Free mapping app MapQuest surges in popularity after refusing to rename Lake Ontario

The decades-old service has swiftly climbed to the top of app store charts as users flock to an alternative that hasn't adopted the Lake America name.

By Pranob Mehrotra Published September 3, 2026

MapQuest screenshot of Lake Ontario — MapQuest

MapQuest, the original online mapping service that launched back in 1996, just had its best week in 30 years. The app climbed to the top spot in the Navigation category and eighth place among all free apps on the Apple App Store in the US, its highest position ever, according to parent company System1.

What’s behind MapQuest’s sudden popularity

The surge traces back to public outcry over Google Maps and Apple Maps renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America after President Trump signed an executive order renaming the lake. MapQuest refused to make the change, keeping “Lake Ontario” on its default maps. This decision appears to have gone down well with users, with the app gaining hundreds of thousands of downloads since last Thursday, and usage reaching roughly 50 times its normal rate.

MapQuest is now banking on this sudden fame to draw in new users. The company has built a lighthearted tool that lets anyone rename the lake themselves, an idea it first launched when Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico last year and expanded this week to cover Lake Ontario as well. MapQuest general manager Doug Berger credited the response to keeping names people already know.

MapQuest is racing to add new features

According to 9to5Google, MapQuest is also fast-tracking support for Android Auto, something it currently lacks despite already supporting Apple CarPlay. On Google’s Play Store, the app has climbed to the fifth spot in the US this week, per the same report.

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The app behind this run isn’t the one MapQuest released in 2024. That release was a privacy-focused alternative positioned as an alternative to Big Tech. It was replaced with a new, more feature-rich app earlier this year. However, the new MapQuest app still lags behind Google Maps, only offering the basics people use daily, like turn-by-turn navigation and live traffic updates.

Whether MapQuest can capitalize on this newfound fame remains to be seen. The service has been around for three decades, and this is its best chart run yet. But this is also the kind of viral moment that can fade fast once the news cycle moves on.

Pranob Mehrotra

News Writer

Pranob is a seasoned tech journalist with over eight years of experience covering consumer technology. His work has been…

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