New Maps beta brings Contributions, notification changes

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Published 15 Dec 2016

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Disclosure

There’s a new Maps beta making the rounds, while it won’t bring any major changes to your daily navigation, there are a few goodies inside that might make it worth taking for a spin.

First off, is putting a greater emphasis on Contributions, its points- incentives-based Yelp competitor designed to help users find top-notch local restaurants businesses. You can now add a shortcut on your home screen that brings you directly to your Contributions screen, letting you rate places post photos more quickly.

There’s also a new notifications toggle in the ople places menu for Bookings. By turning it on, you’ll apparently get updates when businesses near you are available for reservations. As Android lice discovered in its traditional teardown, the service is likely related to the fitness-centric Reserve with , is currently limited to s Angeles, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area.

Additionally, Android lice unearthed some idle code that could point to features is still developing. Among the findings are recommendations for specific menu items at restaurants a new way to connect users. If you want to test-drive the new Maps beta, you can sideload the -signed A from AMirror.

y this matters: ile there might not be anything here that’s a must-have feature, it’s always fun to peek into ’s latest betas to see what coming down the road. In particular, the new user connectivity code strings are intriguing, as works to bring long-distance friends family ever closer together.