Apple Will Soon Let You Set Google Maps as Your Default App in the EU

Apple continues to battle with the EU over its compliance with regulations. And in a new document recently released by the company, it announced plans to soon enable default app settings for navigation and translation. This means that users will finally be able to make Google Maps their default app.

New default options for navigation and translation

On Friday, Apple published its latest update on its compliance with the EU DMA (Digital Markets Act). The document that was published mostly focused on the steps Apple had already taken to comply with the DMA.

However, a key sentence was discovered (via MacRumors) that outlined future plans for compliance.

Here is the relevant line:

In spring 2025, Apple will add support for customizing defaults for navigation apps and translation.

This means that iPhone owners in the EU will be able to do something that users have been asking for years: set Google Maps as their default navigation app.

Apple Maps has continued to improve steadily over the years, but many users still prefer Google Maps for a variety of reasons. They'll finally be able to make the app the default soon.

The translation apps are also a nice change, though I expect most users will pay more attention to the default navigation.

The spring 2025 reference likely means these features will arrive in iOS 18.4, which is expected to debut in April.

Some default app options to launch globally in iOS 18.2

It was recently revealed in the iOS 18.2 beta that some default app categories that were thought to be EU-exclusive will be supported globally. These include messaging and calling apps.

Apple hasn't announced anything yet, but it would be nice if the upcoming EU default navigation and translation capabilities were also rolled out globally.

Are you excited about these changes? Which defaults will you set? Let us know in the comments.