Subj : This new iOS 26 Apple Maps feature is like Spotify Wrapped for yo To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Tue Sep 16 2025 23:45:07 This new iOS 26 Apple Maps feature is like Spotify Wrapped for your travels and I can't wait to try it Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2025 22:30:00 +0000 Description: iOS 26 adds a new Visited Places feature to Maps, which builds a collection of your favorite spots along with how many times youve stopped by. Its exactly the kind of gamification that gets me moving. FULL STORY ====================================================================== iOS 26 is finally here all over the globe, users of the best iPhones are experiencing Apples biggest mobile operating system update in years. The big ticket item in iOS 26 is its visual redesign, which leans on Apples new Liquid Glass material and sees nearly every aspect of the software experience retouched. With that said, the update also brings with it some great revisions to Apple's suite of pre-installed apps. My personal choice for iOS 26s standout feature belongs to the latter category. The update brings a new Visited Places feature to Apple Maps, which as you might guess logs the places you visit, as well as how many times youve visited them. As someone who loves maps, games, and finding cool new spots around my hometown of London, this scratches my brain in all the right ways. The first thing I do whenever I pick up one of the best PS5 games is fill out the map, and Ive always loved any feature that records your path through the world, like the Heros Path mode in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild . If Visited Places can make using my iPhone feel like exploring Hyrule, I'll be a huge fan straight away (Image credit: Chris Hall / Future / Nintendo) Looking back on the past few years, Id love to see how many times Ive wandered through my favorite parks, danced at my favorite nightclubs, and stopped by my friends houses. Visited Places seems like a really nice way to literally map out a part of your identity. And, frankly, in a world of data scraping and attention-grabbing algorithms, its just nice to get a new bit of software that actually feels fun. Visited Places is the rare smartphone feature that relies on you not staring at the screen to get the most out of it, you actually have to get up, go out, and find something new, which is exactly what mobile tech should empower us to do. Android fans will point to Google Maps' Timeline feature as a competitor, and I can only admire the fact that Google offers a similar (and in fact more comprehensive) service. Visited Places is simply one for the Apple fans, and Im looking forward to seeing how it integrates with the rest of iOS 26. The closest comparison I can think of for features like Visited Places and Timeline is Spotify Wrapped, which gives you a yearly breakdown of your music listening habits to rifle through and share with your friends. Critics of wrapped might say it gamifies listening too much, that the focus on data takes away from the experience. Visited Places could combine the best aspects of Apple Maps (left) and Spotify Wrapped (right). (Image credit: Future) I think its true that anything can be taken too far if youre just chasing numbers, but Wrapped has led me to listen to a wider and deeper range of music with those yearly figures in mind. And as with Wrapped, I can see Visited Places encouraging me to find new experiences by tallying new spots around town and around the world (as well as being fabulous small talk material). Im also notoriously lax when it comes to taking pictures while Im out adventuring, so having a record of notable locations I passed through could make piecing together my journeys much easier (this has a nice synergy with the updated Journal app, which allows you to add locations to entries). Visited Places is slated to come to a limited number of countries the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Switzerland, and Malaysia. Ive updated my UK-registered iPhone 15 to iOS 26, but cant see Visited Places available yet keep an eye on Apples help page for instructions and compatibility information. So, if anyone needs me, Ill be out adding new locations to my open world with iOS 26 just as soon as Apple enables Visited Places for me. Which iOS 26 features have caught your attention so far? Let us know in the comments below. You might also like The iPhone 17 Pro series is in high demand heres how long youll have to wait to get one Xiaomi's next flagship has a second display on the back and you won't believe its iPhone-inspired name I've been using iOS 26 for months here are the 5 things you should try first ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/this-new-ios-26-apple-maps-feature-is- like-spotify-wrapped-for-your-travels-and-i-cant-wait-to-try-it --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .