Summary
Apple is not known for supporting platforms other than its own, which is why it was no surprise when Apple Maps launched exclusively for the iPhone and iPad. Slowly, Apple has loosened it’s grip, and now it finally works on more phones thanks to mobile browsers.
Apple Maps officially launched in 2012, and it was met with a solid amount of criticism for inaccuracies. After all, Apple was trying to compete with one of the most powerful and popular apps of all time, Google Maps. It took Apple several years to even get close to rivaling the sheer volume of information Google Maps has accumulated. Slowly, it’s become a respectable alternative.
In 2018, Apple released the MapKit API that allowed developers to embed Apple Maps into webites. DuckDuckGo was one such website that took advantage of this, which made it the best method to use Apple Maps outside of an iPhone or iPad for a while. However, that changed slightly last June when Apple launched apublic beta for Apple Maps on desktop web browsers.
You could go tobeta.maps.apple.comand use Apple Maps in Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari. It was not available on mobile browsers, though. That changed this week when Apple Maps on the web left beta and became available on mobile browsers. Yes, that means you can use Apple Maps on an Android phone in a more official capacity.
All you have to do is go tomaps.apple.comin a web browser on your phone. I was able to use it in both Chrome for Android and Firefox for Android. While “beta” has been removed from the URL, the actual website does still have a “Beta” label on the Maps logo. A number of features from the native application are available, with turn-by-turn navigation being the obvious omission.
Does this mean anything for a native Apple Maps app coming to Android someday? That’s most likely a hard no. If “stock” apps like Apple Maps and iMessage are available on Android, that’s less reason for someone to buy an iPhone. However, services such asApple MusicandApple TV+depend on having as many paying customers as possible, so it makes sense for them to expand to Android.
In reality, Android users are probably not chomping at the bit to use Apple Maps, native app or not. But it is nice to have a functional web app for those times when you get Apple Maps links from your iPhone friends.
