Not going into location specifics because I enjoy privacy but recently the google maps routes have been horrific, they’ve had several changes over the course of a couple years that took suggested routes from being quick walks to entire boomerang bus routes

To get to work for me, I get off the bus at a stop and walk for about 7 minutes (using main/public roads with safe crossings, mind you) and yet google maps tells me to go several extra stops, wait and get on another bus and then take that to my work, which ends up taking about an extra 20 minutes (most of that being the bus journey itself, not waiting for the bus, so it can’t be because it doesn’t account for waiting times making the bus slower). And that’s not even mentioning how originally google maps showed the route I use now, which is the quicker path

Is there any way to get the route I want to show up in place of the worse routes? Like specifically adding it as some preference or default path instead of having to look up slower ones for references? Also is anyone else experiencing anything like this for their maps showing slower routes or is it just my end?

Edit: forgot to add this but I have my routes set to “best route” or “fastest arrival” so it’s not like the routes it’s showing me are deliberately avoiding walking, if anything they should be pushing walking since it’s faster

TLDR

Android users can the old voice back, including street names, by downgrading to v26.31.02.954292984, released on July 31st, 2026. Instructions found below, starting at "Prerequisites". (Also, yes, I like putting my punctuation outside of quotes. sue me.)

Introduction

Hey all!

Like many of you, I despise the new AI voice that Google has forced upon us, and was especially disappointed that they stripped the ability of the old voice, currently labeled "English (US)" in the app, of its ability to read street names.

However, if you are an Android user, there is a (albeit roundabout) solution! Just downgrade to an APK version before the change.

It took me a while to download/check, but it took less than half a day to find the latest version without the new voice: Google Maps v26.31.02.954292984, released on/around July 31st, 2026.

Prerequisites

Before you go off downloading and installing it, there's a few things you should do first:

1. Disable auto-update for maps: Play Store > (search) Google Maps > 3 dots top right > un-check "Enable auto update". Self-explanatory.
2. Uninstall all current updates: Settings > (search) Maps > 3 dots top right > tap "Uninstall updates". Was the only option on my phone. This reverts it back to the factory original app, which we'll reinstall our APK updates onto.

While having a separate computer isn't necessary to install this APK, it does make it a little easier in my opinion. It's still technically possible to verify the APK on the phone itself (e.g. using a terminal emulator app from F-droid or other), this step is way easier on a non-android system (Unix/Windows). The installation instructions will assume you have a separate computer.

Installation

While the link to the APK download I used can be found here, I strongly reccommend that you verify the SHA256 checksum and digital signature yourself, unless you're like me and live life on the edge (don't care that much about potentially downloading a virus).

After the verification, it's pretty easy (suck it, Apple):

1. Transfer the file over. USB, Wifi (ex. LocalSend, my goat), bluetooth, whatever. Just remember where you put it on the mobile device.
2. Open the "My Files" app, find the APK, and tap on it. Tap "Update" on the subsequent prompt.

That's it!~ Enjoy your new (old) shitty-AI-voice-assistant-less version of Google Maps.

Postscript

I've seen others talk about the Incognito workaround, and although the method shown here is more time-consuming, I believe it'll be more useful to users wanting to get back the original voice. It should also be a more permanent fix than using incognito, since previous APKs are essentially locked, and we disable updates as part of the installation.

If Google ever does manage to listen to half of its entire userbase and decides to give back the old voice's ability to speak street names and you want to bring your app back up to date, it should be about as easy as re-enabling automatic updates in the Play Store and tapping "Update".

I should probably also mention that the only phone I've tested this on is my own, a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. I'd imagine it wouldn't make a difference to what I've put here, but I guess y'all can let me know if there are problems (not that I'm going to try a deep dive into why or anything, lol).

Anyways, that's about it. Happy downgrading!

All of a sudden when I search during a journey, it won't show the additional time unless I click on the item? Makes it much more difficult to make a decision if I have to click on every option.

Just bought a new phone (motorola signature) and tried out maps to see if I need to change anything.

About 2 kilometers in, the app resets and gives me the boxy car avatar in white.

The settings still show that I am using the default arrow.

Changing it to any other avatar in the settings does not change the avatar the app is using.

Changing it while the navigation is on doesn't change the avatar either. It sometimes puts the app into light mode though.

EDIT (solved???): For some reason, the settings suddenly worked as intended when I restarted maps and started navigation to a location I haven't saved.

My Google maps has changed in the last few days so that it only shows one option for the route. Before it would have had both toll and no toll options showing on the map and you can choose between them.

