- 1 hour ago
Google Maps gets a serious upgrade in this guide to seven practical mods and tools that make navigation smoother, smarter, and easier to use on Android and iPhone. From opening Apple Maps links in Google Maps with Geo Share, to sending Google Maps links into Apple Maps with Opener, the video shows how to cut out copy-and-paste headaches and move between apps faster.
It also covers Google Maps’ immersive 3D navigation mode, the Pixel-style power saving view for navigation, and Essentials features like “Are We There Yet?” for setting a destination alert while riding the bus or subway. You’ll also see route optimization tools like Zeo and MyWay, meetup helpers like Meet Midway, walking arrow apps like Arrow and Navvy, GPS spoofing with Mocksy, and car-friendly options such as Headunit Reloaded and CarPlay Connect.
Created for viewers searching for Google Maps mods, navigation hacks, Android and iPhone map tools, route planner apps, GPS tricks, and travel utility apps. It’s a useful watch for drivers, commuters, road trip planning, and anyone who wants a better Google Maps experience.
It also covers Google Maps’ immersive 3D navigation mode, the Pixel-style power saving view for navigation, and Essentials features like “Are We There Yet?” for setting a destination alert while riding the bus or subway. You’ll also see route optimization tools like Zeo and MyWay, meetup helpers like Meet Midway, walking arrow apps like Arrow and Navvy, GPS spoofing with Mocksy, and car-friendly options such as Headunit Reloaded and CarPlay Connect.
Created for viewers searching for Google Maps mods, navigation hacks, Android and iPhone map tools, route planner apps, GPS tricks, and travel utility apps. It’s a useful watch for drivers, commuters, road trip planning, and anyone who wants a better Google Maps experience.
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TechTranscript
00:00Here are seven mods and tools that you should start using to unlock Google Maps' full potential and make it
00:05even better than before.
00:06And it doesn't even matter if you're on Android or an iPhone. It works both ways.
00:10First up, let's say you're an Android user who uses Google Maps and your iPhone buddy sends you an Apple
00:15Maps link instead of the actual address.
00:18Pretty annoying, right? Because now when you tap that link, it'll open up in a browser and you need to
00:23do this whole mess
00:24just to grab the address and paste it into Google Maps.
00:27Well, to make your life easier, what you can do is download this free and open source app called GeoShare
00:32and now whenever you receive an Apple Maps link and tap it, it'll automatically still open up in Google Maps
00:38and start the navigation.
00:40It's really that easy.
00:41Plus, even cooler, if you're sending your iPhone buddy the location and he uses Apple Maps,
00:46you can just tap Share on the location in Google Maps, then choose GeoShare within the menu,
00:52and then tap the clipboard icon inside the app,
00:54and you'll see an option to quickly convert it to an Apple Maps link.
00:58Then you can send him that and it'll save him the copy and paste headache.
01:02It's pretty great.
01:03Now let's switch the roles.
01:04If you're on the iPhone and someone sends you a Google Maps link, but you use Apple Maps,
01:09you can just download this app called Opener for $2.
01:11And now whenever someone texts you a Google Maps link, you can share it to Opener
01:16and it'll let you quickly open that link in Apple Maps instead.
01:19It's that easy.
01:21Next, most people don't know that they can enable this in Google Maps.
01:24Basically, Google is rolling out this new immersive navigation mode and it gives you a way better 3D driving experience.
01:31Like you'll see extra stuff on the road like trees or landmarks and roads will actually have more depth.
01:36So if you're going under a bridge like the freeway, the map will show you way clearer than before.
01:42By default, Google has this turned off within Google Maps and you may not know this, but you may already
01:47have it without knowing.
01:48So to see if you do, you can tap your Google account icon, go to the settings, navigation,
01:54and then you could see the option to switch it to 3D at the top.
01:58If you don't see it yet, don't worry.
02:00It's rolling out server side.
02:01For me, it showed up on my iPhone first, but not on my Samsung just yet.
02:06Just keep an eye on this menu because it'll pop up soon.
02:08And hey, that's just a sneak peek.
02:10I got way more mods and tricks in this video to take Google Maps to the next level.
02:14And real quick, finding these mods and apps wasn't easy.
02:17So if you end up even liking even one, just drop a quick thumbs up and a comment to help
02:21this video get pushed to the YouTube algorithm.
02:24I'd really appreciate it.
02:25Thanks guys.
02:26Next, the latest Google Pixels have this awesome power saving mode in Google Maps.
02:30Basically, when you lock your screen during navigation, you'll still see a black and white
02:34preview with just the essentials.
02:36Like you can see the lanes, your next turn, and the arrival time.
02:40It's super handy, especially for long drives because it really saves you a ton of battery life.
02:45Unfortunately though, no other Android phone or the iPhone has this.
