The sixth beta of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 that released for testing yesterday brings a new feature that permits users to rate their places and upload photos of their favorite points of interest.
As noted by Beau Giles, some users have noticed the new feature after updating to the sixth beta of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 that dropped yesterday. “I was just looking at a random venue in Apple Maps and noticed a new ‘Rate & Add Photos’ button towards the bottom,” he wrote.
Tapping that option produces a menu with the options to rate a place with a thumbs up or down, as well as upload your own photos. This is available for certain but not all venues, such as coffee shops and other places of interest. To prevent abuse, the company will be only accepting ratings from people that have physically visited the place.
Apple’s splash screen has more information on how the new feature works:
- Improve the Map: Rate places you visit and share photos to help others
- Siri Suggestions: Maps uses your on-device location history and photo library to suggest contributions.
- Community Safety: Ratings and photos you share are linked to your Apple ID to ensure a safe experience. Maps usage outside of ratings and photos is not linked to Apple ID.
The rating system can differentiate between categories, so users can rate the quality of purchased products in a shop highly even if they didn’t get the best service. At least at this early stage, the rating UI is only visible for a small subset of all points of interest on the map.
You can also upload photos directly from the card in Maps. Per the legal terms, Apple Maps will only present this option to users older than the age of 13. Photos will be reviewed by humans before appearing in Apple Maps.
I couldn’t replicate this feature on my device with the iOS 14 beta 6 at post time.
It does not seem to be universally available everywhere, as mentioned. This is fine because iOS and iPadOS 14 are currently in the beta-testing period after all. Some folks in the US have it and others reported seeing it in Australia for venues in big cities like Perth and Adelaide.
Apple Maps currently uses third-party reviews, ratings and photos from services like Yelp and Foursquare. With this change, Apple is showing willingness to crowd-source this data from its own users to improve the service.