Google Maps is generally pretty darn great, but it's always good to have alternatives. There have been a variety of new navigation tools for the Android Auto system over the last few months, including Waze, TomTom, and Gaia, all taking advantage of new third-party API options. The latest is Yandex.Maps, the popular mapping app from Russia-based Yandex.

The Android Auto functionality may have been active earlier this month with version 10.5.0 of the app. But the new addition has now been noted in the official changelog on the Play Store, with 10.5.1 being the latest version.

According to the changelog, Android Auto functionality is only supported in Russia for the time being. (We tried it out: it won't let us test it elsewhere, even with location spoofing.) And even then, you'll need to upgrade to a Yandex Plus subscription (an all-in-one service a la Amazon Prime or Apple One) for 169 roubles a month. That's going to severely limit the potential audience for Yandex.Maps on Android Auto. But with more than 50 million current downloads of the Android app, I'm sure plenty will be happy to see the option.

Yandex.Maps is a free download on the Play Store. If you prefer to get the latest version, check it out on APK Mirror too.