Google Maps tests the Live Activities feature on iPhones: Key details
Google Maps tests the Live Activities feature on iPhones: Key details
Google Maps is set to introduce its notifications and direction status on the Live Activities tab that iPhone users have been waiting a long time for. According to 9 to5Google, Google Maps will be one of the next apps to support Live Activities on iOS.
Live Activities on iPhone
Some iPhone users, who have recently used Google Maps on their Apple iPhones, have reported seeing Google Maps Live Activity display driving instructions and travel time to a location.
With iOS 16, various supporting apps can send feeds on Dynamic Island and lock screen, which is also known as Live Activities. It shows up on iPhones’ always-on display as well, giving users access to real-time information. Applications that display updates on pickup and drop-off statuses, such as Uber and Zomato, have adopted this functionality on iPhones.
For more convenience and fast updates, Google has also reportedly given support to its Google Maps app. 9to5Google revealed that a large number of Reddit users have also tested this feature. Another post on X(formerly known as Twitter) from Max Jambor has also corroborated this functionality.
However, it appears that just a small number of people can access Google Maps Live Functionality feature, and a stable global rollout is expected to happen soon. Some users who have tried it out say the feature was removed shortly afterwards, so testing is clearly ongoing.
If you’d like to try Live Activities with Google Maps on your iPhone, you can open the Settings menu in Google Maps and turn on “Glanceable directions while navigating.” As mentioned earlier, this feature may not be visible to you currently as it is still in testing phase.