What you need to know
- Native reviews and photos have come to Apple Maps users in the United States.
- The feature was already available for users in the United Kingdom and Australia.
- Users can now add reviews and photos without having to use Yelp.
Apple has rolled out some new features to Apple Maps in the United States that bring it closer to Google and further away from Yelp.
As reported by MacRumors, Apple Maps users can now add reviews and photos directly in the service rather than having to use Yelp to do so.
Native rating options in the Apple Maps app appear to be new for users in the United States, but Apple has been testing the feature in other countries like the UK and Australia for some time now.
When you bring up a location in Apple Maps now, you'll see two new options:
- Recommend this place
- Add photos to Maps
Recommending a place is simple - Apple Maps gives you a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. This is different from Google Maps, which gives users the ability to rate a location between 1 and 5 stars.
Adding photos is just like Google Maps. You have the option to add one or multiple photos to a location.
The new additions do two things: bring Apple Maps closer to the built-in experience that Google Maps has had for years, and also reduces Apple's dependence on Yelp, which has been the Apple Maps partner for reviews and photos since...well, forever.
There are still some things missing from the review process - mainly the ability to actually write out a review. Currently, you'll still have to stick with Yelp for that if you're staying exclusive with Apple Maps.
