Game over for Send To Car on Android and iOS

Changes to Google Maps permanently breaks support for BMW, Ford, Nissan and other popular car brands

I regret to inform you that Send To Car app I wrote for Android and iOS will no longer work for BMW, Ford, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Audi, Mercedes, Kia due to Google shutting down the classic Google Maps website.

I want to thank all of you for using this app since I released it in 2012. It was great hearing your feedback and how it improved your daily driving for realtors, sales people, Uber drivers...

If you bought the iOS version recently, you can follow these steps to get a refund.

Update (June 27): Ford no longer works so there are no working car brand left. I will remove the app from iTunes and Google Play.

Julien Vanier

Why the app won’t work for your car anymore

Google released a new Google Maps website in 2013 and finally shut down the classic version of the Google Maps website in June 2015.

The Send To Car app depended on services provided by the classic Google Maps to send destinations to many car brands. Those services were open to anybody on the Internet using standard web data formats.

Google Maps classic showed Send to car event when signed out

Those services were completely changed in the new Google Maps. The new Google Maps only shows the Send To Car button when signed in to your Google account. In addition to that, the data format was changed to a Google proprietary format.

Signed out: No Send to car

Signed in: Send to car

The consequence is that to allow sending destinations to BMW, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Audi, Mercedes, Kia the Send To Car app would have to ask you for your Google account password and sign in to your account on your behalf.

Since there is no restricted “Allow sending destinations to car” permission that the app could request the app would have access to your complete account.

I don’t feel comfortable asking for this and as a user I don’t think you’d be comfortable giving a 3rd party app that kind of access either.

Finally, I would also need to know the proprietary data format that Google uses to send destinations from the Maps website running in your browser to their web server.

I’ve been looking for potential solutions for the last month without success.

So with a heavy ❤︎, I have to remove my Send To Car app from iTunes and Google Play.

Thanks again for your support.

The Send To Car app is written by Julien Vanier and is not associated with Google or any of the car brands mentioned in this article.