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When Should You Leave? Waze's 'Planned Drives' Will Tell You

The app will now tell you exactly when to leave the house to get there on time.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

Our team tests, rates, and reviews more than 1,500 products each year to help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.

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Planning an important trip? Waze wants to help take some of the stress away.

Connected TravelerThe Google-owned navigation app on Wednesday introduced a feature called Planned Drives for iOS, which will tell you exactly when to leave to get there on time. Just enter the time and date you need to arrive, and Waze will tell you when to get your butt out the door.

The app will also send you a reminder closer to the event with an updated departure time, based on real-time traffic conditions.

"Planned Drives also makes it easier to manage your time and schedule more flexible to-dos (like errands or road trips) to avoid traffic," the Waze team wrote in a blog post.

To try out this new feature, just open Waze and enter a destination in the search bar. Then, on the ETA panel, click the Planned Drives icon at the bottom left. The Planned Drives screen "opens and illustrates peak traffic hours along your future route, taking into account expected traffic conditions based on smart algorithms, aggregated traffic history and predictive analysis," the Waze team wrote.

Planned Drives is launching today on iOS, and will be headed to Android "soon."

Waze has been busy as of late, recently updating its apps with a new, simplified user interface and another pretty sweet feature: the ability to get directions from Morgan Freeman.

Meanwhile on the navigation front, Nokia's former mapping and location business Here, now owned by European car makers Audi, BMW, and Daimler, on Wednesday announced it is dropping support for Windows 10 and seriously limiting its Windows 8 efforts.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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