To be fair, it’s been good for a while, but iOS 13 allows it to compete. This is the year to reconsider your dependence on Google Maps if you’re on an iPhone. Apple has rebuilt the entire US maps system from the ground up with heaps more information and improved details for roads, beaches, marinas, parks, buildings, and airports. The entire map is slowly rolling out for users and will be fully available by the end of 2019. What’s available now is more than enough for the average user to get from point A to point B in the most efficient, informative, and private way possible. Navigation is now factoring more data for real-time traffic information and lane guidance directions from Siri are now much more human like; she won’t be telling you to turn left in 500 feet, she’ll just say turn left at the next traffic light. And less math is always good. As someone that lives in New York, the biggest blessing has been the addition of real-time transit information that allows me to decide the best time to leave the apartment so I arrive to the station along with my train. Now the MTA isn’t the most accurate source of information when it comes to their own damn trains, but Apple can’t fix everything.

ETA in maps got cut to come in 13.1, but using iCloud to share the most accurate trip info to your trusted buddy has been a lifesaver and eliminates the need to ask “Where you at?” And I’m happy to report that the inclusion of detailed indoor maps for airports and malls has actually come in clutch when traveling to and from Miami. When my mom was dropping me off at the airport and asked which door to leave me at, I was able to quickly get on maps and see that my gate was closest to door number 6 at Miami International Airport. Took 2 seconds and I didn’t have to google and scour forums or rely on American Airlines’ app to get me the info. My favorite new feature in maps by far is being able to save favorites and collections within the app itself. You can add your favorite go-to joints to a visible list at the top of the UI that will be there whenever you need it, and build a list of all the deep dish pizza places you wanna hit up when you’re in Chicago. I’ve been slowly building a list of my favorite restaurants and bars I wanna check out in New York City in a separate note and I was happy to migrate that list over to maps, where I can have all the information I want on those places at the tap of a button, instead of having the notes app throw me over to Safari or copy-pasting the name in Apple Maps. Maps isn’t perfect quite yet though, it still relies on Yelp way too much and the photos preview for any of those locations will launch Yelp when you tap on them, throwing you over to a different app - riddled with its own problems - and leaving you to deal with its UI for browsing photos and getting further information. If they could find a way to remove their over reliance on Yelp and OpenTable, Apple Maps would be perfect in my eyes.

Hey Siri, remind me to talk about reminders

In many ways the freaking Reminders app was the star of the show at WWDC. Apple has given it a UI and UX makeover, and used the power of Machine Learning and sassy Siri to make reminders intuitive and effective. Now you’ve got more ways to organize your lists and if you type them out naturally ie: “Pay my Apple Card debt every Wednesday at 9am” Siri will know that you mean to repeat that reminder weekly and you won’t have to add those guidelines to the info panel yourself. Reminders can now be flagged just like emails, and Siri will organize them for you in smart lists that’ll categorize them by importance and time. There’s also heaps of customization choices to personalize your reminders and help you get to where you’re trying to go quickly, with specific icons for specific lists. Grouping and nested reminders allow you to pair one reminder to another and some of the improvements from Apple’s notes app have finally been added to Reminders, allowing you to add a URL or further information within the reminder itself and then share a list with friends or family members so you can remind your wife that we gotta pick up almond milk for our morning lattes Susan!

The reminders app rework is so fantastic in fact, that it makes me wish similar reworks came to other native apps. Calendar, Mail, and the weather app within iOS are all in need of some serious developer love and are seriously outdated in comparison to what’s on the app store.

The most popular iPhone app gets even more popular