More and more small but useful new features in iOS 18, which is expected to be officially released in September, are being discovered by beta testers. A new function affects Apple’s map app Maps. Apple has changed the search function here: a minimal change makes it more clever.
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One button to find them
As the developers report from the latest beta 2, there is now a new button called “Search here”. It appears when you have a certain area of the map open. With just one click it is possible to limit the results – for example from a search for restaurants, pharmacies or shops – to the map section, that you are looking at right now Google Maps users have known this for a long time.
“It’s time to improve Apple Maps so that you can manually direct the search to a new location instead of constantly triggering the ‘Find Here’ process by moving the map over and over again,” writes a tester on Reddit. This also eliminates the need to constantly zoom in and out if that’s what you want. In fact, Apple Maps had a similar function before, but it was much more incomprehensible: search results were automatically adjusted as you moved, but not at every zoom level. Now the results of the new button are actually limited to the displayed area only.
Apple Maps with further innovations
Apple’s Maps app also comes with other new features in iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS 15. This includes an easier way to save locations, configurable walking and hiking routes, topographic maps previously known only from the Apple Watch and, in some places, a different look and user interface.
Recently, Apple integrated precise real-time data on public transport for the first time in several cities in Germany thanks to iOS 17 and Co. In Paris, on the other hand, you can now also use the iPhone as a Navigo local transport ticket – including buying it directly from Apple Wallet. This is a feature that would also be desirable for Berlin, Hamburg or Munich, where, unlike Paris, there are no NFC-controlled platform barriers.
(B.Sc.)
