Namely, Google Maps integrates directly with the music streaming services already on your device. And the UI for those apps also directly integrates into Maps. Helping Maps earn its placement among the best navigation apps around. And allowing users to actually use both types of apps on the same screen, making travel potentially quite a bit safer. And that’s exactly what this guide is here for. So if that sounds like something you’d like to do, read on.
How to get started streaming music directly in Google Maps on Android
Now, you should probably set up music streaming in Google Maps before you’re in the car. Or, at the very least, before you start driving down the road. As is the case with any of our “how-to” guides. At least a part of the purpose of this feature included in Google Maps is to make driving safer. As noted above, to minimalize the amount of interaction needed with a phone while behind the wheel. Otherwise, the process is straightforward if not the easiest — if you don’t know where to start.
This also works on iOS but the process is just a bit different
Now, if you happen to be using an iOS device from Apple, instead of Android, the process will be different. You can start by first following steps 1 through 4 of the guide above. But then you’ll need to select “Music Playback Controls” instead of “Assistant Default Media Provider” in step 5. Following that step, the remaining steps are identical. So there aren’t any other major variations to be aware of moving forward. Of course, coloration and theming will, it goes almost without saying, be slightly different for Apple users. That’s par for the course when it comes to comparing Google apps — and many other apps — between the platforms. But Google has done a fairly good job keeping consistency between them. So music streaming in the iOS variant of Google Maps still comes complete with the bottom bar UI and in-app widget interactions. As well as a choice of music service providers and a design engineered to keep you driving more safely. And the steps are nearly the same across the board.
