What's New in Apple Maps for iOS 15

Apple Maps received one of its most substantial overhauls with the release of iOS 15, transforming from a basic navigation tool into a highly detailed visual guide. This update introduced a detailed interactive 3D globe, customized 3D city experiences, augmented reality (AR) walking directions, enhanced transit integration, and advanced driving navigation to help users navigate their surroundings more intuitively.

Interactive 3D Globe

iOS 15 replaced the flat world view with an interactive, 3D globe. Users can spin, zoom, and explore the planet with realistic renderings of mountain ranges, deserts, rainforests, and ocean trenches.

Detailed City Experience

Major metropolitan areas received custom-designed 3D models for landmarks, roads, trees, and buildings. Cities such as London, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco feature custom night-mode lighting, elevation details, and neighborhood layouts, offering a far more immersive sense of place than previous versions.

The driving experience was upgraded to display detailed road geometry. Drivers can see turn lanes, medians, crosswalks, bike lanes, and bus and taxi lanes directly on the map. For complex highway interchanges, the app shifts to a road-level perspective, making it easier to see upcoming merges and exits in real time.

Augmented Reality Walking Directions

For pedestrians navigating dense urban environments, iOS 15 added step-by-step walking directions rendered in augmented reality. By raising the iPhone to scan surrounding buildings with the camera, the app accurately determines position and overlays directional arrows and street names onto the live camera view.

Smarter Public Transit Integration

Public transit navigation saw significant improvements:

Pinned Lines: Users can pin favorite transit routes to the top of the transit card for quick access to schedules and departure times.
Disembark Notifications: Maps tracks user progress along a transit route and provides proactive notifications on both the iPhone and Apple Watch when it is time to exit the train, subway, or bus.
Nearby Departures: A dedicated section displays all transit departures near the user's current location with a single tap.

Redesigned Place Cards and Curated Guides

Place cards were redesigned to provide cleaner access to essential details, such as business hours, photos, ratings, and amenity information. The update also introduced a dedicated Guides Home to help users discover curated recommendations from trusted brands and editors, alongside the ability to save personal favorites.