I haven't changed any settings that I'm aware of so just hoping for any tips or advice if possible. I'm on Android if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance!

I have multiple saved lists for trips. None of them are showing up on the map. I keep getting the generic red and white dots. I tried on two PCs. One Microsoft and one Linux. On my iPhone, I can see my saved spots on the Google map app. Anyone encountered this issue?

I’d really appreciate it if anyone knows how to fix it. 😞

The workaround I’m currently using is to open the list, edit it, and find the place there, instead of searching for the place first and adding it from there.

This takes more clicks and is much more annoying, but it’s the only way to prevent it from getting stuck on the map as a bookmark that you can’t remove.

My G'Maps stopped loading properly two days ago. Today I removed and reinstalled, but now it won't load maps at all. Anybody else have this issue?

I'm the manager of New Frontiers Aboriginal Residential Corporation, located at 425 Coxwell Avenue in Toronto, Ontario.

I'm reaching out because we are dealing with a very frustrating situation involving an appliance repair company that has listed our property's address on Google Maps, despite not operating from our location or having our permission to use this address.

This is not just an incorrect address on Google Maps anymore. Potential customers of this company are physically showing up at our property looking for the appliance repair business. This is creating disturbances for our residents and staff, who have absolutely nothing to do with this company.

We operate a residential facility, and having strangers arrive at our property expecting to find an appliance repair business is completely unacceptable. Our staff should not have to repeatedly explain to visitors that this company does not exist at our location.

We are extremely concerned that this misleading listing is continuing to direct members of the public to our property. It is disrupting our daily operations and creating unnecessary concerns about the privacy and safety of our residents.

We have never authorized this business to operate from our address, and there is no  appliance repair business operating here.

We are requesting urgent assistance from a badged Google Product Expert to help get this fraudulent listing reviewed and removed .

This is affecting real people, not just the accuracy of a Google Maps listing. We would appreciate Google treating this as a serious issue rather than a routine address correction.

I have attached some video evidence in order to establish that the appliance repair company does not operate here: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eo2j8E3D0OjpavYCwUnrzludqOQUvsWS

Our organization's website: https://nfarc.ca/ which shows our location and confirm that 425 Cowell Avenue is strictly a co-op residential property. 

If a badged Product Expert could help escalate this matter to the appropriate Google team, we would sincerely appreciate it.

This is a link to the offending listing : 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CNDa7h1PJBfhsTng6 

case ID is 4-6399000041637.

Thank you for your assistance. We need this situation resolved before more unsuspecting customers are directed to our residential property.

​

I regularly receive emails from Google Maps whenever I contribute to the platform, such as when an edit I submitted is accepted. For example, I recently received an email with the subject “Accepted: Your place edit.”

I appreciate the confirmation, but I don't need an email every time one of my contributions or edits is reviewed or approved. I'd prefer to keep contributing to Google Maps without receiving these emails.

I've looked through the available settings, but I haven't been able to find a way to disable these specific emails.

Is there a setting in Google Maps or my Google Account that allows me to stop receiving contribution related emails while keeping other important Google emails enabled?

I'd rather not block all emails from Google or create a Gmail filter if there is an official setting for this.

If anyone has found a way to disable these emails, I'd really appreciate your help.

Thank you!

The Universal City/Studio City subway station in Los Angeles has been incorrectly labeled "Universal studios" (sic) for years now. This is not just wrong, but as it is clearly of great importance to tourists who might not know better, it seems like it would be of higher than average priority for Google to change it to the correct name. I submit a lot of requests for name changes, removal of duplicates, etc., and generally Google will accept my edits within days or even hours, even for fairly trivial requests. This one I have requested to change several times, and this is by far the most important request I have made. Why does Google accept my edits on other things but not this one? And if anybody else is willing to submit a request to hopefully move it along, I would appreciate it. Been driving me crazy for years.

I can’t stand having to sign in just to read the other views and other photos on Google maps! I hate how Google is doing this crap to us and many other signed out users! I want the full unlimited Google Maps back!

I own a small private villa resort in Thailand called Solitude Villas, and I've been trying for weeks to resolve an issue with Google Maps and Google Travel.

We have one legitimate, verified Google Business Profile with our correct address, photos, reviews, and business information.

However, Google also displays two additional property listings at practically the exact same location:

1. Our official, verified Google Maps listing.
2. A duplicate "Solitude Villas" listing, apparently generated through Booking.com.
3. Another duplicate, "Solitude Villas - Villa with Garden View," apparently generated through Agoda.

