Can’t Wait for This iOS 26 Feature? Discover How It Will Help You Track New Findings

One thing I take great satisfaction in is exploring unfamiliar locations, be it nearby or during travels. The thrill lies in uncovering a hidden gem of a restaurant or stumbling upon a cherished spot in a new city that resonates with the local community.

What’s less thrilling is when I attempt to recall the name or whereabouts of that spot at a later date but come up empty-handed. This makes it difficult to revisit a location I initially loved or to share my find with others.

Fortunately,
iOS 26
It gains an enhancement with features aimed at helping patch up gaps in my Swiss cheese memory. This year’s iPhone software updates include a new Visited Places feature within the Maps app, which is intended to conveniently keep track of locations you’ve visited. By doing so, you can look back at your Visited Places list whenever you want to recall details like the specific eatery where you dined, the shop where you discovered that perfect item, or perhaps the cozy café offering both free Wi-Fi and a warm ambiance.

According to Apple, your device will recognize when you enter a store or eatery, and this data will be saved under the Visited Places category within Maps. It’s likely that these details can be accessed through the Maps Library, where items like marked spots and travel guides are presently kept.

According to the images provided by Apple, your Visited Places will be sorted into categories such as dining, travel, and nature, along with being grouped by city. Cities you visit most often will have greater prominence within the Visited Places section.

What I’m hoping for regarding how the Visited Places feature operates

I really needed this feature around six months ago when I unexpectedly went on a short trip to Los Angeles and ended up in a neighborhood I hadn’t visited in roughly ten years. Back then, I had gone to a taqueria known for serving some of the finest Oaxacan cuisine I’ve tasted. However, due to the restaurant’s name fading into obscurity over time and its rather ordinary location—much like many great eateries in L.A., as far as I can recall—I struggled immensely to find it again, despite having access to all the online resources available.

The feature “Visited Places” could have resolved this issue, at least hypothetically speaking. Here’s how it might work: I’d head to the restaurant and savor some delectable tacos, leaving the responsibility of tracking my whereabouts entirely to the Maps application. This means that should I want to reminisce about those fantastic tacos sometime down the line, I could simply check the Maps app for both the name and precise location without much hassle. Additionally, one could effortlessly share these saved locations with others through the Visited Places section right inside the app itself.

Based on what I’m hearing, Visited Places ought to be capable of functioning.
Any iPhone operating on iOS 26
In simpler terms, I doubt it relies on Apple Intelligence, although I am working to verify this and plan to revise this piece with an update when I have more information. However, Apple has stated that the function will not be available everywhere at first. Apart from the U.S., Visited Places will be supported in Australia, the UK, Canada, Malaysia, and Switzerland.

Visited Places questions

If this seems somewhat uncertain, it’s because it indeed is—and not merely due to iOS 26 being limited to a developer beta currently. The public beta for iOS 26 will be released next month, with the final version rolling out in the autumn. Although I am using iOS 26 on an iPhone 15, the Visited Places feature has not appeared in the Maps app on my testing device yet.

Based on what I understand, you’ll be asked to consent to Visited Places when you open Maps for the initial time in iOS 26. There should also be an option available for you to enable or disable this feature whenever necessary.
WWDC 2025 keynote
Kathy Lin, who manages software engineering services at Apple, stated that you can opt for your iPhone to identify when you’re in places such as restaurants or stores. If I haven’t noticed this feature yet, it could be due to the unpredictability of beta versions or how my testing device was configured.

This kind of feature could spark privacy worries related to location monitoring; however, as mentioned earlier by Lin, it appears that opting into Visited Places would require your consent. Various sources indicate that the information stored in Visited Places is encrypted and cannot be retrieved by Apple. Additionally, you will have the option to remove entries from the list, which benefits both personal privacy and practicality since certain locations might not warrant retention.

Other iOS 26 Maps functionalities

The Visited Places feature might be the top choice for me to test out with the new iOS 26 Maps update, yet it isn’t all that’s changing in this latest iteration of their mobile operating system.

In addition to various features, Maps includes a preferred routes feature. This function records the paths you commonly travel, such as your everyday commute, dropping off at school, or regular tasks around town. With this information, Maps can notify you about potential traffic problems and propose alternate ways to get through them. You may receive these updates via notifications or within Map widgets situated on your device’s main display.

This appears to be a function that
will
require Apple Intelligence; however, we will observe as we invest additional time testing iOS 26 across various iPhone models.

iOS 26 Maps outlook

For those who have a short commute—only 20 feet from their bedroom to home office—the Favorite Routes feature in iOS 26 might not be as appealing as Visited Places. However, the inclusion of these two features indicates that Apple is seeking new avenues to enhance its mapping tools and redefine user expectations for navigation apps.