The app is available with Safari for Mac users, with Chrome and Edge for Windows PC users, and soon more browsers will have Apple Maps including additional languages. For now, Apple Maps is available in English and can be found through the Beta Site - beta.maps.apple.com.
In terms of functionality, Apple Maps works the same on mobile devices and lets you get driving and walking directions, order food directly from the app, and browse for guides or reviews.
As Apple stated in the announcement from Wednesday, in the coming months the Apple Maps will have a feature similar to Google Maps Street View, called Look Around. This feature is expected to offer a 360-degree panoramic with hybrid and satellite views.
If we set the competition as Apple Maps vs Google Maps, the last one will win without a doubt because it has been available on the web from the start. Still, Apple Maps is the second-most popular app with a 10% market share. Google Maps has over 1 billion monthly active users and offers directions for more than 220 countries and territories. But most of these users and downloads are coming from a Samsung website.
So, this new beta app intends to increase even more their user loyalty as they can already access some apps through browsers, like Apple Music, Apple TV+, and iCloud App. Now, all users can access their favorite mobile apps effortlessly from the web.
Until now, this mapping app was available only for Apple devices like iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac users and was first launched on the iPhone in 2012. Since then, the app has been continuously developing with new features including Apple Maps offline navigation, multi-stop routing, detailed city maps, and lately EV routing.
This Apple Maps availability on the web browser brings the app one step closer to stealing some users from Google Maps and creating its own environment of apps for Apple users.
We are excited to see how Google Maps will respond to this launch and if it will feel a threat from its competitor.
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