Waze: update your app before hitting the road for winter vacation

This flagship application GPS navigation undergoes some welcome changes. In fact, its reporting features are simplified and become more accessible.

It is not for nothing that Waze has been very successful for several years. In addition to its fun and intuitive interface, the application allows users to share information about the dangers (and more) they encounter on the road. Traffic jams, accidents and mobile radars are reported in real time by a responsive community loyal to the service.

However, this feature requires navigating through multiple menus, which is not always convenient. But that was before.

A visual evolution to signal on the fly

What’s more frustrating than looking for something on your smartphone while you’re on the road? Waze has understood this and now offers simplified navigation to access the reporting options of its application. The menu ” Update map ” (who becomes ” What do you see ? » for the occasion) is now accessible from a clearly visible icon located in the lower right corner of the screen. Embellished with a triangular panel and a “ + “, its function is obvious at first glance, and the menu it opens is not devoid of good ideas either.

Indeed, the latter is mainly displayed in the form of a drawer which leaves part of the map visible, a visual bias that we also find on Google Maps, Waze’s sister application. This, however, does not prevent immediate access to the different categories of dangers (“ Traffic jam “, ” Police “, ” Accident “, etc.). These lead to more precise options, which can then be selected and validated without additional manipulation, in a matter of seconds.

Some sacrifices along the way

This menu can be expanded by swiping up. This gives access to a few additional options, such as requesting assistance on the road or the application’s internal messaging system. These are features that are likely to be used more often when stopped, and therefore do not need to systematically take up space on the screen. After all, it’s not necessarily 130 km/h on the highway that you’re going to meet your soul mate.

Waze, however, took the opportunity to reorganize the different dangers that users can report. The options ” Dead animal ” And ” Vehicle stopped » are among the big ones that have disappeared, and users will now have to turn to other choices to designate this type of problem.

This new version is already being deployed on the roads around the world, on both iOS and Android. However, according to our colleagues at 9to5Google, all of these changes are not necessarily visible from Android Auto or Apple CarPlay at the moment. If this is the case for you, you will have to wait a little before things are fully effective on all your screens.

Source : 9to5Google