The new widget can help you keep an eye on the current traffic situation.
Google has developed a new Android widget that always shows you the current traffic situation around your location. The widget is currently being rolled out gradually and is not yet available on all devices. We tell you what the widget can do and how to activate it.
The Google Maps widget shows you your current position on a map and colors the streets depending on how busy they are with traffic. Green means there is little traffic, yellow means there is a little more traffic and red sections are currently slow to get through.
However, if you want to activate the traffic widget, you should keep in mind that the location function must be activated and that the widget consumes a relatively large amount of data because it is constantly updating itself. If that’s not a problem for you, you always have the traffic situation in view without having to open Google Maps. But Google Maps can do even more and soon wants to display cities with real-time weather and traffic:
Google Maps als Open World:
This looks even more realistic than Flight Simulator!
As already mentioned, the function is not yet active on all devices. With colleagues from Android Police it already worked on a Samsung Galaxy S22. However, we have not yet been able to activate it on our Redmi 9. If this is the case for you too, you may have to wait a few more days or weeks for the update.
First of all, you should update Google Maps in the Play Store to the latest version. Then you look for a free spot on the home screen that also fits a widget and hold it down. Then you proceed as follows:
- Choose the point below
Widgets
out - Scroll down until you find the Google Maps widgets
- choose that
traffic nearby
-Widget
Now the new traffic widget will appear on your smartphone. If you do not have the location feature active, the widget will ask you to activate it afterwards. If everything went well, you can now see the traffic situation around you. With the zoom function you can even see a larger area.
More updates for Android
As we already mentioned, Android also has four new features at the start this month. These make the operating system more accessible, let you pay in a new way and you can customize your stickers:
4 features from Google that you get with an Android smartphone in June
Do you use Google Maps a lot, or do you have an alternative that you swear by? Do you find the new widget useful, or is it just stealing data? Please let us know!
