I absolutely love mapping apps. Google Maps and Apple Maps have been my constant companions pretty much since day one, and they've helped me find my way around all kinds of interesting places and some pretty dull ones too. But there is a very big problem with using your maps app in an unfamiliar place: they can make it look very obvious that you're not from round here, and that you don't know where you're going.
That's a worry for anybody, but it's particularly worrying for women and other marginalised people who have good reasons to be wary on unfamiliar streets. Yes, you can use headphones. But like many women I won't stick my wireless earbuds in when I'm walking solo at night and/or somewhere I don't know, because I want to be able to hear everything around me.
The good news is that both Apple Maps and Google Maps have features that tell you where to go without requiring you to look at your phone at all. The Apple option uses the Apple Watch, and the Google one works on your phone – not just Android phones but iPhones too.
Get silent notifications in Google Maps
Google Maps makes it easy to get vibrations instead of audible notifications. All you need to do is tap on the volume icon in the app in walking mode and then choose the Muted option. This will give you two different vibration patterns so you know exactly where to go. Imagine these as Morse Code messages:
dash-dot-dot: turn right
dot-dash-dash: turn left
Brilliant, isn't it? Just remember to put your phone somewhere you'll feel the vibration – a pocket rather than in your bag.
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
Get silent notifications in Apple Maps
If you have an Apple Watch, you don't need to do anything: you'll get vibrations through your watch automatically whether you're walking, driving or on public transport unless you've turned this feature off in the Watch app on your iPhone. Once again there are different vibrations depending on what you need to do:
dot-dot... dot-dot... dot-dot: turn left
dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot-dot: turn right
If you don't want these vibrations when you're not walking – they drive me daft when I'm in the car – you can switch off vibrations in the Watch app: My Watch > Maps > Turn Alerts.
Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).
-
Google Maps gets a big update that London visitors and commuters will especially love
Street View now available for 18 major London Tube stations
By Rik Henderson Published
-
Google Maps is getting its best free update yet and it’s a game-changer
The best traffic warnings are coming to the main Maps app at last
By Carrie Marshall Published
-
Google Maps is getting a free upgrade to help users spot companies with fake reviews
This is a brilliant new feature
By Sam Cross Published
-
Google Maps gets another neat design update and we like it
The makeover continues
By Britta O'Boyle Published
-
Google Maps just got a neat design upgrade for free
Maps is becoming simpler to navigate
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
Google Maps is rolling out a potentially life saving upgrade to millions of users
Wildfire alerts are spreading
By Max Freeman-Mills Published
-
Apple Maps is now available online – here's how to access it
You can finally use Apple Maps on a web browser
By Sam Cross Published
-
Google Maps is fixing its most irritating Android issue
Wrong turns, begone!
By Andy Sansom Published