Google Maps app back on iPhone

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Google says its Map app is back on the iPhone, 3 months after Apple removed it in favor of its own maps that have drawn criticism for flaws and inaccuracies.

The iPhone maker has approved Google's revised map application to be listed in the Apple app store, USA Today reported Thursday.

Google said it has redesigned the app to display more of a chosen map on screen than was visible in the version available in previous versions for the iPhone operating system.

The redesigned app also "loads more quickly and provides smooth tilting and rotating of 2D and 3D views," Daniel Graf, Director of Google Maps for Mobile, said on the company's blog.

"People around the world have been asking for Google Maps on iPhone," he said. "It's designed from the ground up."

Voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation, which was missing from the previous version, has been included in the new incarnation of the app, Google said.