight Apple integration; critics cite weak business listings and search, plus incoming ads. ## Why people recommend it - Better driving navigation than Google (8 comments): "I use it as part of Apple CarPlay for all my navigation and I think it's much better than Google Maps (for car navigation, at least)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47845753)) "I changed to it for car navigation. It's a less cluttered interface and integrates better with voice control than Google maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846346)) "Apple Maps got really good at some point! I once pick it by accident for navigation, and never went back to Google Maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49483126)) - Much improved since rocky launch (7 comments): "Even though Apple Maps was initially a failure I still came back to it every so often to see how it was progressing and eventually it ended up pretty good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46590505)) "Apple Maps got really good at some point! I once pick it by accident for navigation, and never went back to Google Maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49483126)) "Apple Maps have been steadily improving, to the point they are as good as, if not better than, Google Maps" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46596690)) - Clean, readable interface (3 comments): "I changed to it for car navigation. It's a less cluttered interface and integrates better with voice control than Google maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846346)) "I find the UI in satnav mode much better (cleaner and readable) than the one Google Maps has." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47845871)) "The interface and the direction instructions on Apple Maps are way ahead of Google Maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846176)) - Strong Apple ecosystem integration (4 comments): "I changed to it for car navigation. It's a less cluttered interface and integrates better with voice control than Google maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846346)) "I prefer Apple Maps for walking directions, especially paired with the watch - the data is good" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846618)) "I regularly use hiking and topography maps on my Apple Watch with the first party maps app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47994838)) ## What people warn about - Weak business listings and search (6 comments): "Apart from needing to copy and paste destination addresses from Google/Google Maps every time I use Apple Maps, it's great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49486904)) "Good for navigation, terrible for up to date business information (opening hours) and reviews." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48045356)) "Apple Maps is nice but listings don't come up because they're literally not in the database" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48567541)) - Ads and sponsored results coming (4 comments): "Ads are coming to Apple Maps so it's probably only a matter of time before the rest of the ecosystem is infected." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45867051)) "The last thing I want when I'm trying to figure out how to get somewhere is a bunch of sponsored pins and results" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48045584)) "So now when I search “Ramen” I can be directed to the business who has the social media team and marketing budget" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48047161)) - Occasional bad routing or timing (4 comments): "Works fine. Once it led me to the wrong place because someone “contributed” that information to the map." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47862438)) "Apple maps told me to return to the route. We hadn't turned in 10 kilometers, but it was showing that we were 200 meters into a cornfield." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46263733)) "Everytime someone misses arriving somewhere on time, I ask -- were you using Apple Maps, the answer is always yes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46503407)) - Map display glitches (3 comments): "the "drawer" on the left side of the screen takes up so much space in apps like Maps/Flighty that it covers the location you're currently at" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50246108)) "Hysteresis is completely broken - I stop at a traffic light and the map will jump back and forth between two resolutions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46265498)) "I have had an occasional problem where a large building ends up blocking my view, but in general it's very good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49485615)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Google Maps](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-maps.md): 272 recommend - [Mapy.com](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mapy-com.md): 12 recommend - [Cartes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cartes-app.md): 8 recommend - [Magic Earth](https://hackerapproved.com/p/magic-earth.md): 7 recommend - [Maps on WatchOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/maps-on-watchos-app.md): 7 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://maps.apple.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Maps", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-maps/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).