Apple maps finally works on mobile browsers (including android)

Apple has traditionally been reluctant to support platforms outside its ecosystem, which is why when Apple Maps launched in 2012, the service was available exclusively on iPhones and iPads. But now, after many years, the company has finally loosened that policy — Apple Maps is now accessible via mobile browsers on all devices, including Android.

Apple Maps was officially launched in 2012, and was immediately criticized for its poor accuracy. After all, Apple was trying to compete with one of the most powerful and popular apps of all time – Google Maps. It took Apple years to even come close to the massive amount of information that Google Maps had accumulated.

In 2018, Apple released the MapKit API, which allowed developers to embed Apple Maps into websites. DuckDuckGo was one of the first sites to take advantage of this, and for a while, it became the best way to use Apple Maps outside of your iPhone or iPad. That changed a bit last June, however, when Apple launched a public beta for Apple Maps on desktop web browsers.

You could go to beta.maps.apple.com and use Apple Maps on Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, and Safari, but it wasn’t available on mobile browsers. That changed this week when Apple Maps on the web left beta status and became available on mobile browsers. Yes, that means you can use Apple Maps on your Android phone in a more official way.

All you have to do is go to maps.apple.com in your phone's web browser. It's available now on both Chrome for Android and Firefox for Android. While the "beta" has been removed from the URL, the actual site still has a "Beta" label on the Maps icon. Some features from the original app are available, with turn-by-turn navigation being the most obvious omission.

Does a native Apple Maps app on Android make sense? If “default” apps like Apple Maps and iMessage were available on Android, it could also undermine the iPhone’s “monopoly.” However, services like Apple Music and Apple TV+ rely on having as many paying customers as possible, so expanding to Android makes sense.

In reality, Android users probably aren't too keen on using Apple Maps, native or not. But it's nice to have a web app that works well for those times when you get an Apple Maps link from an iPhone-wielding friend.