Google Maps App Ported to iOS 6.0, Good Reason to Jailbreak iOS 6

With iOS 6, Apple released its all-new Maps app, but users are reporting difficulty in navigating with the program. With no street views, missing public-transportation routing, poor 3D driving interface, and poor traffic reporting, disgruntled and befuddled iOS 6.0 users are forced to use the browser-based version of Google Maps. The iOS 6′s Maps app, arguably is worse than the Google Maps-driven app it was designed to replace.

To alleviate iOS 6 Maps app issue to an extent, Ryan Petrich, the popular iOS hacker and developer, today announced that he has ported Google Maps (iOS 5.1 version) to iOS 6 successfully and tested on iPhone 3GS (video below). Unfortunately, the hack itself is half-cooked and requires binaries from both an older 5.1 SDK and an older 5.1 version of iOS that are not legally redistributable. The hacker said:

This issue was solved in the earlier Spire project I worked on with Grant Paul by building an installer that had the device fetch the appropriate files directly from Apple’s CDN, but it’s not clear that a similar approach would work here. There is no timeline on when it might be ready as I’m not certain this can be overcome.

Once the developer irons out the distribution issues, an installer will be built and released and users will be able to install Google Maps on iOS 6 powered devices. But you must have a jailbroken iPhone in hand for app to work – a very good reason for Apple users to jailbreak their devices.

Google Maps for iOS 6 will soon be available on Cydia store (likely on BigBoss repo once the jailbreak is released) and we’ll of course keep you updated as more information comes in. iOS 6 has already been jailbroken on iPhone 5 by hacker chpwn but details are thin on when or whether the jailbreak will be released to public.

Before it is available, as an alternative solution to Apple iOS 6 Map App, you can follow the steps below to learn how to open Google Maps on iOS 6 quickly.

Step 1: Launch Mobile Safari on your iOS 6 and navigate to maps.google.com.
Step 2: Select accept and allow, when a popup window seeks your permission to track your current location
Step 3: Tap the action button from the middle of the toolbar at the bottom of Mobile Safari and select the ‘Add to Home Screen’ option. This will create a bookmark on the device’s home screen that can easily be invoked like a standard app.
Step 4:  Tap to launch the Google Maps on iOS 6.

If you’ve installed iOS 6 and used Apple Maps, we would love to hear your opinion. Share with us in the comments section below.