Waze iOS Update Brings All The Cool Stuff Android Already Had

Waze is fantastic for a variety of reasons. A large part of why people use the service is to alert one another to traffic conditions or law enforcement speed traps. Some even use Waze as their lone navigation app. Recently, Waze was updated to provide AMBER Alerts too, bringing a lot more community context to your drive. In a recent blog post, Waze announced they were updating their iOS version as well, bringing a lot of great new stuff to both platforms.

Waze is now "up to" 85% faster when you search for stuff, or ask for a route or reroute. In that vein, it will likely keep happy customers around, and could even sway doubters to give it a shot.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is the new 'Time in Traffic' bar. With apps like Google Maps, you know traffic is backed up (if you've filtered traffic into your map), but you probably don't know how long you'll be sitting in it. Time in Traffic shows you just how long you'll be locked up on the road (I'm expecting our readers in L.A. who travel the 405 in rush hour to send along screenshots so we can see how much time it really takes).

Waze's guided navigation also updated, and will suggest routes based on traffic. If you hear a "let's go via" when starting a route, it's probably best to just go with it.

Finally, you can now backup and recover your Waze account should you switch phones. Just log-in with your registered phone number, and your points/username will be waiting for you.

Android saw these tweaks a few weeks ago (because Waze is a Google app, so they'll take care of home first), but the rollout on iOS will help everyone. When you depend on crowdsourced content, getting everyone involved is important.

Source: Waze