Developers at Google have been working hard to enhance Maps’ navigating experience in 2023, as seen by the process used to produce Immersive View. Maps is one of our favorite navigation applications for Android because of efforts like these, but it also introduced features like glanceable instructions along the journey that we haven’t yet seen on our smartphones. This is about to change, as Google Maps on your lock screen is getting a lot more helpful.
What is glanceable directions on Google Maps?
Though Google first released glanceable instructions in February of last year, it’s possible that we completely forgot about them. With this Maps update, you can get crucial information like your current ETA and turn-by-turn instructions directly from the lock screen, saving you the trouble of having to unlock your phone every time. In addition, glanceable directions let you keep track of your progress in the route overview—even if you choose not to press Start for more detailed instructions. For example, it may be useful to double-check the route in a known area. When turned on, Maps will automatically reroute you whether you’re riding, driving, or walking and will update the route preview as necessary.
Google said at the February launch that glanceable instructions would be available globally in the next months on both Android and iOS smartphones. When June 2023 arrived, the corporation informed us that the functionality will be live in that month and that it could have reached a small number of consumers. There was no indication of glanceable instructions on the Maps settings page until January 2024, which was over a year after Google originally mentioned them.
A new toggle for the functionality is now quietly going out, as many members of the Android Police team have confirmed. We have tested it on all the devices and user accounts across many countries, so it seems like this is the global release we have been waiting for.If you press your profile symbol in the upper right corner of the screen and go to Settings → Navigation settings, you will find the option for glanceable instructions. To access the Glanceable instructions, scroll just beyond the Map Display section. Unfortunately, even though it’s been a while, you may not have noticed its presence since this helpful function is turned off by default. You may drive more safely if you have glanceable instructions enabled since you won’t need to unlock your phone as often.
We just hope that going forward, Google works on shorter schedules and doesn’t take a whole year to roll out little improvements to the app user experience like this one.
