- A new AI search feature has been spotted in Apple cards
- It is available in the latest iOS 26 beta developer
- A complete deployment of the software is expected in September
While the Beta iOS 26 updates versions continue to take place, we identify new features in the software that Apple did not officially announce: yesterday, it was Airpod load fires, and today it is a research AI in Apple Maps.
The 9to5google team stressed that the search function in Apple Maps now encourages users to “search for the way you speak” – so that you can type or talk a search like “finding cafes with free Wi -Fi” for example.
This is now live in the fifth beta version of the IOS 26 developer, so you will not see it yet if you run the public beta version. It could also be modified or even fired before the final version of iOS 26 launched in September, although it seems likely that it is there to stay.
It is certainly an easier and more intuitive way to search for places, if you have to go beyond the basics and specify additional criteria for your results-such as Wi-Fi access, food options, electric vehicle load, wheelchair access or anything.
Maps Apple vs Google Maps
It is possible that the new feature is put online in the United States, because after updating my iPhone to the developer iOS 26 Beta 5, I could not show the functionality of research in natural language in Apple Maps here in the United Kingdom.
What I could do was to execute a similar weighting search on Google Maps, and the results were somewhat uneven: it identified cafes without any problems, but it listed several that certainly do not offer free Wi-Fi (and I was in and asked).
It shows a limitation of the functionality of AI such as these, namely that if AI could be excellent to understand what you ask and convert your words pronounced into text, it is always based on difficult and hard cards data to obtain specific results.
In terms of raw data, Google Maps may still have the advantage on Apple cards-but upgrades like this in iOS 26 will mean that Apple cards will become more attractive and useful, and may be sufficient to recover certain users of Google Maps.
