iOS 18 introduced a small but useful search tweak when finding places like restaurants and gas stations with a Google Maps-like “Search here” button.
When you search on Apple Maps for nearby restaurants, etc. and then move your view to a different location, the app refreshes search results with relevat matches for the new area. But this doesn’t work 100 perecent of the time as Maps often fails to update the search area when rapidly zooming in and out or panning around.
The Maps app on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia now gives you direct control over this feature with a new “Search here” button that appears after performing a search and moving the map to a new area if auto-refresh fails.
Clicking it will repeat your search for relevant places, but in the new area. The button only appears if Maps doesn’t auto-refresh. Otherwise, a “Searching here” message appears briefly when the search area refreshes.
What does the Apple Maps “search here” button do?
The new button is functionally similar to the “Search this area” button on Google Maps. Both make it much easier to find restaurants and other places other than your location. This can be especially useful “if you adjust the zoom level of the map, or scroll away only slightly from the original search—two instances where auto-populating results can be spotty or sometimes not appear at all,” explains Tim Hardwick of MacRumors. The button was first spotted by 9to5Mac on June 24.
This small but useful tweak fills one of the remaining gaps between Google’s and Apple’s mapping software. Other Maps improvements in iOS 18 include custom routes and topographic maps with information like elevation and length and the ability to create your own hikes and walking routes.
When Apple ditched Google as the iPhone’s mapping provider and hauled out its own Maps app back in 2012, it went off to a terrible start and looked like it bombed beyond repair. However, Apple’s perseverance has paid off—Apple Maps is now mostly on par with Google’s offering to the point where Apple felt comfortable releasing an Apple Maps web app to use in a browser, just like Google Maps.