MapQuest has become the top-ranked app on the US App Store after refusing to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” in line with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
The veteran mapping service rose from eighth place on Monday to number one overall on Tuesday, overtaking apps across both the app and games categories. It also leads the Navigation section.
MapQuest announced on X on 27 August that it would retain the lake’s original name. Google Maps and Apple Maps subsequently adopted the new designation.
The decision triggered a surge of support from users, with people downloading MapQuest to back its position. Sensor Tower estimates that the app was downloaded about 632,000 times in the US after the order was issued, while MapQuest said it had recorded more than 1.5 million installations across the US and Canada.
MapQuest’s climb has been particularly rapid. Its US App Store ranking moved from 128th on 28 August to 92nd the following day, before reaching third place on Monday.
More than half of the company’s US downloads so far this year – 56 per cent – took place between 27 August and 1 September, according to Sensor Tower. Downloads during that period were 123 per cent higher day on day and more than 50 times above the level recorded during the same period last year.
Doug Berger, MapQuest’s general manager, said the influx had brought active engagement as well as new users, including feature requests and bug reports submitted through social media and app reviews.
“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,” Mr Berger said.
He added that the company’s small team had been working to respond to requests and improve the service.
Google has said it changes geographical names to reflect updates to official US government sources, including the Geographic Names Information System. Apple has not publicly commented on its decision, but its mapping service now also reflects the new name.
MapQuest has continued to use the original name for the Gulf of Mexico rather than “Gulf of America”. The company has also launched an online tool allowing users to give Lake Ontario a different name for humorous sharing on social media.
Once the leading online mapping service, MapQuest lost ground to Google Maps and is now owned by internet advertising company System1. System1 bought the business from Verizon in 2019, after Verizon had acquired AOL, MapQuest’s previous owner, in 2015.
