Slashdot Mirror


Apple Maps Was Down For All Users Earlier Today (engadget.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple Maps is down and has been for a few hours today, 9to5Mac reports. Users are noting on Twitter and Apple Support that the service isn't working on phones, Apple Watch or CarPlay and searches for certain places or points of interest result in a "No Results Found" response. Apple has noted on its system status site that all users are experiencing issues with both Maps search and navigation. Update: It is functional again.

13 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. All users? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, IOW, no one at all is affected?

  2. You're holding it wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Works for me

    1. Re:You're holding it wrong by WankerWeasel · · Score: 4, Informative

      By the time this hit Slashdot front page, Apple had resolved the issue. https://www.apple.com/support/...

  3. Can you imagine if this happened with self driving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If this happened once all cars are self driving, the entire country would grind to a halt. Economic output would plummet and we could be facing recession.

  4. Danger, Will Robinson! by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 2

    Do you want to get lost in space? This is how people get lost in space.

  5. Re:TomTom ... by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And shit like this is why I will stick with my TomTom instead of a damned phone to navigate.

    You do realize there are oodles of offline map apps that can navigate without any connectivity, right?

    I have Navigon, but there are a number of others... including TomTom. And they all work way better on the phones than the physical dedicated devices.

    Well, except for the GPS, that's usually a bit better in the dedicated devices... but you can also get external bluetooth GPS units that enhance GPS reception to the level of any other good dedicated GPS device.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  6. I've been reading forums trying to solve this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    But I've been going round and round in circles.

  7. Re:But how will I get to the Ivars in Puget Sound? by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 2

    Take a Lime bike. Those seem to be ending up in the water more and more these days.

  8. Re:Can you imagine if this happened with self driv by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Informative

    Other than OTA updates, self driving cars are completely autonomous. So probably not.
     
    My boat did not sink when I took it from San Francisco to Monterey and we went out of cell phone reception. The nav software in the chartplotter just did it's thing. I think it was last updated in 2005.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  9. Welcome to the cloud by Nkwe · · Score: 2

    Welcome to the cloud. This is a reminder that critical services in the cloud are a risk. As we all (should) know, the cloud is just someone else's computer that you are renting time on. With the cloud you are outsourcing the management of computing services to someone else. To be fair, your cloud provider may very well be able to run services more reliably that you can, and the accounting / cost models may make fiscal sense (expenses vs. assets, etc.), but it's important not to forget that there is nothing magic about the cloud. Failures can and do occur. Apple maps may or may not be a critical service for you, but the point is the same.

  10. Re:TomTom ... by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    My personal phone has no data plan at all.

    Don't need one for ANY of the offline map apps I mentioned.

    ?I can easily go several days without even touching a cell phone.

    Oh yeah? I can (and have) gone WEEKS with no cell or data connectivity. I guess that makes me more manlier or something. (spits in bucket).

    My TomTom has maps for the US, Mexico, and Canada and I update it every 3-6 months.

    The TomTom (and other) offline map apps can download over wiFi maps for anywhere in the world on demand. I've used the Navigon app in Europe for example when renting a car, as well as the US and Canada.

    It just sits there in my windshield until I need it

    Mine is in my pocket all the time so if I happen to be on public transit or riding as a passenger I can still use it to look where things are.

    And I don't need to have shit like location services enabled on a phone

    And if the phone has no data plan you care about that why exactly? You don't have to leave location on.

    or have to worry about lack of coverage or an outage.

    HELLLLLOOOOOOOO Knock Knock Knock anyone in there? Do you know what offline maps even means? That's exactly why I have those apps, so I too do not need to worry about coverage or outages (I originally got Navigon to drive in Europe so I wouldn't have to use cellular data to navigate, that was when I wasn't with T-Mobile which has free international roaming).

    Life is just too damned short to clutter up with digital crap which adds little of value to your life.

    Life is too short to bother with devices that have worse performance by any measure and are not around when you need them in a pinch because you left them on your windshield.

    I also had a dedicated TomTom, they are the best of a sea of bad options to be sure. But ANY offline navigation app (including TomTom) is vastly easier to use than any dedicated GPS device, not to mention the screen is far superior at this point on just about any phone. And I have just the phone instead of a phone and a TomTom like you have... and Like I said, I always have the phone with me, just not always connected. I connect when I choose, not when the device chooses. It doesn't take the willpower of a god to simply not use a phone until you wish.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  11. Yes, some do by SuperKendall · · Score: 2

    Do any of them take traffic conditions into account?

    Some of the offline navigation apps do take traffic conditions into account as long as you have a data connection to pull traffic info over (some may store historical traffic info to use offline? Not sure about that though). It's usually an extra fee to access.

    I still don't trust any other app for traffic more than Waze though, since the other apps are getting just city traffic data feeds and Waze gets that plus all of the live user tracking and reporting. Happily anywhere there is significant traffic I'd have data connection anyway, it's only the really remote places where traffic is not an issue that I need the offline maps.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  12. And nobody noticed by wonkavader · · Score: 2

    Because every single person on the planet prefers something else to it.