Mirroring Google’s recent move, Apple has officially updated its map service to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” rolling out the change merely days after a presidential decree by Donald Trump.
Domestic users of Apple Maps will now encounter Lake America rather than Lake Ontario—one of North America’s prominent Great Lakes—across both the mobile application and the web platform. This modification is restricted exclusively to audiences inside the United States. Meanwhile, Canadians will retain the traditional Lake Ontario designation, and international users outside these two nations will see both titles displayed.
The update stems directly from an executive order issued by Trump on August 27, which mandated that the Department of the Interior revise the body of water’s official title within U.S. federal databases and national geographic registries within a 30-day window.
“In recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people, I am directing that the Lake officially be renamed as Lake America,” the order reads.
Trump’s mandate—alongside the swift compliance of tech giants Apple and Google—has further strained diplomatic ties with Canada following a breakdown in bilateral trade discussions.
While Apple declined requests for commentary, Google Maps previously clarified its stance, stating that its platform adapts to reflect updates made by official government repositories like the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
However, alternative mapping providers are forging a different path. MapQuest announced it would preserve the historical Lake Ontario label, sticking with the nomenclature users know best. (Notably, MapQuest also resisted altering the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America last year.)
The decisions made by Apple and Google have triggered a significant boost in users for MapQuest. As consumer backlash mounts, downloads for the veteran mapping platform have surged, propelling its iOS app to the top spot on the U.S. App Store’s Top charts. This surge briefly placed MapQuest ahead of heavyweights like ChatGPT as of September 1.
Additionally, MapQuest secured the No. 6 overall spot on Google’s Play Store across all application and gaming categories. Showing no signs of backing down, the veteran navigation firm posted on X featuring a graphic of an apple alongside the caption “Them Too.” In a subsequent post highlighting its new rank as the top downloaded application, the brand added, “The people have spoken. We are working.”
This is not the first instance of major technology corporations accommodating the administration’s renaming initiatives. A year prior, both companies similarly updated the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America following a comparable decree from the White House.
