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How to add multiple stops in Apple Maps

·5 min read

Apple Maps has handled multi stop driving routes since iOS 16, and it takes a longer list than most people expect. What it does not do is decide the sequence. Fourteen stops in the order you entered them is still fourteen stops in the order you entered them.

Short answer

Apple Maps can route you through several addresses in one go. Apple's own help puts the ceiling at up to 14 stops along a route, which is a good deal more generous than the nine you get in Google Maps.

The catch is identical to every other map app: Apple Maps drives the list you gave it. It will not look at fourteen addresses and work out which one to visit first.

How to add stops on iPhone

Multi stop routing lives inside an active route rather than in the search screen, which is why people miss it.

You can also add a stop mid drive by saying it out loud to Siri, which is the safe way to handle a customer calling to add a job while you are already moving.

Adding stops on Mac and CarPlay

On a Mac, Maps is the easier place to build a long route: fields are bigger, the map is bigger, and you can send the finished route straight to your iPhone from the share menu. The sequence still comes from you.

In CarPlay you can add a stop to a route that is already running. One limitation worth knowing before you rely on it: stops cannot be removed from a route in CarPlay once they are on it. Plan the list before you pull away.

The ceiling: fourteen stops

Fourteen is the number in Apple's help for stops added along a route, and it applies to driving and cycling directions. In practice that means a day of roughly fifteen addresses fits into one Apple Maps route, where Google Maps would need two.

That extra headroom is genuinely useful. It is also the reason Apple Maps users hit the sequencing problem harder: the longer the list an app accepts, the more the order matters.

Apple Maps drives your list in order

Two different jobs get confused under the phrase "best route":

The second job is not a missing feature so much as a different problem. With fourteen stops there are more possible orders than there are seconds in three thousand years, so it cannot be solved by looking at the map and thinking about it.

Stop order: 68 mi versus 40 miThe same stops. Driven in list order it is 68 mi, in the computed order 40 mi.The order you typedThis is how Apple Maps drives it123456768 miThe computed orderSame stops, different sequence123456740 mi→
Seven stops entered in the order the jobs came in, then the same seven in a computed order.

What that costs on a real day

Seven addresses across a city, entered in the order the jobs came in, run 68 miles. The same seven addresses in a computed order run 40 miles.

That is a 42 percent difference on one small day, and nothing about the work changed. Same customers, same roads, same van. Only the sequence.

Seven stops is also about the point where a person stops being able to see the best order by looking at the map. Below that, most people get close by eye. Above it, the gap opens quickly.

Where Apple Maps is the right tool

It is a good app and it would be silly to pretend otherwise. Reach for it when:

When you need more than Apple Maps gives you

Once a day runs past fourteen addresses, or once the order genuinely matters, you need something that computes the sequence before you start driving. The pattern that works is to plan the order somewhere else and then drive it in whatever navigation app you like, Apple Maps included.

FAQ

How many stops can Apple Maps handle?

Apple's help says up to 14 stops along a route, for driving and cycling directions. That is several more than Google Maps allows.

Does Apple Maps optimize the order of stops?

No. Stops are driven in the order you added them. You can drag them into a different order yourself, but the app will not propose one.

Which iOS version added multiple stops?

Multi stop driving routes arrived in iOS 16. On older versions you only get a single destination per route.

Can I add a stop while I am already driving?

Yes. Ask Siri to add the stop, or expand the route card and use Add Stop. In CarPlay you can add stops but you cannot remove them.

Can I plan the route on a Mac and drive it on my phone?

Yes. Build the route in Maps on the Mac and use the share button to send it to your iPhone. The stop order travels with it, unchanged.

Why is my fourteen stop route longer than it looks on the map?

Because the order came from your typing rather than from the geography. Grouping the stops by area helps, and computing the order properly helps more.

Keep reading

Turn a spreadsheet of addresses into a route Three ways to get a column of addresses out of Excel or Google Sheets and into a driving route, how to clean the column first, and which method survives a list of thirty. How to add multiple stops in Google Maps Add stops on your phone and on a computer, why the route caps out at nine stops plus your start, and why Google Maps never puts those stops in a smarter order. Google Maps vs Apple Maps vs Waze for multi stop days Which map app to use when the day is a list of addresses rather than one trip: stop limits, sequencing, traffic quality and the thing none of the three will do for you. How many stops can you add in each map app The stop limits in Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze and MapQuest side by side, how to check your own limit in a minute, and what splitting a day actually costs in miles. MapQuest route planner and multiple stops MapQuest is the one free map service that will reorder your stops for you. How the route planner works, where its ceiling sits, and the jobs it still cannot do. How to plan a 20 stop delivery route What a bad stop order costs on twenty addresses, why grouping by neighborhood only gets you halfway, and how to build the whole day in about five minutes. How to plot multiple addresses on a map Put a whole list of addresses on one map without building a route: the fastest way to do it, what the picture tells you that a list cannot, and how to spot a bad address. How to add multiple stops in Waze Waze allows exactly one stop per route, and that is by design. What the limit means for a delivery day, the workarounds that exist, and how to drive a long list in Waze anyway. Why navigation apps never reorder your stops Every map app finds the best road between two points and none of them choose which point to visit first. Two different problems, the second one genuinely hard, and what it costs your day.