I ignored this Google Maps feature for 10 years, and now I can’t live without it

As a person with no sense of direction, I’ve been using Google Maps to get around since the app was first available for my smartphone. Even when I can’t mount my phone to my car dashboard, I use its audio navigation to guide me to destinations I’m not familiar with.

But as the app has rolled out newer features, I’ve had a habit of ignoring them. My You tab remains neglected, and I’ve only ever left two reviews (both seven years ago) in the app. I also happily ignore the recommendations that appear when I’m about to search for something. However, recently I decided to revisit the lists and labeled places features — and realized that I’ve been missing out.

I ignored Google Maps lists for years

While I’ve been aware of lists to some extent since they arrived in Google Maps, I never made much use of them. One reason is that the feature is a bit disorganized: Google Maps currently has three default options for saving locations, and the flow for each differs. This means that I’ve had the occasional labeled location, the occasional favorite, and the rare starred location.

Since I work from home, labeled locations like Work aren’t useful for me anymore. I haven’t worked in an office since before the pandemic, so I haven’t needed to navigate or check travel times in years.

But more recently, I noticed the drawbacks of not having saved locations. I kept needing to check my messages for friends’ and relatives’ addresses, hoping that I had actually used the word “address” in a message so that I could track down the details. I’m also not great at remembering directions, so I tend to need Google Maps’ directions for longer than the average person. For example, my parents live two hours away, and I still use Maps every time I visit them.

Eventually, I grew tired of the repeated exercise of tracking down address details in my inbox and decided to give saved locations a proper try.

Lists give me an easy way to save and organize locations

The main way I save locations is with labels. These are private tags that I use for a location that organize it in a hidden list. It also means I don’t need to go through the trouble of setting up an organized list around a specific theme. However, the flow for adding a label is a bit buried compared to an ordinary list.

To add a label to a location, search the address in Google Maps. In the buttons that appear below the name and information for the address, swipe until you see More. Then select Add label and type in the name you want to assign to the place.

You can also save locations using the bookmark icon at the top of the info card, which then lets you select a list to which you want to assign the location. For some reason, labeled locations simply don’t appear here (which is why I describe that particular list as buried).

Since I started using labels, I no longer have to constantly look up addresses over and over again. I’ve even started expanding past my important locations and contacts, and using other lists for shops that I often forget the name of. Now, rather than wasting time trying to find information that I’ve forgotten, it’s already there in one of my Google Maps lists.

Your custom locations work with voice commands

There are some quirks, however. This voice command doesn’t work with my parents’ house, as it instead navigates me to nearby locations that have nothing to do with the label or parents in general. The voice recognition models can also act up and misidentify words occasionally. So I always just double check that I’m headed to the right place, using voice commands as a kind of supervised shortcut.

These locations also work for text searches, but they don’t appear while you’re searching. Rather, you have to perform the search and then your saved location will appear as the location that Maps picks up. That’s why some people just prefer to go to the You tab and select the relevant list and location.

If you have saved an address for certain contacts, it will also appear in your lists. I noticed this recently when testing out the Pixel VIPs feature.

As much as I love Google Maps lists, and as handy as they are, the feature needs a bit more polishing. Right now, the disconnected flows to save labels versus other lists, voice command quirks, and delayed text search results add friction to an otherwise great feature. I hope that Google pays a bit more attention to it in future updates so that it starts to feel more fleshed out, rather than an afterthought.