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  • Im running v.4.6 the link takes me to app store but shows the app is installed, no new updates. Is this an old article ?

  • Annoys the crap outta me that they keep switching voices. Really liked Elvis navigating me. And then the Terminator. But they left the stupid Boy Band on there. They really need to allow folks to buy those voices….now I’m using some british chick….

  • Waze is my day-day program I use for my commute. Cop reporting aside, traffic reports are more accurate, and hazard reporting makes a huge difference. With that being said, Google Maps is my go to app for when I am driving in a new city. Google Maps has specific lane guidance, which Waze does not. As an annual visitor to Boston, I need extra help getting in the correct lanes for those highway transitions downtown. Waze will tell me the exit and how far away I am, but that is not enoughthat Waze does not is lane guidance. Waze will sort of show you when and where to turn but that is not good enough when you are driving in an unfamiliar metro area like Boston.

  • Android is getting this version with new interface now? I don’t understand why Google brought this update to iOS first and Android gets it months later.

  • Is it possible to launch Waze to navigate to a spoken address after saying “Ok Google”? I couldn’t find a way, it always defaults to the Maps app for me. That’s the most common way that I launch into navigation, so has been the primary reason for me defaulting back to Maps.

    • Maybe search on changing the default browser? I would think that method would work, but just swap in maps instead of browser.

  • iOS has had this version for 6 months+. Android app development – the one thing holding the platform back. No ones gonna care if there’s an app drawer or not if apps aren’t competitive….

  • My wife got 4.0 on her iPhone a couple months ago. Looks nice. About time they got around to updating the Android version.

    • I am about the farthest thing there is from an app developer, so there is a good chance I don’t know what I am talking about. But is there a chance that the fact there are so many different Android devices, active software versions etc. It would take longer to roll out an app that would work across all devices? Or did that not really come into play?

  • Waze recently added Morgan Freeman to their list of voices too, which is epic. But unfortunately he doesn’t say street names and they will probably pull his voice from the app in a month or two (as they have before for other voices – these are normally purely promotional for their current movies).

    • My 8-year-old son loved coming back from a long trip from NH this summer when The Terminator was our nav buddy for the trip home. He didn’t know who the Terminator was, but we all had a blast. “Make your next right… I INSIST.”

  • It’s so awesome having Morgan Freeman’s voice navigating me everywhere I go now. Love Waze

  • I… Don’t get it.. Why is Waze still an individual app? Is it not going to be fully baked into Maps? What was the point of Google buying them?

    • lol – I seem to remember this conversation from another post about Waze. Google bought Waze purely for the data. If you’ve used maps since they bought, I”m sure you’ve noticed incidents “reported by Waze app”. This feeds into Maps and gives them traffic and incident information in almost real time. As for the app still being around, Waze is incredibly popular. 100M installs on the play store alone (not to mention how many on that other app store). That is clearly more popular than ANY of Google’s attempts at social networks (Yes – Waze is a social network). So if you’re getting the data, why kill the app?

      • More importantly, I don’t think Google wants to add the ability to report on where the Po-Pos are, and that’s probably 90% of the reason why people use Waze, lol.

      • If this was true Google Maps would be more up to date. We as waze work really hard as volunteers to make the app work.

    • Lots of people already have Waze installed, so if Google is mostly interested in gaining more accuracy for traffic data, why remove all of those user’s phones and lose that data? People using Google maps benefit more from Waze sticking around.

    • Because it’s not made for that. It is made to work in conjunction with maps. I use gmaps navigation and have waze run in the background to alert me of any debris or road hazard and police. It works flawlessly.

        • No, i got the voice also, like “police reported ahead”. It was awesome with the star wars update also.

    • Two different apps catering to two kinds of users. There are plenty of Google Maps users who do not want all the “bloat” from Waze, and plenty of Waze users who believe Google Maps is all but useless without these features.

      Baking those features into Google Maps would piss off a lot of users, even if all of the extra functionality could be disabled.

      • Exactly.

        Now if only I could select Waze to be my Navigation app on Android Auto…

    • I like Waze but the navigation gets off easier than Maps and they are owned by Google. So it doesn’t make sense.

    • I can’t see that feature getting sued out of the app. They’re no legal basis for that to happen.

    • I personally don’t see much utility in the police reporting. Most of the times I’ve seen a cop reported in the app, it hasn’t actually been there (on multiple long road trips too, not just local driving). Maybe I’m weird and just don’t feel the need to speed when not in sight of the police, but if the app isn’t even accurate most of the time, what good is it? In regards to the re-routing part, doesn’t Google Maps do this? Obviously it does routing suggestion based on congestion at the beginning, but I was under the impression it would update while in-route based on changing conditions. Is this not the case?

