Following the major redesign of its version 4.0 app, Waze is now making version 4.3 available in the App Store for iOS devices. The major update of this release is a brand-new feature called ‘Planned Drives’. Before we expand on this feature, let us first talk about a few of its recent updates leading up to this one.
A while, back (I believe it was version 3.7), Waze started to integrate your smartphone’s calendar into its own navigation app. That way if you have any appointments in the calendar (with a location), Waze will remind you to leave on time. Version 3.8 brings more social features like the ability to add friends to Waze, and send them in-app messages like this famous Malaysian line, “I’m on the way!” Version 3.9 introduces Places, so besides crowdsourcing traffic data, we can also add new information to local places, to make it more accurate. It’ll also remember where you park, kind of like Google Now. And then comes version 4.0, where Waze was completely redesigned to make the UI and ETA info (from your calendars) easier to navigate. This new version also has under-the-hood tweaks to make Waze consume less battery.
With all these new features, there is one minor issue — most people don’t use a software calendar. I think out of all the people I know, less than 20% don’t even use the built-in calendar on their smartphones. The percentage of Waze users I know is certainly higher.
Enter, Waze 4.3. It now lets you set planned drives in the app itself, without relying on third party calendars. Here is the changelog of this update:
- New! Arrive on time with ‘Planned drives’. You can now schedule a drive and get a reminder to leave on time based on live traffic conditions;
- The Waze Traffic Bar now shows the reason for a jam (if one is known) like an accident or object on the road;
- Waze now mutes automatically during an incoming or outgoing phone call;
- Bugs and stability fixes.
Neatly tucked on the left navigation pane, Planned Drives will give you a recommended graph, illustrating traffic peaks by the hour up to seven days. It is able to predict the traffic by using “smart algorithms”, predictive analysis, and of course, the aggregated traffic history from data gathered from all users over time. With the data, Waze will recommend you the best time to leave, to avoid traffic. The recommended time to leave is also updated in real-time based on current traffic incidents like an on-route accident, for instance, and will sometimes offer a different route for you to take.
However, if you already have your calendar all decked out, Planned Drives is not necessary as the calendar entries in Waze will still ping you with reminders to leave for your appointment. Waze now lets you add Facebook Events too, if that’s your thing.
Unfortunately, just like version 4.0. Waze 4.3 is only available on iOS for the time being. If you’re wondering when will Android get this, here’s an indication — version 4.0 was released on iOS on October 19th 2015. Five months ago! Android just received Waze 4.0 last week on March 10th 2016. It’s a pity that with all the Google money it has, it still can’t do a synchronized rollout.
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