Finally, Android users can now use Apple Maps on their smartphones. The move further opens up Apple’s closed system to open up a little more across Google’s ecosystem.
From the summer of 2024, Apple started providing a beta web version of Apple Maps for desktop browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. To illustrate, it didn’t run on an Android browser back then. It does now, although I still see “beta” text on my Chrome browser for Android.
Apple Maps arrives on Android and desktops
From April 11, 2025, Apple provided a full version of Apple Maps on Android by removing “beta” from its URL. But the user experience feels a bit more difficult on a smartphone browser than on a desktop. The navigation and features will be refined over the next few months. But the features like Look Around compete very well with Google’s Street View. Here’s a screenshot I took of Apple Maps on my laptop’s Chrome browser.
But note that you can only use the maps on browsers. It’s not available as an app. So, the thing is, Google Maps will continue to be more accessible for Android users since it comes as a default maps app.
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How to use Apple Maps on Android?
Follow these steps to use Apple Maps on Android:
- Open a web browser on your phone
- Enter maps.apple.com
- The maps now opens on your Android browser
Final thoughts
As I stated earlier, Apple Maps arrival on Android is great for some of its features, such as Look Around. However, for most users, Google Maps, which comes natively on Android platforms, will be the default and will be more widely used. Anyway, having another map service is still good to keep. Broadly speaking, it points to more instances of Apple’s system opening up further, as we saw with Apple RCS Chats, USB Type-C shift, etc. And it’s good for the company too, as it can now be accessed by millions of users, if not billions.
What’s your opinion on Apple releasing its Maps for Android users? If you have used it, please share your user experience in comparison to Google Maps.
