Google developers have invested significant efforts in improving the navigation experience in Maps throughout 2023, as we witnessed with the journey behind creating Immersive View. Efforts like this make Maps one of our favorite navigation apps on Android, but along the way, it also announced features like glanceable directions, which we haven’t seen on our devices yet. That is changing now, because Google Maps is becoming a lot more useful on your lock screen.
We may have forgotten about glanceable directions entirely, but that’s because Google announced it in February last year. This addition to Maps brings essential information including your real-time ETA and turn-by-turn directions right to the lock screen, saving you the effort of unlocking your phone each time. Glanceable directions also allow tracking your journey in the route overview, even if you don’t hit the Start button for granular directions. It could, for instance, help double-check the route in a locality you’re familiar with. When enabled, Maps automatically reroutes if you veer off-course while walking, driving, or biking, and updates the route preview accordingly.
