Pixel phones running the August Android update no longer let people pick a different default mapping app the easy way. Open Settings, go to Default apps, and the option to swap in something like Waze simply isn't there anymore, according to a report from ZDNet.
That's a change from how Android used to handle this. Previously, installing a rival navigation app and heading to the default apps menu was enough: pick the app, confirm, done. Calendar invites, shared addresses and other links would open in whatever app you'd chosen.
Now the default apps page for mapping shows a narrower option, one that only lets you choose how web links open, not which app handles navigation requests system-wide. Install Waze from the Play Store today and it won't prompt you to become the default. Check its settings and there's no toggle for that either.
The only route around it, per the report, is to disable Google Maps entirely. That means going into Settings, then Apps, then finding Google Maps (tapping "See all apps" if it's not listed up top) and hitting Disable. Once Google Maps is off, Android treats Waze as the only mapping app it knows about, and tapping an address from, say, a calendar event should open it automatically. Some users may also get a prompt at that point to confirm Waze as the default.
There's an extra wrinkle for anyone using Android Auto. Waze doesn't show up in the car-display launcher automatically. Getting it there requires a separate trip through Settings, into Connected Devices, then Connection Preferences, then Android Auto, and finally "Customize launcher," where Waze has to be checked manually and moved up the list to make it quick to reach.
Google hasn't explained why the simpler switch disappeared, and there's no public statement from the company addressing the change. It's unclear whether this is deliberate or a side effect of other changes to how Android handles default app assignments in that update.
The timing is awkward for Google. Complaints about Google Maps itself have been circulating this year, from navigation that fails to start to interface changes some longtime users dislike, and that frustration is part of what pushed at least one reviewer back toward Waze, which Google also owns, on a Pixel 9 Pro.
For now, the workaround works, but it's a multi-step process that didn't used to exist, and it leaves Google Maps fully off rather than simply demoted. Anyone who wants both apps available and just prefers Waze for driving directions will have to live with Google Maps disabled system-wide until Google either restores the old toggle or explains the new behavior.
SDFiled by The Software Desk
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