How to use Google Maps to save your parking location

We’ve all been there: you park your car on some random street or in a nondescript garage and go about your business. Then, an hour or two later, you find yourself wandering around without the foggiest recollection of where you left your vehicle.

Don’t let yourself get lost again. Your smartphone can help you find your parking spot — or any other location, for that matter. All you need is the mapping app you’re probably already using for navigation.

Open up Google Maps on your iOS or Android device, and get ready to find your way to smarter location saving.

Saving your parking location is actually quite simple in Google Maps on iOS, though the associated options are somewhat limited compared to Android.

When you’re ready to find your spot:

Maps can also provide notifications when you’ve saved a parking spot. To activate them:

The process for saving a parking location in Google Maps on Android is similar to that for iOS but with some handy extra features sprinkled in along the way.

Now, if you want to add more details:

When you’re ready to find your spot:

Note that, in the case of Android, you will get a persistent notification for your parked car automatically. You can swipe the notification away like any other Android notification to dismiss it. If you’d rather not receive those notifications at all, you can disable them entirely:

Be aware that Maps allows you to save only one parking location at a time, so if you try to save a second location while one is already being stored, that new location will overwrite your original one.

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