How to Share Driving Directions in a Link That Opens on Any Phone

Sharing a single pin is easy — paste an address, done. Sharing directions is harder: now there are two points, a travel mode, and a route to preserve, and most of the quick fixes people use for pins don't carry over cleanly.

Here's what actually happens when you send a directions link across platforms, the one case where it genuinely breaks, and how to share a route link that works for everyone.

The problem: a route isn't a pin

A directions link has to encode a start, an end, and how you're getting there (driving, walking, transit) — and it has to survive being opened on a phone that may not use the same map app you built it in.

Send a Google Maps directions link and it opens fine on both Android and iPhone. Send an Apple Maps directions link and it opens fine on both too — Apple's web directions URLs work in any browser. So in most cases, nothing is actually broken. The real issue is narrower: the link opens, but not necessarily in the app your recipient actually navigates with. They lose their saved home/work shortcuts, their preferred voice guidance, the CarPlay or Android Auto handoff they rely on in the car — and if they navigate with Waze, no directions link from Google or Apple ever offers it as an option at all.

The one case that's actually broken

There is one real exception, and it's worth knowing so you're not caught out by it. Apple offers two different kinds of Apple Maps links:

maps.apple.com/... — a normal web URL. Opens anywhere, including as a web page on Android.
maps://... — a custom app-scheme deep link, meant to hand off directly into the Apple Maps app on iOS or macOS. Android has no handler registered for maps:// at all — tap it there and it simply won't open anything.

If a directions link you received uses the second form, that's not a preference mismatch — it's a genuinely dead link on Android. The fix below sidesteps this entirely by generating the web form of every link.

The manual workaround — and why it's fragile

You can hand-build a directions URL for each provider yourself. It looks roughly like this:

Google Maps:  https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1&origin=48.8566,2.3522&destination=48.8584,2.2945&travelmode=driving
Apple Maps:   https://maps.apple.com/?saddr=48.8566,2.3522&daddr=48.8584,2.2945&dirflg=d

Notice the travel-mode parameter doesn't even match: Google wants travelmode=driving, Apple wants dirflg=d. Get the flag wrong and the route silently defaults to driving regardless of what you intended. And neither link, however carefully built, can ever open in Waze, HERE, or whatever app your recipient actually prefers — you'd need to hand-build a third, fourth, and fifth URL to cover them.

The mapfwd solution: one route, every app

mapfwd.com builds the cross-platform route link for you — no parameter names to remember, no per-provider URLs to maintain.

Go to mapfwd.com and toggle Directions on.
Enter a start and an end — type addresses, paste coordinates, click both points on the map, or paste an existing map link for either end.
Pick your travel mode (driving, walking, or transit) and, if you want, a map style (default, satellite, or hybrid).
Copy the universal link. Recipients who tap it get a picker with the route pre-configured for Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, and every other supported service — so Waze users finally get Waze, not a web fallback.

Want it to skip the picker and jump straight into the native app? Add /a/ to auto-forward — for example mapfwd.com/a/u0762zbg61-5fdb2kf?dir=walking&style=satellite carries your travel mode and map style straight into whichever app the recipient's device opens by default.

Where a shareable route link helps

Real estate and events — send a "meet me here" link with directions already pointed from a natural starting landmark.
Delivery and dispatch — hand a driver a pickup-to-drop-off route instead of two separate addresses to re-enter.
Road trips and group travel — everyone in the group taps the same link and gets the same route, regardless of whose phone they're on.
Businesses — give customers directions to your door instead of just a pin they have to route to themselves.

The bottom line

Most directions links aren't broken across platforms — they just quietly hand your recipient an app, a voice, and a routing engine they didn't choose. Build the route once on mapfwd.com and share a link that lets everyone navigate the way they already do.

Looking for the single-point version of this? See how to create one map link for iPhone and Android, or how to open any map link in Waze.

Create your directions link now — it's free, no signup required.