Google will soon make its Maps app available for Apple Watch again

Google Maps will return to the Apple Watch soon. After more than three years, an app from Google’s navigation service will again be available for users of the Apple smartwatch. There will also be an improved CarPlay Dashboard integration.

Google says the new app for the Apple Watch makes it possible to navigate by car or bicycle, or on foot or by public transport. This makes the app for the smartwatch comparable to the iOS version of Google Maps. Estimated arrival times and turn-by-turn directions to desired, saved destinations are supported. For other destinations, users must navigate from their smartphone, after which they can pick up the thread on the Apple Watch.

Google also announced that users can also use Google Maps in Apple’s CarPlay Dashboard. It was already possible to use external navigation apps in CarPlay, but that came with the limitation of a full-screen display. Only the Apple Maps navigation service could be used in combination with a split screen display. Since the arrival of iOS 13.4, this has changed and the split screen option is also possible for third-party navigation apps. That makes it possible, for example, to control music playback while navigating, something that will soon also be possible with Google Maps.

In the coming weeks, the Google Maps app will be gradually available to users. Google withdrew Apple Watch apps from the App Store in the spring of 2017.