iPhone and iPad users can now search for and reserve nearby parking without leaving Apple Maps, with Mac integration on the way.
- What’s happening? Apple Maps now provides parking information for more than 8,000 locations in the United States and Canada, a partnership with SpotHero.
- Why care? Apple continues improving its mapping service, and parking availability information is a useful feature when using navigation.
- What to do? This is a server-side change that doesn’t require a manual update.
Apple Maps parking space info live in the US and Canada
Parking service SpotHero has been integrated into Apple Maps in the United States and Canada, permitting drivers to easily see parking space information without having to use a third-party app. Read: How to customize Apple Maps
This could be especially useful when using turn-by-turn navigation on Apple Maps. You can find and book nearby parking spaces directly in Apple Maps, manage your reservations and navigate to your spot.
How to reserve SpotHero parking via Apple Maps
To use this feature, hit the More button on a place card for one of the supported SpotHero locations in Apple Maps and choose the Parking option.
- Open Apple Maps on your iPhone or iPad
- Use search to find a supported SpotHero location
- Touch More on the place card
- Choose Parking from the menu
- Book your parking space on the next screen
This integration isn’t native. Instead, choosing the Parking option simply loads a SpotHero webpage without yanking you out of Apple Maps (hit the Safari icon in the bottom-right corner to load the webpage in Safari, if you like). It lets you filter nearby parking spaces by wheelchair accessibility, EV charging and other factors.
In other words, this is just a web view within Apple Maps. A true, native integration would be much better than an embedded webpage but it is what it is.
A Mac version is in the works
SpotHero integration is available on Apple Maps for iOS and iPadOS, with a macOS version of the feature coming to Apple Maps for Mac at some point in the future.
This isn’t the first time Apple has cooperated with SpotHero. At the end of 2020, SpotHero was integrated into CarPlay to enable drivers to book and pay for parking using the CarPlay interface. The SpotHero app is available for free [App Store link].