[General Questions and Answers] mahcin:
Hi,

I have not found so far any answers so I spent myself several hours to dig it up.

Why? Because I have enough of apps with bugs. It's happening constantly on smartphones due to updates which not always are good. My car head unit never get live updates and google maps etc works there perfectly, very old but no problems, so it's time to sort my phone exactly the same way, with obviously latest as poss apks.

The problem is: latest Google Maps versions are not that good like old ones. Funny talking programmers need to screw it up slightly to keep the job position so they can fix things which previously they broke 🙃

I have reasonable fast smartphone which was running stock Android 13. I installed very old Google Maps apk 6.14.03 which is from about 2010, from days of Android 4 and perform extremely fast, obviously no buildings etc on map, but it does the job as should, from point A to B.

So, I'm looking for improvements, I'm looking for more fresh version which is very reliable, it looks easy, but unfortunately isn't that easy.

So, if you're looking for same info then this list may help you. If you're looking to help out and find even better and more up to date version, then great as well, just bear in mind that best way is to compare apps between, not just put "my x version is the best", because how can we know then about any comparison?

My phone is running currently without ANY built in Google services, no GAPPS zips, no Play store, no any Google services in background etc etc, just few apks which are just installed in phone menu.

Main testing points to make my perfect version:

- how fast GPS is picking up for the very first time after apk installation?

- how fast 1500miles route will be calculated for the very first time after apk installation?

- if "my location" will be not found after very first time apk installation? (Common problem on latest versions, app must be switched OFF/ON then is good forever)

- if eco routes/engine type is included in the apk?

In very latest versions eco routes and engine type options are removed, well, if eventually some latest versions works in the first place. Do they removed options because these things are automated now, or too many bugs and they're removing options for temporary time to find the bugs? One or the other. As you can see this apk history is like a waves.... good apps, bad apps with bugs, good apps.... so user with all stock "goodies" will experience good and bad weeks.

I'll stick to 11.90.0301 dated 04.08.2023 as it looks like shortly after they screwed it so far. "Don't fix things which ain't broken".

Next update happened about 2 months after which is really unusual. I totally don't know how it all was, however I can only think that maybe they done brilliant job, brilliant apk which worked well and tried to introduce new things which screwed it up for the next several versions? I don't know, I can only think about... On my list it can be seen as a breaking point in to wrong direction after.

So, my current list, and so far final list:

11.116.0102 (23.02.2024)-TEMP BLANK MAPS DUE TO NO INTERNET WHICH ISN'T REAL. FAILED
11.113.0104 (16.02.2024)-BLANK MAP FIELD! Like no internet, tried twice in between others. FAILED in big style.
11.113.0102 (06.02.2024)-BLANK MAP FIELD! Like no internet, tried twice in between others. FAILED in big style.
11.102.0102 (19.01.2024)- SLOW APP, no eco routes, no engine type. FAILED.
11.101.0101 (27.10.2023)- Good performance but no eco routes, no engine type. FAILED.
11.91.0302 (12.10.2023)- slightly slower than 11.41.0603 and previous ones so I'll leave this one. FAILED.
11.90.0301 (04.08.2023)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial. !!!WINNER!!! Because of very small difference in performance, but better displayed events rather than in 11.41.0603
11.82.0302 (21.06.2023)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.81.1501 (12.06.2023)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.67.0703 (03.03.2023)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.59.0705 (12.01.2023)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.58.0701 (06.12.2022)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.57.4301 (24.11.2022)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.45.0603 (02.09.2022)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.44.0902 (26.08.2022)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.43.0503 (19.08.2022)- same as 11.41.0603, but this one is newer so beneficial, well, 11.41.0603 is slightly faster, not much noticeable, so NEUTRAL.
11.41.0603 (12.08.2022)- From this version up: REAL FERRARI in terms of speed when GPS is found, however it takes a little bit longer to find GPS if compared to 10.41.0. GOOD PERFORMANCE.
11.39.1608 (29.07.2022)- looks like same as 11.41.0603 so no point really if same performance in newer app. FAILED.
11.39.1606 (26.07.2022)- looks like same as 11.50.0703 so no point really. FAILED.
11.37.1 (30.06.2022)- looks like same as 11.50.0703 so no point really. FAILED.
11.35.2 (30.06.2022)- looks like same as 11.50.0703 so no point really. FAILED.
11.29.3 (21.05.2022)- looks like same as 11.50.0703 so no point really. FAILED.
10.41.0 -no date found- REAL FERRARI, unfortunately no eco routes, no engine type, but TOP PERFORMANCE.
6.14.3 - perfect for really old smartphone running on android 4 etc

Please bear in mind that I'm talking about installation in to totally degoogled phone. These apks behave a lot better in googled phone due to build in their additional services, for example: to make GPS position at the first time after installation apk without switching OFF/ON apk I would need to have google play services as somehow it triggers or syncing in background some data, which is another proof about fact that I would be out of control regarding any DATA syncs about my device in background.