02:49But on Android, you can get this feature with this free and open source app called Essentials.
02:53Inside of it, all you need to do is toggle on Maps power saving mode and that's it.
02:58Next time you navigate, you can lock your screen and unlock it and you'll see that black and white preview.
03:04Pretty great.
03:05On iPhone, you're fresh out of luck.
03:07There's no way to do this.
03:08There's also this other really cool Google Maps trick found in Essentials called Are We There Yet?
03:13Like let's say you're on the subway or a bus and you're extremely exhausted to the point
03:18where you want to take a nap, but you can't because you'll miss your stop.
03:22Well, what you can do is go on Google Maps and you can long press near your destination
03:26to drop a pin and then you can share that pin to the Essentials app.
03:30From there, you can pick a small radius and it'll start to track it.
03:34When your destination gets close to that pin, your phone will start to ring to wake you up.
03:39That way you can chill or even fall asleep without worrying.
03:43And honestly, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
03:45Essentials has a ton of other awesome features packed inside of it like you can hide your status bar icons.
03:50You can freeze battery draining apps.
03:52You can remap your buttons to do other actions.
03:54You can get this cool music player in the always on display and tons more.
03:59Just keep in mind that most of these features will also require the Shizuku app to run.
04:04If you're not sure what that is or how to set that up,
04:07I've made a tutorial for it, which I'll leave in the cards.
04:10Definitely check it out.
04:11So Google Maps has a pretty big flaw.
04:13It won't give you the fastest route if you add multiple stops.
04:17Like if you just have one destination from point A to point B,
04:20it will actually show you the fastest way to get there.
04:23But once you start adding in stops, it won't reorganize them.
04:26So you end up driving all over the place, wasting a bunch of time and gas.
04:31Here's how you fix that.
04:32You can use this app called Xeo.
04:34It's on both the Play Store and iOS App Store.
04:37And in there, you can just add places that you want to go to.
04:40You can type in the address or the business name.
04:42And then you can pick your starts and end points.
04:45And finally, you can hit optimize and it'll rearrange everything into the fastest route.
04:51And once you hit navigate, it opens up Google Maps and starts the navigation with that quicker route.
04:55On Android, it's even better too because you'll get this little floating bubble with the current destination.
05:01And you can add notes to it too.
05:03And when you finish one stop, you can basically have it go to the next real easily without even needing
05:08to jump between apps.
05:09It's pretty great.
05:10Now, if you'd like an alternative, MyWay, which also works on iOS and Android,
05:15has the same idea and functionality, but it's a bit simpler.
05:19It also jumps you to Google Maps after finding the fastest route.
05:23But the downside is that after each stop, you have to switch back to the app to be able to
05:28start the next one.
05:29So it's not as seamless as Xeo's floating button, at least on the Android side.
05:32But still, both apps are free and will save you a ton of time and gas.
05:37Okay, from there, I've got Meet Midway, which works on both Android and iOS.
05:40And what it does is it makes it super easy to find fun spots between you and a friend or
05:46even multiple friends.
05:47Like, let's say you're planning a date and you want to meet in the middle.
05:50You can just type in your address, their address as well.
05:53And you can pick what you're in the mood for, like maybe a restaurant, cafe, whatever.
05:58And then you can hit Meet Midway.
06:00It'll instantly show a bunch of solid options right away.
06:04Plus, my favorite feature is that if you tap on any spot, it'll even pull up Google Maps in a
06:08floating window.
06:09So you can check the reviews without leaving the app.
06:12It's pretty genius.
06:13You can also switch activities on the fly without retyping everything, which is really nice.
06:18And once you're ready, you can hit Get Directions and it jumps you straight into Google Maps.
06:23Plus, if you're planning for a group setting, it's pretty great because let's say you got like three to four
06:28people coming from different places.
06:30You can just add everyone in and it'll find a spot in between everyone.
06:34So nobody has to drive extremely far.
06:36Now, yeah, Google Maps does have this new AI feature called Ask Maps that you can kind of do this.
06:43But honestly, it's just not as smooth.
06:45You'll really just end up typing more and doing a lot more research just for a few results.
06:50And imagine doing an entire group of people.
06:52I mean, you'll just straight up go crazy.
06:54This app just really simplifies it all.
06:56Okay, now before moving on, I've gone through way too many webcams that either look bad, break too easily or
07:02just take up way too much space.
07:03And at some point I was like, alright, I need to find something better.
07:06So I ended up trying the Find Cam Pro 4k AI webcam from Ugreen, the sponsor of this video.
07:12And I don't regret it one bit.
07:13The moment I plugged it into my computer, it started working right away.
07:17I didn't even need to download any software for it to work.
07:20And the first thing I noticed right away when the camera turned on was just how sharp everything looked.
07:25I could see my face crystal clear at 4k and 30fps.
