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MapQuest is now the No. 1 US app after bucking Trump’s ‘Lake America’ renaming

1 d ago

MapQuest became the No. 1 overall app on the U.S. App Store on Tuesday after refusing to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” following President Trump’s executive order, sparking a surge in downloads that propelled the once-forgotten navigation app back into the spotlight. The app climbed from No. 128 on August 28 to No. 92 the next day, hit No. 3 on Monday, and reached the top spot across both apps and games by Tuesday. According to Sensor Tower, MapQuest saw an estimated 632,000 U.S. downloads since the order, while the company reported over 1.5 million installs across the U.S. and Canada combined. More than half (56%) of its year-to-date U.S. downloads occurred between August 27 and September 1, with daily downloads up 123% day-over-day and more than 50 times higher than the same period last year. MapQuest GM Doug Berger said the small team is working around the clock on feature requests and bug reports from engaged new users. The company’s stance contrasted with Google Maps and Apple Maps, which updated the lake’s name to reflect official government sources. MapQuest, owned by System1, also still calls the Gulf of Mexico by its original name and released a tool to jokingly rename Lake Ontario.