Top 5 Apple Maps Alternatives

We know that Apple maps hadn’t been the most favorite feature for people on iOS 6 with its jagged results and inaccurate location services. Yes it adds real time voice navigation and street view alternative with “fly over” but, lack of accuracy cannot be compensated. The word from Google center is that they would be releasing a standalone app in a couple of months, thankfully, there are several other applications you could use in iOS 6 as an alternative.

Map Quest

Map quest provides the same turn by turn voice navigation, offers restaurant, location, live traffic camera feeds and cheapest gas prices around you as well. It also provides a “live” navigation support which means if you take a wrong turn it will re-route and update your feed.

The latest updates allows you to “tap to location” feature, where you won’t be required to enter the address but just long press the area on the screen, you can also get walking directions have multiple stop points and set it in landscape screen mode.

Cost: Free

Download: MapQuest- iTunes Link

HardwareInsight Recommendation: 4/5

TeleNav

Another application that you could consider is telenav. It provides the same turn-by-turn voice navigation with lane assist so that you never miss out on an exit lane, the live traffic feeds will save you a lot of time which are updated every five minutes on telenav. It more user friendly than MapQuest and the interface is better structured.

You can also find nearby restaurants, cheapest gas prices near you, traffic signals, voice search and speed trap notification on your route as well. The app is not free to download; it will cost $0.99 for 30 days use then you would be asked for a yearly subscription worth $9.99 – which is still a bargain.

Cost: $0.99 initial, $9.99 yearly subscription

Download Link: Telenav- iTunes Link

HardwareInsight Rating: 5/5

Motion X GPS-Drive

Motion X were responsible for highly popular Motion X GPS which provided features like geo caching, live time cycling, sailing and running tracks. Motion X also provide car owners a turn-by-turn voice navigation app. It can store maps offline as well, just like Google maps – when online the maps are updated every few seconds to get you real time traffic feeds.

The highlighting features include real time and predictive traffic feeds, portrait and landscape support, visual lane support, live local speed limits, pre-loaded maps for offline use, live compass and Facebook and twitter integration. The application will cost you $0.99 for installation and one year subscription for $9.99.

Cost: $0.99 initial, $9.99 yearly subscription

Download Link: MotionX GPS Drive –iTunes Link

HardwareInsight Rating: 5/5

OpenMaps

OpenMaps is dubbed as Wikipedia of maps; you can use the application and add tags and location information as well. The application is free to use, unfortunately it does not provide turn-by-turn navigation support like other applications we viewed.

You can Browse the maps of OpenStreetMap, download them for offline use, edit the maps (tag editing and node creation), find out where you are, search for addresses, get directions and scan the map for tweets with OpenMaps for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Cost: Free

Download Link: OpenMaps

HardwareInsight Rating: 3.5/5

Waze

Your 5^th option is waze, a free to download application which provides complete voice-guided navigations based on real-time traffic conditions and community generated traffic information. Like other applications, gas prices in US and accident alerts are also notified to user.

You can share your location and if you get on a wrong track/road the maps will redirect you to alternative route to your destination. Other features include voice alerts when approaching speed traps, speed cams, sharing location and ETA with friends and regularly updated maps.

Cost: Free

Download Link: Waze

HardwareInsight Rating: 4.5/5

Apple says Maps will improve

Apple is currently looking to hire old Google maps employees to fix issues with Apple maps, and since Apple removed the support for Google maps they are all in. We are sure that with time Apple will churn up a fix and perhaps a better one than Google maps, but there is a long road ahead for Apple if they wish to compete with navigation giant. Till than we leave you with our top picks for Apple maps alternatives, if you have better suggestions please share via comments.