Follow Us:
11

Waze for Android and iOS updated with improved social integration, better design

By on October 31, 2012 at 1:11pm in Mobile News

Android has had free turn-by-turn navigation for as long as we can remember; Apple added the feature in its latest version, but the experience was panned for inaccuracies and inconsistent performance.

Waze, on the other hand, has been quietly building a strong community in its social navigation software for the last few years. The service relies on traffic updates from other users, and uses this crowdsourced information to determine the best route to a particular place. If traffic is snarled on the highway, Waze will quickly and intelligently redirect you to for the shortest possible trip. It’s a great app and I’ve been using it for months. The company is announcing, along with an update, that Waze has broached 30 million users, an increase of 10 million from June.

Today’s update to version 3.5 adds some polish to the Android and iOS apps, along with new social features. Users can login using Facebook’s Social Graph, allowing friends to link up and arrange meeting points, with estimated times of arrival for each car. You can send a pickup request to friends or family, so they can see where you are and you can see how long it will take them to get there. It’s very, very smart.

There’s also a new UI with higher-quality buttons and icons that retain the app’s cartoony quality but gets rid of its bargain-basement design ethic.

If you haven’t used Waze and are a heavy commuter, I’d encourage you to try it out on either iOS or Android.

Via: Techcrunch

  • iphoneee

    if it’s not apple maps why would i want it

    • MikeMike

      obvious troll is obvious

  • JV

    @Iphooone

    Because its not apple maps?? lol Unless your a fan of not getting where you want to get. hahahaha Happy Halloween!

  • ns.dev

    Unfortunally Waze isn’t used by many people in my area. Still love it for the occasional traffic update.

  • llfromto

    Perhaps Apple or Google should buy this company and incorporate the functions into their own products.

  • Treatz

    that’S aWazing!

  • Kid.Canada

    Lol Apple would need to acquire this company more than Google and it’s kinda obvious why.

  • muchski

    Amazing app, growing supe fast so major cities will have reliable live ttaffic and aaccident info. If not lots of users in your area then show it to your friends as I am sure social meeting up etas and new ride functionality will be apealling. I’m area manager for Winnipeg so holla to my peeps there!

  • Pook

    Absolutely awesome app. My google maps is no longer needed since I switched to Waze. The redirection ability and the cop warnings are priceless. I put it on every time I’m on the road, short or long trips, doesn’t matter.

  • muchski

    New pickup feature is dope. Basically texts a request to anyone, even ppl without app that opens browser window which shares location if you give it permission. Basically gives you a map that you can see other person getting you in realtime, if you move you can also drag around pin to where you are! So COOL!

  • Huh

    They killed Waze for iOS. It crashes at start-up, it is slow. You lost your privacy (anonymity), the menu box is three large rows where you have to scroll now to access, data populates very slowly now, and worst of all, integration with social networking further distracting you from the road. This is literally a KILLER app.