Your Complete Guide to Planning Multi-Stop Trips in Apple Maps on Your iPhone

One thing Apple Maps still lacked was the ability to add stops along a route when planning a trip. Navigation would help you travel from the starting point to the final destination, and the only places you could add between them were pit stops like banks and ATMs, cafes, convenience stores, restaurants, fast- grocery stores, service stations and car parks. This all changes in the latest Apple Maps update.

With iOS 16 you finally have tools for multi-stop trip planning, so you can create multiple stops along your route when planning your trip – and they can be for any location , not just pit stops. This is much more efficient than getting separate sets of routes for each leg of the journey. It’s now even easier to make changes to routed trips while navigating.

Step 1: Get directions to your first location

Locate the first stop along the route you plan to take, then ask for directions as you would on iOS 15 and earlier. It’s easier to add the first planned stop first, because Maps will make it the second stop after your starting point.

You can choose your final destination or any other location you want to add to your trip, but you may need to rearrange the route (see step 4 below) after adding a third location. Otherwise, Maps may not show directions.

For example, if your final destination is 2,500 km away, and then you add a stop near your current location, Maps will likely tell you that routes are not available between all of the areas you choose. Rearranging the trip should help in this case.

Step 2: Modify the starting point if necessary

Your starting point will default to your current location, but you can tap “My Location” to find and select another starting point. You can also add another stop as a starting point, remove ‘My Location’, then move the actual starting point to the top of the list – you’ll know more about that in a moment.

Step 3: Add stops along your route

To add a stop at any point on the route, either between or outside of your current planned locations, tap “Add Stop” from the list, then find and select the desired location.

If you’re trying to find a pit stop like a FedEx, Mediterranean restaurant, or park, you can search by those terms and select the desired location on the map. When choosing a place, tap “Add stop” in its details card or “Add” in the list view. Alternatively, you can tap a location on the map without using the search tool, then tap “Add stop” from its details.

You can add up to 13 stops along your route for a total of up to 15 locations when counting your start and end point. When you add five or more addresses to the total, Maps combines the middle stops into a section that says “[#] stops.” Press to expand all hidden destinations.

Press the minimize button (the pill-shaped pull handle) or drag the window down a bit to return to minimized view.

Step 4: Rearrange the stops if necessary

If you need to change the order of stops, including start and end points, long press the three bars to the right of the location, then drag and drop it to a new place in the list .

Step 5: Remove stops if needed

When you no longer want to go to a stop on your route, it is easy to remove it from your planned route. In the ordered list, find the stop you want to abandon. Then, briefly swipe it left and tap “Delete”, long swipe it left until it disappears off the screen, or long-press it and choose “Delete” from the quick actions .

Step 6: Swap stops if needed

Instead of deleting stops you don’t want to visit and adding new stops, you can just tap on a location, then search and select a new location in the finder.

Step 7: Start your planned trip

When you are ready, you can start your journey. You can tap “Avoid” and choose to keep tolls and highways out of your directions, or “Now” to set a departure or arrival time which helps give a more accurate total time for the trip based on traffic patterns throughout the day. Finally, tap the “GO” button next to the route you want to take if you see multiple options.

Step 8: Remove stops during navigation if necessary

When you no longer want to visit a stop along your route after starting navigation, tap the route map at the bottom, then tap the minus sign (–) next to the place you want to remove.

Step 9: Add stops during navigation if needed

As before, you can always add stops after starting the route. Tap the route map at the bottom, then tap the “Add stop” button. As on iOS 15 and earlier, you can choose from one of the categories – banks and ATMs, cafes, convenience stores, restaurants, fast food, gas stations or parking lots – to find and select a stop. But now you can also search and choose a specific place that is not in any of these categories.

Whichever stop you choose will be the next destination on the route. You cannot rearrange stops while navigating, so only add stops this way when you know it will be the next stop on your journey.

You can also ask Siri to add a stop. Tap the plus (+) icon at the correct location it finds, then tap “Add stop” when the location map appears in Maps.