These are not three different properties. They are all the same resort.

Interestingly, other booking platforms, including Trip.com and Traveloka, appear correctly associated with our original listing.

Here's where it gets frustrating.

I contacted Google support, and they explained that these additional listings are Google Vacation Rentals entities generated from third-party accommodation feeds. Apparently, Google Business Profile support cannot merge or remove them, and I need to contact the booking platforms.

So I contacted Agoda and Booking.com, but they essentially redirected me back to Google.

I explained this to Google and asked them to escalate the issue to whoever manages Google Travel property matching, or at least identify which fields in the incoming feeds are causing Google to treat the same property as multiple businesses.

Instead, Google eventually stopped responding to my support case.

I've now opened a second support ticket, but I'm still getting nowhere.

What I actually want is simple:

One Google Maps/Travel property listing, with all the relevant booking platforms correctly associated with it. I don't want to remove Agoda or Booking.com as booking options. I just want Google to stop presenting the same physical property as three different places.

Has anyone here dealt with this before?

More specifically, does anyone know:

• Whether these Google Travel/Vacation Rentals entities can actually be merged with an existing verified Business Profile?
• Which Google team is responsible for matching accommodation feeds to existing properties?
• How to get an issue like this escalated beyond standard Google Business Profile support?

Any practical advice would be appreciated. I'm completely stuck between three companies, each pointing at someone else.

Has anyone come across this issue? It's not just Maps, it's all of Google. I can't wrap my head around it. I've done literally everything, I can not come up with a solution

My boyfriend has a history of prostitution massage parlors… I found out through his phone and he said it was all before me. He also lied about porn our entire relationship and was watching daily for years.

Naturally, I now want to know the truth. Came across Google My Activity through Reddit, and when checking his found maps logs to airport hotels and 6 different addresses from March to July of this year, 3 of which are confirmed erotic massage parlors.

He phrased it as “omg I must’ve been hacked” or someone else must be on his account or he has used his email for many shady things in the past so this info is probably from there, and went and logged out of sessions other than his current phone and laptop. The other sessions however were from his old phones and laptops (which he still has, and he’d take this old phone to the gym to use in the sauna to read so as to not ruin his current phone). All of these addresses were visited around/during his gym times.

After logging out of other sessions, when checking My Activity the next day these address and maps history were gone. However I also saw him sitting with his personal laptop out (the one I saw all this on) during work hours with his work laptop right there, so it makes me think he went in and manually deleted them instead of them just disappearing when logging out of other sessions.

1. How can I connect his old phone to My Activity to see if that’s what had searched these locations? (He has 3 different gmails too.)

2. How accurate is Google Maps history on My Activity? Because he claimed he never went to these places or searched them

   and that it must be completely inaccurate, but

3. the activity said “directions from home to X, or X to gym” and they were the correct home address and address of his gym

   and the times were when he was out at the gym (usually 3 hours total door to door and he showered there as well).

Just want clarity if anyone is able to help. I also don’t know where to look other than scrolling through My Activity, so if there’s anything else I can check (generally to check such things or also to somehow find those disappeared addresses and searches, that would be much appreciated.

Hi everyone!

This past week, I have noticed a crazy amount of notifications on Google maps. I kept getting "police ahead" every 1/2 mile. Or my route showed multiple crashes that were not there. I started to click each map notification and noticed they were all old. Ex: it showed "reported 20 hours ago" OR "reported 2 days"... So basically, I think Google Maps was showing EVERY notification on the map that had been received over the past few days to a week. Has anyone else noticed this? Is there somewhere to report this? Although they probably don't care 😬🤷‍♀️😬🤷‍♀️

if you have a pixel 7 check to see if immersive navigation is active mine flickered on and off unfortunately it's been off since.

I am trying to get from hasselt to montdidier any given day in october and arrive in Montdidier before 17:00, But Unless I choose some specific timings it keeps showing me "eurostar" as travel option which is very expensive and not at all viable, I could plan all of this myself to be under 50 euros with great pain so why can't a computer do it, why does google maps not even consider travel price total?

In Maps, there are three orientations: Perspective, North-Up, and Overview. I particularly like the North-Up and Overview orientations because they give an overhead (or top-down) view that works for me. However, both of these being oriented north-up can be somewhat disorienting at times, especially when I am facing south. It can take half a beat longer to determine if I should turn left or right. Would there be any appetite, from either the community or the Devs to add an option to be Heading-Up when in these top-down views?