Waze

A lot of people these days use a navigation app while driving, if not for directions, then at least to alert them to traffic, accidents or police. Those that do are used to the blue arrow or dot that represents their vehicle, which it has since the beginning of navigation apps. If you'd like a change, Google Maps now lets you change your "avatar" to something more representative, and Waze has had this feature for a while now. Unfortunately you still have to be a blue arrow on Apple Maps.

Punching in your home address (or work or any common destination) in your favorite navigation app grows tiresome after a while, even if it is already there in your recent places. Thankfully both Waze and Google Maps offer shortcuts to directions to your favorite places through a simple 3D Touch and a tap. All you have to do is assign your home, work, etc. locations, then they will be available for quick navigation. Apple Maps, as you would expect, is supposed to have this functionality as well, but as of this writing it is not working properly in iOS 11.3

Car problems are frustrating enough when you are stuck in your own driveway, but when they happen on the road they can be a serious problem, delaying your trip at best, putting you in a dangerous situation at worst. Being stuck on the side of the road with a broken down car is never fun, and it can take a while to get help, especially if you don't have a service such as AAA. Waze has added a "Roadside Help" feature that lets you alert fellow Wazers or call local services if you find yourself in such a predicament. Here's how to use it:

Google-owned Waze ranks among the most popular navigation apps because of its real-time community based traffic reports that go above and beyond other apps in the category, with reports of potholes and other obstacles, red light cameras, police activity, speed traps and more. Like any app that is used while driving, its hands free features should be employed to avoid distraction. Waze wasn't always capable of voice control, so some long time users may not be aware that the feature was introduced later.