When Google acquired Waze in 2013, many assumed the two navigation apps would eventually become one. More than a decade later, they remain separate, even though they have become increasingly similar.

Google Maps has adopted several features that made Waze popular, while Waze has borrowed ideas from Google's mapping expertise and broader ecosystem.

The result is two apps that overlap more than ever before. Both can navigate you around traffic, suggest alternate routes, warn you about road hazards, and estimate arrival times with impressive accuracy.

Yet despite years of borrowing from each other, neither app has become the obvious choice for every driver.

Google Maps borrowed Waze's best ideas, but only some of them

Real-time road hazards were only the beginning

Years ago, the biggest difference between the two apps was how they handled live traffic.

Waze thrived on community reports. Drivers could flag accidents, construction zones, stalled vehicles, road closures, speed cameras, police presence, and countless other incidents.

Google Maps eventually adopted many of these ideas. You can report crashes, lane closures, objects on the road, construction, and other hazards directly from the navigation screen.

You can also see reports submitted by other users and confirm whether they're still accurate as you pass them.

These additions dramatically improved Google Maps. Instead of relying solely on traffic data collected from millions of devices, Maps now includes a layer of real-time human observations that can explain why traffic has suddenly slowed down.

But Google Maps never fully embraced Waze's community-first philosophy.

Waze learned from Google, too

Google's influence is easy to spot

The borrowing hasn't been one-sided.

Waze has improved significantly over the years. The interface is cleaner, navigation is easier to follow, and the route guidance feels better than in earlier versions.

It has also become better at integrating into Google's ecosystem. Support for Android Auto has matured significantly, voice navigation has improved, and route planning feels more reliable than it did years ago.

While the apps remain separate, improvements in map quality and road data have benefited both experiences, making them more dependable than they were a decade ago.

Even so, Waze has never tried to become a discovery app.

You won't open Waze to browse restaurants, check business hours, explore nearby attractions, or plan an afternoon around multiple stops. It remains focused on one thing: getting you from point A to point B as efficiently as possible.

That's exactly what many drivers want, but it also highlights how differently the two apps approach navigation.

Google Maps and Waze solve different driving problems

I still use both apps for different reasons

Google Maps tries to be everything. It's a navigation app, a local discovery platform, a transit guide, a walking companion, a cycling assistant, and a travel planner.

Before I start driving, I might use it to compare restaurants, read reviews, check parking, save places to lists, or share my location with someone.

On the other hand, Waze assumes you've already decided where you're going. Its job is to get you there while avoiding unnecessary delays, warning you about hazards ahead, and adjusting routes the moment traffic conditions change.

During longer drives, it often feels more proactive. The app constantly evaluates conditions, looks for faster alternatives, and makes community reports a central part of the journey instead of an optional extra.

Each app still has its shortcomings

The perfect navigation app still doesn't exist

The frustrating part is that each app already demonstrates solutions the other could benefit from.

Google Maps still has the richer overall experience. Its search capabilities, business information, offline maps, and support for multiple transportation modes make it one of the most versatile apps on any smartphone.

But I often wish it leaned further into the collaborative features that make Waze so useful during unpredictable drives.

Waze has the opposite problem.

Its incident reporting remains excellent, and its driving-focused interface is refreshingly simple. But outside the car, the app offers very little.

Planning a day out, comparing nearby cafés, reading reviews, or exploring unfamiliar neighborhoods almost always sends me back to Google Maps.

Google Maps makes saving places, organizing lists, and exploring destinations effortless. Waze makes responding to changing road conditions quicker and more engaging.

Both apps demonstrate strengths that could meaningfully improve the other, yet they continue to evolve along parallel tracks rather than combining their best ideas.

I still switch between Google Maps and Waze

Google Maps and Waze have spent years borrowing features from each other, but neither has become the complete navigation app.

Maps is still my go-to for discovering places and planning trips, while Waze remains better at handling the unpredictability of the drive itself.

Until one app combines the best of both worlds, I'll keep switching between them depending on where I'm headed.