07:29It's especially way better than my Dell XPS laptop camera.
07:32Plus, since it's got a large half inch Sony sensor, it can handle low light way much better than any
07:37other webcam that I've ever tried.
07:39And that's huge if your lighting isn't perfect too.
07:42Plus, one feature that caught me off guard is that it comes with gesture controls.
07:45So I can literally just move my hand to adjust things like AI framing.
07:49I can zoom in or zoom out and a lot more.
07:52It just feels super natural and is way easier to do than messing with some random settings.
07:56And if you make TikToks or YouTube shorts, you can also easily rotate it to portrait mode and shoot in
08:01vertical.
08:02Plus, it also comes with a dial that lets you choose between seven different filters that give you different classic
08:07photography tones.
08:08So you can get creative with it.
08:11And its autofocus is really great. It's super quick.
08:13And it even lights up your face with something called Face AE.
08:17So you stay well exposed even if there's a bright window behind you like in my setup.
08:21And the microphone is great too. This is what it sounds like.
08:24It's actually got dual noise canceling mics with AI noise reduction.
08:28That way it removes any background noise so your voice comes out nice and clear.
08:32For a better comparison, here's the audio from my laptop's microphone.
08:36And here's the audio from the Ugreen Find Cam Pro's microphone.
08:39As you can see, there is a big difference.
08:42So if you want to look your best in video calls, streams, or just film something at your desk,
08:47check out the Ugreen Find Cam Pro 4K AI webcam with a link at the top of the description.
08:52You'll even get a discount.
08:54Okay, back to Google Maps.
08:55This next one is totally different.
08:57For Android users, I've got Arrow.
08:59And for iPhone users, I've got Navy.
09:02Both work the same way and do the same exact thing.
09:05Instead of giving you a full map of streets and distractions,
09:08they give you a single arrow pointing you exactly where you need to go.
09:13And it'll show you the distance too.
09:15So that's pretty much it.
09:16I mean, you just pick a spot, start walking, and follow the arrow.
09:20Why would you want this?
09:21I mean, it can come in handy in certain situations
09:23where maybe you're trying to find your car in a busy parking lot,
09:26or you're just exploring a nature spot with no roads.
09:29Plus, on the Android side, the arrow also shows up in the notification on your lock screen.
09:34So you don't even have to unlock your phone to see the arrow.
09:38It's really smart.
09:39And then there's Moxie, which is low-key, super powerful.
09:42It's only for Android, and it lets you fake your phone's GPS location.
09:46So you can make your phone think you're anywhere in the world.
09:49Now, there are tons of apps that do this already, but what makes Moxie stand out from the rest
09:54is that it also lets you save your favorite spots and put them on a home screen widget.
09:59So instead of needing to open the app each time to just change your location,
10:03you can do so from the home screen with a single tap.
10:06It's pretty great.
10:07Just keep in mind that with the widget, you will need to get the Pro version,
10:11which does cost a dollar, but you can still use the free version
10:14to change your location right in the app.
10:16Next, if your car doesn't have Android Auto built in, same here,
10:21you can grab an old Android and download Head Unit Revived.
10:24It's $4, but it turns the Android into an Android Auto emulator.
10:29That way, you'll have the full experience of navigation, music controls,
10:33quick access to contacts, everything right there.
10:36I even think it's better than using your regular Google Maps on your phone
10:40because you get a really clean, car-friendly UI with split screen.
10:44It works like a charm.
10:45Now, if you're on an iPhone, you can instead use CarPlay Connect.
10:49It won't give you the same exact Android Auto service, but it'll still be extremely similar.
10:54Now, this next one I just added in to help you guys out even more.
10:57It's really about that new Ask Maps feature.
10:59I mean, I've tried it a few times.
11:01It just got released and I did find some pretty helpful things along the way.
11:05I mean, for example, let's say you're driving and you need to find a restroom fast.
11:09Before, you would just hit a random gas station and just pray that they have a toilet.
11:13But now, you can just ask Maps where the nearest restroom is and it'll scan business reviews to figure out
11:19if they actually have one.
11:21Or let's say your phone's about to die and you need to charge it fast.
11:24You can ask it to find spots nearby where you can charge it for free and it'll do it.
11:29If you're planning to go on a road trip, you can tell it to find cool attractions along your route
11:33so you're not bored the whole time.
11:35It saves you a couple of hours of research.
11:37Anyway, that's it.
11:38Those are seven of the best mods and tricks that you can use to upgrade Google Maps.
11:42If you want to keep watching, check out this video right here for 15 of the coolest tech that you'll
11:47probably want to pick up.
11:49Thanks for sticking around to the end, guys.
11:50Drop a thumbs up if I helped you find at least one app or cool trick that you didn't know
11:54about.
11:55And I'll catch you guys in the next one.
11:57Kapow!
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