Google owned navigation app, Waze, has received an update which brings new functions to the app as well as a whole new look and feel, in a bid to make it less cluttered.
Waze has always had a number of standout features – its ability to alert you to traffic conditions and speed traps, and re-route you around traffic jams, but with all that function being added, the UI was starting to look a little cluttered. Today the company is attempting to change the look of Waze, while maintaining what’s great about the app. The rollout will begin with iOS, but will expand to Android eventually, though Waze merely advises the update is ‘on the way’.
It’s all about clean design and while we’re seeing the UI for iOS here, it’s most likely going to be similar for Android when it hits.
The UI now makes it easier to access the information and functions you want with less taps. The slide out nav drawer on the left has all the destination information including favourites (home etc.), while on the right you get all your interactions with your contacts, including sending directions, your location, and ETA. Hitting the centre button lets you see alternate routes or modify your route with an additional stop or send an eta to a contact.
The Waze brand was built on reporting and of course your ability to report all the usual road incidents including accidents, police and more are front and centre, hidden behind a simple orange button. Tap the button, report your incident and you’re on your way.
Function wise, there’s a new integration with the calendar, allowing you to enter the address of the Calendar appointment and select traffic based reminders – Waze will then alert you to leave based on the traffic from your current location to the calendar event. That’s not all, Waze also promises that the new version of the app will be more user friendly, a big consideration when using GPS based applications
The iOS update of Waze is out now in the iOS app store. The Android version won’t be too far away we hope, and should have a few Android specific tweaks to the UI but function wise it should be fairly similar. If you haven’t tried out Waze yet, give it a go and see what you think.
Does Waze offer offline GPS abilities yet? Obviously this would disable live traffic updates, but this is the reason I use HERE Maps rather than Waze.
No offline capability.
I thought google maps already integrated all of waze’s features? Is there a big difference b/w the two when it comes to real time traffic updates and rerouting based on traffic conditions?
Maps will show incidents that were reported in Waze. But Waze is where is it all happening.
Also, speed camera alerts…
I used it when driving from Syd to Bris. Shared my drive with wife so she always knew my location and eta.
Speed camera alerts, a GPS-calibrated speedo, and much better (and learning) routing mean that I always use Waze over Maps.
It seems Google always wants to force me to use iPhone instead of Nexus.
Nah