Apple Maps web app is now available on all devices, including Android

In context: Apple has always kept its Maps app locked away in its walled garden. The company recently started expanding access to it. Last year, it launched a beta version of Apple Maps for web browsers – though it was a work in progress.

Initially, users could only access the Maps web app from desktops or tablets. Now, Apple has quietly dropped the beta tag from the URL and opened the service to other mobile devices, including its rival – Android.

Whether Android users will want to use Apple Maps is an entirely different question. The web app functions more like a website than the native Maps app. We tested it and found no inherent advantage over Google’s market-leading Maps app. It’s a fairly limited experience and doesn’t support logins for saved data, transit maps, 3D buildings, and other advanced features.

It feels subpar for Apple products. It feels like a minimal effort to appease regulators. The Cupertino powerhouse has faced intense antitrust pressure domestically and abroad. Regulators, particularly in Europe, have pushed the company to open its ecosystem. So now Apple Maps has a web app. Nobody said it must be good, and Cupertino has no interest in competing in the webspace.

Whatever the motives, any user on any device can now access Apple Maps from any browser by going to “maps.apple.com.” The web app supports search and navigation functions. It also has Apple’s Look Around street-level imagery (added a few months back), similar to Google’s Street View.

Users who want a more seamless native-app-like experience can add the web app to their home screen. Just tap the “Add to home screen” button on Chrome. Doing this creates a quickly accessible shortcut to the website for those who plan to use it frequently.

Apple has recently expanded its services footprint, gradually bringing products like Apple TV+ and Apple Music to rival Windows and Android systems. So, who’s to say a native Apple Maps app for Android isn’t in the cards? Still, Cupertino would likely need a monetary incentive to make that move.