Of course, there are other practical things Google’s widgets can do. There are Gmail and Calendar widgets that can give you a glimpse of what’s ahead for your workday and a Google Lens shortcut so you can quickly answer life’s burning questions, such as “what kind of plant did I just buy? ” There’s even a shortcut to Chrome’s cute little dino game, which I recently learned I’m bad at.
These are all fun and useful and cute and whatever, but listen up: coffee. Anyone who has ago by experienced business travel with me know how important my cup of coffee at 3pm is. It is second only in importance to my 10AM coffee. Now I can find a nearby coffee shop without the tedious steps of opening an app and typing “COFFEE” into a search bar. When you are in an unfamiliar neighborhood and approaching 3 o’clock, every second is precious.
Now you can try it out for yourself – just download the latest Google Maps app update and like MacRumors kindly point you to launch the app once before trying to add the new widget. Once you’ve done that, you’ll find new Google Maps widgets available in the lock screen customization view — tap the “Search” option to add it to your screen. Once it’s there, double-tap the icon (while still in customization view) to choose a shortcut: you can choose from options like gas, restaurants, parks, and electric vehicle charging. Those are all nice, but you know which one I chose.