Apple Maps quietly adds huge boost for UK and Ireland cyclists

Cyclists can now benefit from directions spanning the whole of UK and Ireland, it has emerged.

Cycling directions have been available in Apple Maps since iOS 14 arrived in 2020, but that didn’t include UK cities. That changed last year with several British cities being added, but now the support is much greater.

It’s not clear when the change occurred, but it was spotted by a Reddit user this week, with screenshots showing a course being plotted between Birmingham and Glasgow on the UK mainland, and then between Dublin and Galway in Ireland.

It’s now possible to access cycling directions for any plotted course in the UK, giving users the opportunity to avoid hills and busy roads. Users will see the estimated travel time, arrival time, distance and total climb. They’ll also see the climb represented in a graph and the ability to view the journey as steps.

One Reddit user says: “So thankful! I’ve found these to better than Google Maps cycling routes.”

Not too long ago Apple executive Eddy Cue spoke about the challenge of adding cycling directions to the Maps app. “It’s a huge effort,” he told The Guardian in 2023. “You say something like we’re going to introduce cycling – how big of a deal is it? Well, if you want to do it really well, it turns out, it’s a big deal. Because you got bike lanes, you don’t want to put people in a more difficult position, so we let them choose if you stay away from heavy traffic roads. So there’s a lot of a lot of effort and detail that goes into creating a great cycling map.”

Trusted Reviews has contacted Apple for more information about its improvements to cycling in the UK.

Better late than never

As Eddy Cue says, adding cycling directions is a huge undertaking, so it’s unsurprising that it’s taken a while for Apple to build up a database in the UK and Ireland where it feels comfortable guiding peddlers on two wheels. We’re glad to see this enhancement.

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