      • Maybe most of the time there may not be a cop where it’s been reported but that one time the cop is there makes this app invaluable. Driving up to Cooperstown last year I got saved by Waze. Wasn’t flying, but was definitely 10-15 over the speed limit. I got the notification that there was a speed trap and slowed down to within 5 MPH of the speed limit. As I did that the Lexus that was pacing with me for about half an hour to 45 minutes flew by me. Within 2 minutes a state trooper was pulling him over from a hidden speed trap.

        I have also seen reports though that many police departments have officers reporting police as they drive to encourage safer driving, leaving false reports to other drivers.

          • Normally I do. There are plenty of times though on an open road that my foot gets heavy and I end up a little over. The speed warning in my new car was actually a godsend as if I ever hit 70 it emits a loud noise to let me know and I slow down.

            55 on an empty highway is hard to maintain sometimes. Especially in the middle of a 4+ hour drive.

          • “55 on an empty highway is hard to maintain sometimes. Especially in the middle of a 4+ hour drive.”

            Let me introduce you to this wonderful new thing called, “Cruise Control”. 😉

          • It’s mind-boggling as I drive the interstates as to how many people seem completely unaware of that feature. 80 down the hill, 60 up the next hill, and then fluctuating between 65-75 on flat ground.. Makes it annoying as hell when I’m towing a trailer (the combination of which isn’t gigantic at ~40′ long and 15,000 lbs. but is still far bigger than a car) at a steady 70.

          • Hmm according to some states ‘speed limits’ or police ticket quotas according to ̶a̶r̶b̶i̶t̶r̶a̶t̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶l̶a̶w̶s̶ ̶ profiling cops or state budget priorities
            Oh wait people still text and drive anyway along with smoking, eating, changing the radio station you get the point
            You have to be crazy not to try avoid cops
            As a law abiding citizen

          • I think you left some words out there, because your first sentence reads like gibberish.

            I’ve never been pulled over and I definitely don’t care if there are cops around while I’m driving. I’ve also been hit by two different idiots who didn’t know how to drive properly (or not to use the phone while driving).

            So, please explain to me why I am “crazy” for not trying to avoid cops.

          • Where you being a defensive driver when you were involved in two traffic collisions?

          • They were hit and runs, done by people on their phones. Not much you can do when someone changes lanes into the side of your car with no prior notice or warning.

          • I usually only go 5 over the speed limit on short trips, depending on the road, but on long trips I’m tempted to go faster. Driving from my home in San Jose, CA to San Diego for example, I can save an hour by driving 10 mph faster. An hour is quite a bit of time and makes quite a difference on an already long drive. I never go more than 15 over though.

          • because higher speeds dont necessarily equate to more accidents. And in some places the speed limit is as much about revenue generation from tickets than it is about saftey. And a 50 mph speed limit on a straight highway is just silly.

          • Right, because you drive exactly the speed limit all the time. Many speed limits on rural roads have a fixed speed limit, say 35MPH. That 35MPH is a good limit when you are going around those corners, but that same 35MPH is way too low when you are on a mile long straight away before the next corner. My point is, going 5 or 10 over the speed limit doesn’t always mean you are driving recklessly or endangering others.

          • Where I live, the prevailing traffic speed is about 70mph. Speed limit is 55.

            I drove on a donut one day for my 30 mile commute and wanted to stick right to the 55. I stayed in the right lane (three lane highway). People were ticked off at me and constantly going around me.

            Sometimes, you just go the speed of traffic. I generally figure if I’m in the middle lane and I have a few people passing me and I pass a few people, that’s pretty safe. I seem to recall reading that the vast majority of accidents on highways happen during lane changes. Therefore, it’s probably safer to just get with a group and stick with it.

      • There’s plenty of debate for the cop thing already so I won’t go into that, but I’ve had Waze re-route me twice in the last 6 months on routes I know like the back of my hand (Ventura County to points south: Laguna Beach and Buena park) and I the first time I thought WTF?, but then realized it was taking me off and back on the freeways to avoid accidents and traffic jams.

        No other app does that with the swiftness of crowd-sourced and well-populated Waze, saving me hours of sitting in gridlock.

      • The police reporting is actually really good. Yes, most times the police isn’t there because they moved on. That is why it asks you, are they still there and then you put no and it goes away. It works really good also for road debris or any hazards.

    • Google Maps has routed me around traffic/accidents many times. (No reporting of law enforcement, though)

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