How To: Get Google Maps On iOS 6 With Original App Icon Via Web [Tutorial]

Apple decided to pull the original Google Maps app from iOS devices starting with iOS 6 in order to introduce its own Maps application. However, majority of us would give anything to get it back as the default maps application for iOS. While a standalone app for Google Maps still hasn’t made it to the App Store, a web-based version of Google Maps can always be used as an alternative.

To make things slightly better, some installable web profiles on iOS seem to retain the original icon for Google Maps on iPhone as well as allow the Google Maps web app to run in fullscreen mode (via BenGuild). Here’s what you need to do:

1. Make sure you’re running iOS 6.
2. Click the following link corresponding to your iOS device.
   • iPhone: http://uploads.benguild.com/ios6googlemapsicon.mobileconfig
   • iPad:  http://uploads.benguild.com/ios6googlemapsicon_ipad.mobileconfig
3. If it asks you for a password, enter your device’s passcode to confirm the install.

Of course, the web-based version of Google Maps is far from perfect, but this does allow it to run fullscreen and retain the original icon. Wouldn’t hurt trying it out!