Waze for iOS gets 'planned drives' for upcoming commutes
Roger Fingas
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The iOS version of Google's Waze navigation app has been updated with "planned drives," allowing drivers to schedule commutes up to several days ahead of time and accomodate for traffic.
The feature, currently exclusive to iOS, can be invoked by picking a destination, and tapping an icon in the app's ETA panel. Users can see peak traffic hours along their route, and as with an app like Google Calendar, get timed notifications to leave based on live traffic conditions.
While trips can be created manually, the app can also automatically import events from Facebook or the iOS Calendar app, scraping them for times and addresses. Once on the road users can still add detours to places like gas stations and restaurants.
In a separate improvement, the traffic bar will now show a reason for an ongoing traffic jam, if available, such as an accident. When making a call on an iPhone, the updated app will automatically mute its own audio.
Waze is a free download and runs on any device with iOS 7 or later, though Wi-Fi-only devices won't have access to the GPS signal needed for precise location.
