Photo: Macerkopf/Cult of Mac
Starting Friday, iPhone users who love Google Maps can make it the default navigation application. It replaces Apple Maps, the current default.
But there is an important caveat. While the option is reportedly available for European iPhone users, those in the United States got left out.
Make Google Maps the default navigation app
Starting with iOS 18.2 last year, iPhone and iPad users can easily specify which applications to use as their defaults for handling email, messages, phone calls and more. This means that, for example, tapping on a URL in a email can open in the DuckDuckGo web browser, not Safari. It’s a feature available on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world.
And Europeans just got a new option. “Google Maps received an update today that allows you to make the app your default navigation app on your iPhone,” reports the German site Macerkopf. It requires Google Maps 23.13.5, and doesn’t work with previous versions.
But Cult of Mac writers based in the United States don’t get that option, even after installing the latest version of the navigation software. We tested with both iOS 18.3.2 and the upcoming iOS 18.4.
The change is simple. Go to Settings -> Apps -> Default Apps and change the default application for Navigation.
Thank the EU’s DMA
The difference is surely the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, a law intended to open up Big Tech to more competition. Forcing Apple to allow iPhone users to choose their default navigation app — and not keep Apple Maps the default — is exactly the sort of change the DMA was created for.
Sometimes those outside the EU benefit from the changes required in iOS too, but not always. Still, it’s possible the Americans who prefer Google Maps might get the option to make it their default app at some point in the future.
