iOS 18.4 lets EU iPhone owners set a default navigation app

The upcoming iOS 18.4 software update enables iPhone owners living in the European Union (EU) to change the default app used for navigation.

Setting a default app used for navigation to a third-party app like Google Maps or Waze makes links with GPS coordinates open in it instead of Apple Maps.

Unfortunately, Apple has restricted this change to the EU. The Cupertino company replaced Google with its own mapping service in 2012 and clearly doesn’t want to let all iPhone owners change defaults to Google Maps unless required by law—despite the fact that this is one feature that would benefit iPhone owners globally.

iOS 18.4 lets EU iPhone owners set a default navigation app other than Apple Maps

The new option is found in Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Navigation, joining existing app defaults for email, messaging, calling, web browsing, typing, contactless transactions, passwords and more. Third-party apps must support this functionality in order to be offered through this menu. Apple promised this feature in its November 2024 compliance report. “In spring 2025, Apple will add support for setting defaults for navigation apps and translation,” it reads.

Apple provides instructions on how third-party developers must configure their navigation apps so people can set them as the default on their devices. “In iOS and iPadOS 18.4 and later, a person may select an app other than the Maps app to provide navigation instructions,” it reads. “If your app provides navigation services and you want it to optionally become the default navigation app, there are several steps you need to take.”

To provide navigation capabilities, an app must support a custom URL scheme and accept strings such as the source, the destination and one or more waypoints between the starting point and the final destination. These strings can be provided as an address, a place name, or latitude and longitude coordinates. To protect user privacy, a third-party app set as a default navigation app won’t receive Apple place IDs, transportation modes or route preferences from the system.

As previously mentioned, iOS 18.4 also enables all iPhone owners, regardless of their country, to set a default translation app such as Google Translate or Microsoft Translator instead of Apple’s built-in Translate software.