‘Comeback of the century!’: MapQuest surges past ChatGPT as top free app as Lake Ontario row leads to a '90s revival

MapQuest, which launched in 1996 and was one of the first online mapping services, has claimed the No. 1 overall free app position in the U.S. and Canadian versions of the Apple App Store. That puts the navigation service ahead of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and far ahead of any of Meta’s offerings.

The surge in popularity is due to the company’s decision to ignore Trump’s executive order and keep the historical, familiar names of both Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico. The tool is also leaning into the eye-rolling some people are doing at Trump’s order with a website that lets people rename the lake themselves online (but not on their app).

“We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with,” said Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest, in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app.”

The comeback kid

MapQuest’s return to the top of the charts has surprised a lot of people, many of whom thought the brand had gone under decades ago.

“Comeback of the century!,” exclaimed one user on X.

MapQuest, meanwhile, is having fun with the renewed spotlight on social media, resurrecting a familiar meme from The Office as the app began to climb in app stores and promising users its team is hard at work on an Android Auto version of the mapping service.

The competition

MapQuest still has a long way to go to top Apple Maps or Google Maps, which have become de facto navigation tools for most phones, but both of those companies have changed Lake Ontario to Lake America on their systems, which has angered some users. (MapQuest even took a swipe at Apple after the latter made the change, with a GIF from Snow White.)

It’s worth noting that Trump’s order cannot compel private companies to change the name of any lake or ocean. What it does is change the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. That’s a reference guide that companies like Google rely on for their maps (and how the federal government refers to geographical features).

Trump, though, reportedly reached out to Apple directly last week to request the name change in Apple Maps, according to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Google, in announcing its renaming of the lake last week, wrote “These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now.”