
Plan and share a route on your Mac
Before a trip, you can plan your route on your Mac, then share the details to your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. You must be signed in to the same Apple Account on your Mac and the other device.
Note: Route creation is available in select countries and regions. See the macOS Feature Availability website.
Plan a route
You can see how long it may take to reach a destination when following a suggested set of directions.
When you get driving or transit directions, you can estimate how long it may take to follow the route, traveling now or at a future time. Maps bases the prediction on typical, expected traffic patterns, and you can see how the travel time changes depending on when you plan to travel.
Go to the Maps app
on your Mac.
For driving and transit, Maps calculates travel time based on current traffic and schedules.
To predict travel time for driving or transit, click Now, then set one of the following:
Departure: Click “Leave at,” then enter the date and time you want to leave your starting point. Click “Leave at,” then choose the date and time you’ll travel.
Arrival: Click “Arrive by,” choose the date and time you want to get to your destination.
Click
.
If you have an iPhone or an iPad model with Wi-Fi + Cellular, you can share your ETA as you travel. See Estimate your travel and arrival time in Maps on iPhone or iPad.
Share directions to your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch
When you’re signed in to the same Apple Account on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, you can share directions or sync searches from your Mac to your other devices. Synced searches appear below Recents in the Maps app on an iPhone or iPad (iOS 16, iPadOS 16, or later).
Note: You can only share driving routes that don’t contain multiple stops. Pinned locations are end-to-end encrypted and cannot be read by Apple.
Go to the Maps app
on your Mac.
Click
, choose Share, choose which device you want to send directions to, then open the Maps app on your device to view the directions.
Show traffic conditions
You can show traffic conditions in Maps so that you can plan the fastest route and leave enough travel time.
Go to the Maps app
on your Mac.
Search for the location that you want to check.
Do one of the following:
Choose View > Driving or press Command-2.
Choose View > Satellite or press Command-4, then choose View > Show Traffic.
A marker appears anywhere there’s a condition affecting traffic.
To learn about a traffic condition, click its marker on the map. There are six markers:
Crash
Road Closure
Speed Check
Traffic
Road Work
General alert or other hazard
If you have a Mac with Apple silicon, you can also see road details like turn lanes, medians, crosswalks, and more—just zoom in.