Since its inception by Israel’s Waze Mobile firm, the Waze navigation app has risen to become one of the most adored GPS navigation applications that not only run on smartphones but also on tablets. Besides providing turn-by-turn navigation data, Waze also features user-submitted route details and travel times. What’s more? This navigation app also allows you to download location-related information over the internet. Even though Waze was bought by Google for approximately $1.3 billion back in 2013, the app still exists side by side with Google Maps in complete harmony. This article will disclose you the essential features of the Waze navigation app, their benefits, and how you can use the app as your ultimate navigation software.
What is WAZE and How Do I Use it for Navigation?
As briefly highlighted earlier, Waze is the world’s leading community-based navigation and traffic app. As we speak, the app has more than 80 million drivers who outsmart accidents, traffic jams, police, road constructions, and much more with real-time road updates. Before revealing to you how to use this app, here are some of its crucial features and benefits.
The Waze Navigation App:
Features and Benefits
- Automatic rerouting as road conditions change.
- Live-routing according to road info and community-driven real-time traffic.
- Up-to-date live maps constantly edited by elite Waze community map editors.
- Single tap navigation to Calendar events and Facebook.
- Add information on businesses and local places.
- Turn by turn voice guided navigation.
- See your ETA when navigating to a destination.
- Add sync contacts and Facebook friends.
- Community-driven road alerts including hazards, accidents, road closures, police traps, and much more.
- Earn points and even climb your community ranks by actively reporting road info.
- Discover the cheapest gas stations on your chosen route.
How to Use the Waze Navigation App
Even though Waze is a bit difficult to use because of its many features, you will have to explore and customize its settings to make it truly efficient. Here is how to enhance the performance of your Waze App after downloading and installing it on your device.
1. Cleaning Up the Map
Being a navigation and social app, Waze allows people to report police locations, all kinds of accidents, and many other road incidents. Even though updates are great, it can be pretty overwhelming to have all those small icons popping up on your map while driving. To solve this challenge, just pop into your settings and customize what you should view. Just follow the steps listed below.
- Go to Settings>
- Display Settings>
- Show on map>
- Uncheck everything you don’t want to see.
2. Changing How Waze Picks Your Routes
Changing how Waze determines your routes forces the app to find the shortest distance to your destination instead of the fastest. Simply follow the steps highlighted below to customize how the app picks your routes.
- Go to settings>
- Navigation>
- Routing Styles>
- Selects “Shortest” instead of “Fastest.”
3. How to Use the “Send ETA” Feature
If you live in a city that faces frequent traffic jams, being on time for any event is pretty difficult. Fortunately, you can inform your friends or those you are meeting about where you are and your expected time of arrival (ETA). Here is how to do it.
- Just tap the time at the bottom of your display>
- Tap the “Send ETA” button>
- Share your location data and ETA with friends as long as they use Waze.
4. Setting up Your Gas Preferences
Besides helping you to sort your fuel information by distance, price or brand, the Waze app also allows you to select your favorite fuel type. To change the app’s gas pricing stations and information, follow the steps below.
- Go to settings>
- Gas Stations and Prices>
- Change how Waze shows nearby gas stations when you search for them.
5. Turning the App off When You Aren’t Driving
- Just tap the Waze icon on the bottom left>
- Next, tap on the power icon>
- Waze automatically enters sleep mode to save your battery and data.
Final Thoughts
Just by turning on Waze while driving, you will be contributing lots of useful real-time traffic data to your community. Even though Google Maps remains great, Waze can be absolutely awesome especially in cities prone to traffic jams if you apply the tweaks elaborated on this page. Apart from being pretty good on rerouting, Waze is also ideal for alerting you about police checks, accidents, and other incidents on the road. The app’s little but crucial features, for instance, road closure information and Waze’s traffic jam estimations ensure that you not only reach your destination quicker but also safe.
Related links:
WAZE Thailand (detailed information)
