With the release of iOS 14 and macOS 11, Apple introduced a new way for users to review places of interest and upload photos to Apple Maps that doesn't rely on third party integrations like Yelp and TripAdvisor.
Users who tap a marker for a place on the map that they have physically visited are offered the ability to recommend a place using a thumbs up/thumbs down rating that can also distinguish between relevant categories, such as ratings for the quality of products and services in a shop, for example. An "Add Photos to Maps" option in place cards also lets users upload pictures directly to Apple's Maps servers.
As it stands, Apple's rollout of native ratings in Maps has been patchy, with users in the United Kingdom, Australia and a handful of other regions able to recommend places they've visited. Apple's in-house ratings remain unavailable for places of interest in the United States, for both users in and outside the country.
However, a brief shot from Tuesday's "Spring Loaded" Apple event, spotted by an eagle-eyed Redditor, suggests that could be set to change very soon. During the iMac announcement, Apple showed a macOS desktop screen with the Maps app open and a thumbs up/thumbs down recommendation option for Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California.
Notably, the image shows that Yelp reviews are still listed, indicating that Apple is continuing to provide third-party recommendations alongside its own ratings system as it works to build up a database of crowdsourced reviews across the States.
While we can't be certain, the likelihood is that Apple will make native Maps ratings available for U.S. places of interest with the release of iOS 14.5 and macOS 11.3 sometime next week.
Good! Yelp is terrible, especially in countries that are not the United States of America. Here in The Netherlands some most recent Yelp reviews about a restaurant are 3 years old.
Glad Apple is improving this. I cannot wait to try this new Apple Maps feature in 2028.
If Yelp wouldn't force its app over the website I wouldn't really care that much either way. Where I am, Yelp reviews are usually pretty accurate: if a place has a bunch of "this place is filthy" reviews, it's almost always true.
So looking forward to this! Yelp has extortion practices and is a horrible business. Here in the US there are class action suits against them as well as many sad stories by business owners that were hurt and extorted by Yelp. You can Google “Yelp extortion” to learn more. It’s thousands upon thousands of businesses that were affected by their dirty practices. Apple knows about it too, and I’m excited about Yelp being booted out.
Apple Maps received a major overhaul in iOS 15 and in addition to new details in cities, an interactive globe, and enhanced driving directions, there are a handful of other smaller features that are available. When getting directions in the Maps app, there's a new feature that lets you choose a time to arrive or a time to leave, which lets you get prospective commute lengths ahead of time.
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Apple Maps has begun surveying Poland for its "Look Around" feature, which offers users a 360-degree immersive panoramic look of a city or location. Apple maintains an updated list of countries, cities, and territories of where it is conducting ground surveys for Look Around. That list was recently updated with the addition of Poland. Additionally, a photo shared on Facebook shows an Apple...
Wednesday August 26, 2020 3:12 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
The latest iOS 14 beta 6 includes a new way for users to review places of interest and upload photos to Apple Maps that doesn't rely on third party integrations.
Images via Twitter user BeauGiles First spotted by Twitter user BeauGiles and reported by 9to5Mac, the new user interface for places of interest in Maps no longer pulls reviews and photos from the likes of Foursquare, TripAdvisor,...
Dutch tech blog iCulture this morning reported that Apple Maps is now showing speed camera information in at least some parts of the Netherlands, suggesting Apple is in the process of rolling out the feature in more countries. Image via iCulture While navigating in-car with Apple Maps via CarPlay or on iPhone, drivers in a region where the speed camera feature is available are alerted to...
Apple today at WWDC revealed a new iOS weather app with additional features, like full-screen maps and live weather notifications. The new app includes many features similar to Dark Sky, which Apple acquired last year.
Apple said that the redesigned app includes more graphical displays of weather data, full-screen maps, and dynamic layouts that change based on conditions.
There's also new ...
Apple today announced that an expansion of the company's more detailed Apple Maps app will be expanding to Spain and Portugal today, followed by Italy and Australia later this year.
The revamped Maps app features richer landscape details such as roads, parking lots, parks, buildings, airports, and more. Apple uses its own vehicles equipped with LiDAR sensors and cameras to obtain mapping...
With iOS and iPadOS 14.5 scheduled for an early spring release, Apple has begun testing a new feature that could provide Apple Maps users with real-time crowd data for points of interest, similar to Google Maps.
In the iOS and iPadOS 14.5 beta, an updated section in the "Location Services" menu of Apple's Privacy settings states that Apple will collect data from users, such as when a...
After adding support for speed and red light cameras in iOS 14 last year, Apple now appears to be directly challenging rival maps app Waze with the latest iOS 14.5 beta, which adds a plethora of new features to Apple Maps such as accident reporting, hazards, and speed checks.
Waze is a popular maps app, now owned by Google, that describes itself as a community-driven GPS navigation app....
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Apple is working on a number of new products that are set to launch this fall, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that it will be "the widest array" of new devices that Apple has introduced in its history.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explains that Apple is working on four new flagship iPhones (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max), an updated low-end Ma...
Three months after their launch, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros continue to experience high demand and seemingly short supply, with shipping dates for both models stretching into multiple weeks in several of Apple's key markets.
In the United States, the baseline 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip is estimated to ship in three to four weeks, promising an arrival by at least...
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Dropbox today announced that users who update to macOS 12.3 once that software version becomes available may temporarily encounter issues with opening online-only files in some third-party apps on their Mac.
In a support document and an email to customers, Dropbox said it is actively working on full support for online-only files on macOS 12.3 and will begin rolling out an updated version of...
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Apple has always emphasized the depth of thought that goes into the design of its products. In the foreword to Designed by Apple in California, a photo book released by the company in 2016, Jony Ive explains how Apple strives "to define objects that appear effortless" and "so simple, coherent and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative."
But every once in a while even Apple...
Apple today announced the Black Unity Braided Solo Loop for the Apple Watch, as well as a new downloadable watch face, to celebrate Black History Month. Following the launch of the limited edition Black Unity Apple Watch Series 6 and Sport Band in 2021, Apple today launched the Black Unity Braided Solo Loop as part of its celebrations for Black History Month this year.Apple is launching a...
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AT&T today announced the launch of upgraded AT&T Fiber plans, which support speeds of up to 5 Gigabits for some customers. There are two separate plans, one "2 GIG" plan and one "5 GIG" plan, available to new and existing AT&T Fiber subscribers.
According to AT&T, the new plans are available to nearly 5.2 million customers across 70 metro areas including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, San...
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Benchmark results have started to surface for MSI's new GE76 Raider, one of the first laptops to be powered by Intel's new 12th-generation Core i9 processor.
Intel previously said that its new high-end Core i9 processor is faster than Apple's M1 Max chip in the 16-inch MacBook Pro and, as noted by Macworld, early Geekbench 5 results do appear to confirm this claim, but there are several...
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Apple today released iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3, the third major updates to the iOS and iPadOS 15 operating systems that were released in September 2021. iOS and iPadOS 15.3 come almost two weeks after the release of iOS and iPadOS 15.2.1, minor bug fix updates.
The iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 updates can be downloaded for free and the software is available on all eligible devices over-the-air in ...
Apple on January 26 finally released the iOS 15.3 and iPadOS 15.3 updates to the public, but unfortunately, these updates are focused more on security fixes than outward-facing changes.
Top Rated Comments
Glad Apple is improving this. I cannot wait to try this new Apple Maps feature in 2028.
Hopefully we can eventually add our own pictures.
You can Google “Yelp extortion” to learn more. It’s thousands upon thousands of businesses that were affected by their dirty practices. Apple knows about it too, and I’m excited about Yelp being booted out.