How to Open a Google Maps or Apple Maps Link Directly in Waze

If Waze is your daily driver, you already know the frustration: a friend, a client, or a dispatcher sends you a Google Maps or Apple Maps link, you tap it — and you're dumped into the wrong app. Now you have to wrestle the address back out and feed it into Waze by hand, usually while you're trying to get moving.

There's a cleaner way. Here's why the copy-paste dance happens, and how to skip it.

Why you can't just tap a link into Waze

This isn't your phone being difficult — it's by design. Neither Apple nor Google will ever hand a tap off to a competitor's navigation app:

A maps.apple.com link opens Apple Maps.
A google.com/maps link opens Google Maps (or Google's mobile web).

Waze is owned by Google but lives as its own app, and there's simply no "open this in Waze" button waiting on the other end of someone else's link. So you're left doing it manually.

The tedious workaround everyone knows

Here's the routine most Waze users have memorized:

Tap the link and land in Google or Apple Maps.
Find and long-press the address or coordinates to select them.
Copy the text.
Switch apps and open Waze.
Tap search, paste, and hope Waze's index matches the exact same spot.
Pick the right result from the list, then finally start driving.

Six steps to do the one thing you wanted. And step five is the trap — if the pasted text is a place name Waze indexes differently, or a raw coordinate it interprets loosely, you can end up routed to the wrong entrance or the wrong branch entirely. Fiddling with all of this behind the wheel is exactly the kind of distraction you don't want.

The shortcut: route the link through mapfwd.com

mapfwd.com acts as a bridge to Waze (and every other map app). Instead of a link that's locked to one app, you get a neutral link that offers Waze as a first-class choice.

If someone sends you a Google or Apple Maps link:

Put mapfwd.com/ in front of it — for example, mapfwd.com/https://maps.app.goo.gl/abc123.
mapfwd reads the location out of that link and shows you a picker with Waze right there in the list.
Tap Waze. It opens with the exact coordinates preloaded — no copy, no paste, no guessing.

Because mapfwd hands Waze precise coordinates rather than a fuzzy text search, you land on the right point instead of Waze's best guess.

If you're the one sharing a location with Waze users, do them the favor up front: paste the address or link into mapfwd.com, copy the universal link it gives you, and send that instead. Now the drivers on the other end can jump straight into Waze in one tap.

Make it truly one-tap

Want to go straight into Waze with zero picking? On Android, a mapfwd auto-forward link (mapfwd.com/a/…) sends users to their device's native app automatically. For a link you know is going to a Waze user, share the picker version (mapfwd.com/… without the /a/) so Waze is one tap away from any device — iPhone included, where Waze would otherwise never be an option from an Apple Maps link.

Why it's worth it for commuters and drivers

Real-time, crowd-sourced traffic. The whole reason you use Waze — police, hazards, live jams — instead of settling for whatever app the link came from.
No fumbling at the wheel. One tap beats a six-step copy-paste every single trip.
Accurate destinations. Coordinates go in directly, so you're not at the mercy of a text search matching the wrong place.

The bottom line

Apple and Google won't route you into Waze — but you don't have to let their links dictate your navigation. Run the link through mapfwd.com, tap Waze, and drive with the traffic data you actually trust.

Try it with your next map link — it's free and takes one paste.