We knew he was on his way and, finally, there he is: the new Google Maps widget that came out on iOS seems to have already been activated for everyone, and also for those with versions older than Android 12.
You could say that this is the first Google Maps widget, since so far it had five shortcuts. Google Maps debuts with the same hardware you design as recent Google widgets, with a search bar and shortcuts to search categories.
New Google Maps widget
Google Maps has a new widget on Android, and depending on how you look at it, it could be considered its first widget, as until now it had several shortcuts. This widget is called Rapid search and has a default size of 3 x 2.
However, like most of the latest generation widgets, it is very flexible, adapting more or less gracefully to all types of sizes. The widget combines a search bar and buttons to start routes or searches. They meet, although if you resize the widget to a height of one block, only the search bar will appear.
As you would expect, tap on the search bar to open Google Maps, where you can search anywhere. The access points listed below vary and include everything from saved places (home, work) to finding nearby points of interest. In Android 12, the colors adapt to those of the system. Not in the previous versions, with a blue tone and a white and gray background.
Possible buttons shown below include restaurants, hotels, shops, cafeterias, ATMs, hospitals, supermarkets and basically all categories of points of interest in Google Maps. Tap somewhere like at home or at work to open the route from your current location. Tapping on a category opens a search for that kind of places around you.
