Article Summary
On average, Google Maps uses about 0.67MB of data every 10 miles and 0.73MB of mobile data for every 20 minutes. According to our research, it uses less than Apple Maps but slightly more than Waze.
Both Google Maps and Apple Maps have offline options so you can still get navigation without using any data on your trip at all.
Not all of us have big data plans—not all of us need it. There are a number of ways to limit the amount of data you use every day, including choosing apps that won't drain your monthly allowance within a few days.
There are a number of navigation apps available now, but which one is the best when it comes to data consumption? We tested out Google Maps against Apple Maps and Waze to find out which one used the least amount of mobile data.
How Much Data Do Maps Use?
Navigation apps don't use as much data as you may think, especially for what they actually do and how useful they are. Here is the average data usage from three of the most popular navigation apps used today—Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze.
Google Maps vs Apple Maps vs Waze
Overall, these navigation apps surprisingly don't use that much data at all. In the grand scheme of things, less than 2MB of data use for 20 minutes of navigation is not much at all, considering streaming a single song (~3 minutes) uses up the same amount of data, sometimes even more.
On average, Google Maps uses up just over half a megabyte of data for a 10 mile trip and 0.73MB for a 20 minute trip—which isn't much at all.
How Navigation Apps Compare
Surprisingly, Waze seems to be the best in terms of data usage when you compare the three. Why is this surprising? Well, if you've ever used Waze, you'll notice that it's much more interactive and gives you a lot more notifications than Google Maps or Apple Maps.
Waze actually uses less than half of what Google Maps uses and significantly less than what Apple Maps uses.
Download While on WiFi
Both Google Maps and Apple Maps give you an option to cache maps for offline use, which means you won't need to use any data at all while you're on your trip. All you need to do is make sure you download the map before you start your trip. Check the settings to find how you can download maps to the phone's cache.
You can turn off your data and be on your way, but you won't get live traffic reports or get updates to find the quickest alternative route depending on traffic. Even with data still enabled, caching maps will ensure your navigation app uses far less data.
Our Pick for Best Navigation App
Note: Our pick is based on data usage amounts only and does not take into account accuracy or app features.
If you have a limited data plan and are constantly going over your allowance each month, then using Waze might be a good option for you, since it uses up such a small amount of data for each trip.
Keep in mind though, Waze can be distracting with all of the notifications that pop up during your trip. While Google Maps and Apple Maps will both do the basics—find the best route, reroute if needed, provide turn-by-turn navigation—Waze takes navigation even further by:
- Allowing you to report accidents, cars stopped on the side of the road, police etc.
- Notifying you of any of the above and allows you confirm whether or not the notifications are still valid
- Showing your speed
- Showing you gas stations near you (and their prices)
If you're not worried about how much data you use, then just pick whichever maps application you prefer. Many people have their opinions when it comes to accuracy of travel time, route suggestions and ease of use—but all three apps seem to be pretty dependable.
Affordable Large Data Plans
If you're sick of monitoring your data usage each month, why not switch to a large data plan? All of the major carriers — Bell, Rogers and TELUS — have a wide variety of data plans to choose from, as do the smaller carriers, like Fido, Koodo and Virgin Mobile.
If you want to find the best large data plan available, WhistleOut has reviewed all plans and can show you the best cell phone plans in Canada. From time to time, carriers will even have special deals and promotions running to help you save even more money on your cell phone bill.
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#1
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SaskTel
totalSHARE Data Only
$10/mth
+ $50 Upfront
|
|
#2
|
Freedom Mobile
$30 4G LTE 10GB CA-US plan
$15/mth
+ $45 Upfront
|
|
#3
|
Fizz
Unlimited Minutes & Text Messaging + 1GB Data
$16/mth
+ $5 Upfront
|
|
#4
|
Public Mobile
$19 Unlimited Canada-Wide Talk + Text + 1GB
$19
+ $5 Upfront
|
|
#5
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Bell
Monthly $20 Prepaid Voice
$20
Per 1 Month Top-up
+ $10 Upfront
|
|
#6
|
PC Mobile
$20 Unlimited Talk & Text
$20
Per 1 Month Top-up
+ $10 Upfront
|
Methodology: How We Reached Our Results
To find out how much data each of these navigation apps use we used an Apple iPhone 7 and took 10 trips using each app:
- Average travel time: 40 minutes
- Average distance traveled: 22 miles
We removed the outlier trips (i.e., the trips with the most and least data used per mile) and then took the average of the remaining 8 trips for each app.
Other things to note:
- Turn-by-turn navigation was used
- Sound navigation was turned off
- Waze notifications were turned on
- My Data Manager app was used to monitor data usage of each app
- My Data Manager did not show Apple Maps as it's own map, so the assumption was made that "Other" apps was showing data used by Apple Maps only (as all other apps were closed during these trips)
- Trips were taken during weekday peak hours (between 7.30am-9am and 5pm-6.30pm)
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