Changes are always afoot with the Google Maps app. Whether aimed at helping you get around or discovering and searching for places, new features frequently pop up. Today brings us two of them: a new Your transit section for quick access to your preferred public transport lines, and a better organized notification settings list.

Your transit

This new section is showing up for some users in Maps' side menu, likely as a result of a server-side update. It lets you find nearby public transport lines and star them, so you always have a quick way to access them and see their timeline when you're in that specific place. That can be very handy if you commute to work or school daily, visit friends frequently, or have a few places you often go to, and would like a quick way to see the timeline of your favorite bus or subway line without doing a search or starting navigating there.

Above: Starring transit lines you often use. Below: Seeing your starred lines and timetables.

Reorganized notification settings

Maps' notification channels have gone out of control. A few years ago, the company realized that the plain list it was using wasn't cutting it anymore and divided them by categories, but that has gotten worse over time, to a point where you may just want to turn them off completely.

Google is trying to improve that — at least a little. , In the latest Maps beta, categories have been cleaned up and renamed. Instead of nine different groups, there are now six. Commute, transit, and traffic notifications have been merged into a simple Getting around list, and there are fewer categories with only one notification type. You'll still need to take some time to sort through which notifications are important to you and which can be disabled to avoid the deluge, but at least there's a bit more sense in the madness.

Left: Notification settings in Maps 10.23. Middle & Right: In Maps 10.24 beta.


While the new transit line feature is only showing up for some as a server-side test, the re-organized notifications appear to be live for everyone on Maps 10.24 beta. You can get it from the Play Store or APK Mirror.

Google Maps Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
4.1
Download

Thanks: Nick Cipriani, Ibrahim Al-Alali