Google Maps may soon support Live Activities as iPhone 15 set for launch

Apple just confirmed it is holding an event on September 12 to likely launch the iPhone 15 series. This time all four models are expected to support Dynamic Island, so it makes sense for Google to utilise that. A new report has suggested that Google Maps is working on support for Live Activities that is available on the iPhone’s lock screen and the Dynamic Island. It shows real-time updates for an activity from an app, such as sports scores, ride status, and weather forecast. The Live Activities functionality on Google Maps may offer real-time navigation and the ETA for your destination.

According to a report by MacRumors, a contributor named Steve Moser spotted a reference to Live Activities in the code of Google Maps for iOS. This indicates that Google Maps is working on support for Live Activities, but when it will be available is unclear at the moment. The report also mentioned that Google Maps’ Live Activities will show turn-by-turn directions and the ETA to the destination on the lock screen and the Dynamic Island. But these could be some of the use cases for the upcoming Live Activities feature on Google Maps.

Back in February, Google announced the new glanceable directions for Maps on both Android and iOS. The feature, according to the company, would show updated ETAs and turn-by-turn directions on the lock screen. Google Maps will also update the trip automatically in glanceable directions if a different path is taken. Google said that while glanceable directions on Android would use the regular system notifications, the iPhone app will support the feature through Live Activities, which is available as part of iOS 16.1.

If Google manages to bring Live Activities to Maps by later this year, it will be a great time to be doing that. That is because Apple is finally going all out with Dynamic Island. Introduced only on the Pro models last year, Dynamic Island is likely coming to even non-Pro iPhone models this year. This will also bring support for Live Activities on the regular iPhone models, making the feature available to more users than ever.