Google Maps for iOS Receives Local Business, Friends Search Feature

Google Maps for iOS debuted this past December, exceeding 10 million downloads in its first 24 hours of being available. Three months after its initial release, Google is announcing a big update for its popular mapping application.

Today’s update will introduce new search icons to make it easier to find local businesses such as restaurants, coffee shops, bars and additional local businesses. All you’ll need to do is tap on one of the icons and a number of businesses local to you will begin to populate your Google Maps search.

Google Maps for iOS will also introduce Google Contacts integration which allows you to navigate to friends and family that are saved in your Google Contacts by searching for their name, which will result in their address appearing, as long as you saved their address to your contacts database in the first place. Google may be trying to rule the world with its ability to know everything, but your friend’s address isn’t one of those things they’d know.

The Google Maps update should now be available for you to download on the App Store.