11 Tips to Help You Find Your Waze

When you're in unfamiliar territory, a friendly face to show you the way is a godsend. Waze sets out to do just that by delivering directions and tips from fellow drivers all around you.

The app started out as a local project in Israel but is now a Google-owned entity that sold for more than $1 billion. Waze's strength lies in its numbers: the more users who contribute, the better the information Waze provides. At last count, the service had 65 million monthly active users.

While some drivers are not happy that Waze has turned their secret backstreets into traffic-clogged thoroughfares, Waze is one of the most helpful mapping apps around. And it has attracted the attention of local governments: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and other localities are working with Waze to study traffic patterns, reduce congestion, and provide real-time reports to drivers.

Waze is getting into the ridesharing business, too, with the release of Waze Carpool. Available in California, Texas, and Israel, Waze Carpool helps commuters find a rise (and cruise through the HOV lane).

Here's how to put your familiarity with Waze in the fast lane.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.

Exit Strategy

Tell Waze where you're going and when you need to be there, and the Planned Drives feature will tell you when to leave. Enter your destination, click Go, and choose Go Later. Scroll through times to leave and see estimated drive times. Or connect your calendar to Waze so it plans drives for upcoming events. Go to Settings, > Planned Drives > Connect Calendar. Under Planned Drives you can also choose when Waze notifies you to leave—either not at all, before you need to leave, or right when you should leave.

Take It to the Limit

It's hard to know your limits, or rather, the speed limit, particularly when you're driving in an unfamiliar area. But Waze has a speed-limit feature that appears over the speedometer display on the map. You can set it to appear when you reach the speed limit or when you go over it by 5 percent, 10 percent, or 15 percent. Go to Settings > Speedometer > When To Set Alert.

Find Your Own Waze

Don't always take Waze's word for it. When you're given a way to get where you're going, check out other route options. Tap Routes and then select the one that looks best to you, whether it's one that doesn't take you across six lanes of traffic or into any life-threatening situations.

Your Voice Is My Command

Distracted driving is dangerous driving. To minimize your having to look at Waze, enable voice commands to control Waze. Go to Settings > Sound & Voice > Talk to Waze and then choose whether you want to alert Waze that you're switching to voice commands by either a three-finger tap on the screen or by saying "OK Waze." You'll then be able to ask Waze to navigate you to home or work (if you've entered those into your settings), report heavy traffic, cancel a command, and stop navigating.

Guided By Voices

If you don't like the way Waze sounds, change it. Go to Settings > Sound & Voice > Voice Directions, and choose one of the standard voices or one from a promotional tie-in.

Better Late Than Never

If you're that friend who always says you'll be there in five minutes and you arrive half an hour later, save yourself the embarrassment and your friends the trouble by using the Send ETA feature. When you've mapped out your drive, tap Send ETA at the bottom of the screen and either send it in the app by selecting the recipients, or tap More to send your ETA via text, WhatsApp, or email.

Life in the Fast Lane

Until now, the ETA button didn't provide the most accurate reading if you were using the HOV lane or a toll pass that could speed you through. Now if you plan on traveling in a high-occupancy lane or using a pass, let Waze know ahead of time. Go to Settings > Navigation > Add Toll/HOV Pass.

Hit the Gas

Waze will show you gas stations along your route, along with prices. If you have preferences, go to Settings > Gas Stations & Prices. There you can choose preferred stations (especially handy if you have a loyalty card) and the type of gas, as well as sort results by price, distance, and brand.

The Open Road

If you like to feel the wind in your hair and ride on two wheels, not four, you can let Waze know. You'll get routes optimized for motorcycles and more accurate ETAs. Go to Settings > Navigation > Vehicle Type. Should life slow down a little, you can also switch to electric car, taxi, or back to a regular car.

There Goes My Hero

Sometimes you're in a jam of the traffic variety, other times you're in a jam of a more urgent kind. If you're on the road and need help, go to the Report button on the main Waze screen, and select Roadside Help. Tap the Emergency Call button to be connected to local emergency services, select Road Assistance to get a listing and easy access to roadside emergency services, or choose Fellow Wazers to flag down other drivers via the app. All Waze users in the United States have access to Allstate Good Hands Rescue without a membership fee. Should you choose the program through the Roadside Assistance feature, you'll pay just for the services you used.

Runnin' Down a Dream

Driving with the windows rolled down and the radio on makes you feel alive. So it's a natural that Waze has Spotify integration. Go to Settings > Spotify and toggle on Connect Spotify. You'll be able to switch between apps with a tap, set a road-trip playlist and more—but only if the car is not in motion.

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My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme.

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