Updated Apple Maps Design Expanding to Israel, Palestine and Saudi Arabia
Apple has been working to expand its updated Apple Maps app to additional countries, and has started testing the revamped design in Israel, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, according to Maps expert Justin O'Beirne.

It will be the sixteenth expansion of the updated Apple Maps design since the update first rolled out in September 2018. Apple in 2020 completed its U.S. rollout, and has since expanded to Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, and more.
Apple will test the update for several weeks before the Maps app sees an official update for all users. Apple's "new" Maps design includes more detailed views of roads and foliage, faster and more accurate navigation, three-dimensional landmarks, better views of parks, buildings, airports, and shopping centers, and the Look Around feature.
Popular Stories
Apple is planning to introduce ads to the Apple Maps app in the near future, and the iOS 26.5 beta lays the groundwork for the feature.
Code in the update says the following: "Maps may show local ads based on your approximate location, current search terms, or view of the map while you search."
Apple also says that a user's location and ads interacted with in Apple Maps are not linked to...
With the second beta of iOS 26.5, Apple is continuing to prepare for ads in the Apple Maps app. There's a new splash screen in the app that says it will display ads based on approximate location, current search terms, or a view of the map when searching. Ads will also be shown in the "Suggested Places" section that was added in the first beta.
Apple says that advertising information is not...
The upcoming iOS 26.5 update for iPhones will include two changes to the Apple Maps app: local ads and a new "Suggested Places" section.
Last month, Apple announced that ads are coming to the Apple Maps app on the iPhone and iPad in the U.S. and Canada starting "this summer," and there is evidence of Apple preparing for that within iOS 26.5's code.
Apple says businesses in the U.S. and...