Since Apple Intelligence was announced in 2024, we’ve only seen the rollout of a few basic features, including Writing Tools and Genmoji, while more advanced features, such as the new Siri with deeper integration with apps, have been delayed without a clear schedule. Still, Apple has been working to expand support for Apple Intelligence, and Apple Maps may be the next app to gain some AI features.
Following the release of the first beta of iOS 26.2 on Tuesday, Macworld found evidence of Apple’s plans to bring its AI tools to Apple Maps. More specifically, the company aims to make searching within Maps more natural and accurate.
The update reveals a new framework called “MapsIntelligence,” which was already referenced in iOS 26.1. But code added with iOS 26.2 reveals a bit more about what Apple has been planning and what we can expect from this AI integration.
Smart Maps may be on the way
Essentially, Apple appears to be laying the groundwork for making the search experience in the Maps app much smarter through a new “SearchPersonalization” bundle, which is deeply integrated with AI models. The company has been using AI internally in the Maps app to enable things like faster autocomplete in search, better directions, and review summaries for businesses.
The AI models seem to analyze different aspects to provide smarter results, such as user location, real-time traffic, and specific details about a business, such as current menus. These AI models are also expected to integrate with Siri and Spotlight, so that users can find places on the map using natural language in their search.
Apple added a feature in iOS 26 to see recently visited places, but Apple Intelligence could upgrade the experience even more.
Apple
Interestingly, the bundle also contains references to “Gemini,” which could be a hint at Apple exploring other large language model options beyond its own to power Apple Intelligence. It’s also been reported that Apple has partnered with Google to “lean on” Gemini in the new Siri coming next year.
The feature seems to be quite early in development, as code snippets reveal an internal system that tests and scores different machine learning models so engineers can decide which ML model performs best. This likely means that Apple engineers are still deciding what works best for this feature.
Once implemented, smarter search in the Maps app should make it much easier to explore the maps and find new places to go.
Interestingly, the code also references a “Spatial Lookup” feature. The term “Spatial” in Apple’s code usually refers to Vision Pro, so perhaps the company is also working on a more immersive Maps app for its headset. Currently, visionOS uses the iPad version of Apple Maps without any immersive features.
iOS 26.2 is expected to be released to the public by the end of the year.
