From today you can install again Google Maps on your Apple Watch. An app that should never have disappeared from the Apple Watch is finally back. In September 2015, Google Maps became compatible with the first Apple Watch back then.
But after two years the thing stopped working, and the application stopped having software support and updates from Google for the Apple smartwatch in 2017. Now it seems that the waters are returning to their course, and as of today Google Maps has your own app for Watch 6.
Google Maps has officially returned to Apple Watch, starting today, and you already have your own watchOS-compatible app. An application that should never have left the Apple smartwatch.
Google first announced that Google Maps would return to the Apple Watch last month. There was an initial Google Maps app for Apple Watch, but Google pulled it from watchOS in 2017.
From us September 9, the latest Google Maps version 5.51 update is now available for Apple Watch on the App Store.
The app is an updated version of the original for watchOS, with a focus on step-by-step instructions and estimated arrival times. Like Apple Maps, Google's navigation platform also takes advantage of the haptic of the device to provide orientation to the user.
Users will not be able to enter addresses or locations directly from Apple Watch, but they can access previously saved locations or continue a journey started on a iPhone.
This version limited by device functionality, allows, like its equivalent for other systems, basic functions such as navigating by car, bicycle, public transport or on foot, as well as time estimates or shortcuts. But, as also happened before, for the more complex functions and services of Google Maps, the iPhone itself will have to be used.