Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps show you where you parked; here’s how to use it

Losing sight of the car in the parking lot is a problem with a free solution and already installed in most cell phones. Google Maps, Waze and Apple Maps record the exact point where the vehicle was left and trace the walking route back to it, a feature that makes a difference in places like Shopping Leste Aricanduva, in São Paulo, the largest in Latin America, with almost 15 thousand parking spaces.

On Google Maps, the shortest path has two taps: just open the app, tap on the blue dot that indicates the user’s location and select “Save parking”. The location now appears on the map with a pin and the message “You parked here”. On the way back, a tap on the marking and the “Routes” option trace the return route.

The marking accepts extra information, such as the parking space number, parking lot floor and photos of the surroundings. There is an important difference between the systems: on Android, the point is saved until the driver deletes it; on the iPhone, it expires in 48 hours or as soon as the app detects that the car is back on the road. The feature is available on both platforms.

When the driver forgets to mark

If no one saved anything, there is still the Google Maps Timeline, formerly Location History, which records the places where the cell phone has passed. Since the end of 2024, however, this data is stored only on the device itself, can no longer be consulted by the computer and, by default, is deleted after three months. The history also needs to be activated.

Apple Maps, Waze and the automaker’s

app In Apple Maps, the process can be automatic. With the iPhone connected to the car via Bluetooth or Apple CarPlay, the system registers the position at the moment the phone disconnects, and the marker of the parked car appears on the map.

Waze follows a similar logic: when it identifies that the engine has been turned off and the cell phone has left the vehicle’s system, it fixes the “Parked here” point, which can be activated in walking mode. The caveat is that the app only saves the last one