Mapper Safari Extension Automatically Redirects Google Maps Links to Apple Maps

All of these place links get redirected to Apple Maps with Mapper.

Ever since Apple rolled out the redesigned and improved Apple Maps in Italy last month, I’ve been increasingly switching my usage of maps for exploration and turn-by-turn directions from Google to Apple Maps. I prefer Apple’s overall design sensibilities, I find Look Around drastically superior to Google Street View, and the integration with Apple Maps and the Lock Screen for turn-by-turn navigation is excellent.

However, I still have to keep Google Maps installed on my iPhone for all those times when a particular point of interest (usually a shop or restaurant) isn’t showing up in Apple Maps’ search results. And because the Google Maps app is still installed on my iPhone, every time I tap a search result with an address from Google search, it automatically redirects to Google Maps. I’ve always found this annoying, but now even more so since I consider Apple Maps my primary navigation app here in Rome.1 Now, thanks to a Safari extension, that Google Maps redirect nightmare is finally over.

Developed by Alex Kitcoff, Mapper is a new Safari extension that does one thing: it automatically redirects Google Maps links from Google search results in Safari to Apple Maps. That’s it. No more copying and pasting addresses, no more manual typing the same address in Apple’s Maps app: once the extension is installed, every time you tap a link to a place in Google search, it’ll load in Apple’s Maps app for iPhone and iPad instead.

Google Maps links from Google search get redirected to Apple Maps thanks to the Mapper extension.

To start using Mapper, all you have to do is enable the extension with the two methods I described in my iOS 15 review: you can either do so from Settings ⇾ Safari ⇾ Extensions, or by tapping the puzzle icon in Safari’s address bar, then choosing ‘Manage Extensions’. In my tests, Mapper correctly redirected Google Maps links both when I tapped addresses in Safari for iPhone as well as the ‘Directions’ button in Safari for iPad, pictured above.

There’s nothing else I can say about Mapper other than it does exactly what it’s supposed to do and fixes one of my longstanding annoyances with Google search and Apple Maps on iPhone and iPad.

Mapper joins Amplosion, 1Password, Unsmartifier, Super Agent, and Noir in my list of must-have Safari extensions that have launched since iOS 15’s release. It’s only $0.99 on the App Store, and I highly recommend it.

Yes, I could use another search engine that includes Apple Maps results for places, like DuckDuckGo. I like DuckDuckGo, but its local results for Italian news and non-English content still leave much to be desired compared to Google, so I don’t want to switch. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. ↩︎