How to Use Google Maps with Lyft Navigation

What is it like to have your preferred navigation option built directly into the Driver app? Joe here at The Rideshare Guy, and today, we’re going to discuss Lyft in-app navigation with Google Maps. Lyft in-app navigation built with Google Maps has been available on Android for a few months now and was just rolled out to the iPhone a few weeks ago.

Take a look at the video below to learn how to use Google Maps with Lyft, and scroll to the video transcript to see all the points covered in the video.

Google Maps inside the Lyft app is a very good experience

I’ve been using it for that few weeks, and I can say in my four years of navigating, being a rideshare driver, this is the best navigation experience I’ve experienced yet. It’s completely seamless. There’s a lot less interaction with my phone. I no longer need to go back and forth from.

In the past, I had Google Maps as my preferred option. I used Google Maps before, but I would have to go back and forth between the Lyft app, the Lyft Driver app, and Google Maps. Sometimes, the pin would be off. Sometimes, Google Maps just shows a latitude and longitude. They don’t show you the actual address, so I’d have to go back and forth from the Driver app to Google Maps in order to see that address or see exactly where that pin was.

Now, with in-app navigation, all that information is right there. You can see the pin. You’re seeing the nav right there. You also see that little yellow guy, that yellow guy, which is the actual GPS location of your passenger. You see that right there. There’s no need to go back and forth between apps. Having all that information right there in front of you and not needing to go back and forth between a separate app, a separate navigation app, is great.

Notifications and queued rides work much more seamlessly now

For instance, on cancellations, whenever a cancellation occurs, you see it right there in the app as opposed to being in a separate navigation app, and then you need to get those notifications. Sometimes, those notifications are delayed, so sometimes when a ride is canceled, you may not be aware until you actually go back to the Driver app.

It also works great with queued rides. As soon as you get queued rides, you see those notifications right there in the app. Lyft Line is not available in my market, but I can imagine in markets where Lyft Line is available, it makes that experience much more seamless as well, and as far as the actual navigation experience, so I’ve accepted a request, and if you have Auto Navigation turned on, this will just automatically happen. You won’t have to press the navigation button on the top right there, but we’ll press that button, and there it is. It’s a seamless transition.

How Lyft’s in-app Google Maps is different from normal Google Maps

The options for Google Maps in the Lyft app are almost the same exact thing as the Google Maps navigation, just a little bit different. You still have that exit button at the bottom right there. You can also look at the route overview on the bottom left. If you press that, you can see the route overview. It also shows you other alternative routes with similar ETAs. It shows you the ETAs, just like Google Maps, but again, it’s great just to have everything right here.

It’s all there for you to see. You no longer have to go back and forth, and as you’re approaching your passenger’s pickup location, everything is there for you to see, so there’s the pin. There’s also the little yellow guy, which is the actual GPS location of your passenger, and when you arrive, you’ll just get a message saying you have arrived at your destination.

Again, you’ll see the actual address. No more coordinates. Here’s one thing that I think they should either change or tweak a little bit, but basically, once you pick up your passenger, you automatically launch into navigation. You don’t really have a chance to see the address, the destination address. It would be nice if they maybe just displayed that destination address for a couple seconds, allowed you to see the overview of the route before the trip actually, before the navigation actually begins, but as of now, I’ll usually just exit out of the navigation really quick and see that address, confirm it, and then jump right back in.

Once you reach destinations, the app usually automatically exits you out of navigation. Sometimes when I arrive at a destination, and the app doesn’t think that I’m actually there already, so I’ll just have to exit out of the navigation and then end the trip.

The navigation experience is much better because of this addition

I’ve been driving for four years now. I’ve used Google Maps as my preferred option for most of those four years, and this is now the best navigation experience I have had. It’s just so seamless. It’s so pain-free. Less needing to interact with my phone and more just driving and letting the app do the work itself, as opposed to needing to navigate back and forth between apps. It’s not a perfect experience. There still are some issues, but hopefully those will get ironed out with future app updates.

Also, this has even convinced me, I don’t drive much for Uber, but anytime that I do or will drive for Uber, I might even give Uber in-app navigation a chance again. I haven’t really liked their navigation in the past, but just having all that right there within one app and not needing to go back and forth between apps, that just makes the driving experience so much more seamless and headache-free. It just makes it that much better. For those of you that have also had the chance to use Lyft’s in-app navigation, let us know about your experience in the comments, and if you haven’t subscribed to The Rideshare Guy channel, please subscribe. Thanks again for watching, and drive safe.