MapQuest has climbed to the top of the U.S. App Store, an unexpected rise for a mapping service that many Americans assumed had disappeared years ago. On Tuesday, the veteran navigation app became the No. 1 overall app on the U.S. App Store, up from No. 8 the day before.
The download surge stems from MapQuest’s decision to reject the renaming of Lake Ontario as “Lake America.” The change followed an executive order from President Trump directing the U.S. geographic naming service to adopt the new name amid his ongoing trade push. After the August 27 order, MapQuest announced on X that it would not alter the lake’s name. Both Google Maps and, later, Apple Maps, adopted the change.
How MapQuest Reached No. 1
The app’s ranking rose steadily as consumers downloaded it to signal support for the company’s position. MapQuest went from No. 128 on August 28 to No. 92 the next day, then reached No. 3 on Monday, August 31, when it also topped the Navigation category. By Tuesday, it held the No. 1 spot across both apps and games on the U.S. App Store.
Since the order was issued, the app has been downloaded an estimated 632,000 times in the U.S., according to market intelligence provider Sensor Tower. MapQuest said the figure was higher, citing more than 1.5 million installs across the U.S. and Canada combined.
According to Sensor Tower’s estimates, 56% of MapQuest’s year-to-date U.S. downloads occurred between August 27 and September 1. During that window, U.S. downloads rose 123% day-over-day and were more than 50 times higher than the same period a year earlier.
Engagement Beyond Downloads
MapQuest said many new users are actively engaging with the app rather than simply installing it. “What’s been incredible is that people aren’t just installing our app — they care enough to communicate directly with us — making feature requests and submitting bug reports on social, and in our app reviews,” MapQuest GM Doug Berger said via email. “Our small team has been working around the clock to build features people are asking for. We are aiming for everyone to have a great experience with the app.”
The company’s stance stood out against its larger Big Tech rivals. Google explained its decision last week, saying it updates names to reflect changes in official government sources such as the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). Apple did not comment but likely follows the same guidelines. As a smaller player, MapQuest has more freedom to break from those conventions.
A Pattern of Pushback
This is not the first time the company has taken such a position. MapQuest still refers to the Gulf of Mexico by its original name rather than Gulf of America. It also released an online tool that lets users jokingly rename Lake Ontario to anything they choose and share the results on social media.
Once the original mapping application, MapQuest lost its lead to Google Maps over the years before this recent surge returned it to the top of the U.S. App Store.
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