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March 18, 2025 — Google Maps may dominate the navigation scene, but Waze has earned a loyal following by putting real-time, driver-sourced intelligence at the center of every trip. Crowdsourced incident reports can reroute you around a stalled truck before you ever see the brake lights. Yet many drivers install the app, type in an address, and never touch the settings that make Waze safer and more efficient. A few minutes in the Settings menu can change how Waze routes you, warns you, and talks to you. Here are five settings worth enabling before your next drive.
Your car type affects more than fuel economy — it changes the routes Waze suggests. Open Settings and tap Vehicle Type to choose between Private, Taxi, or Motorcycle. Rideshare drivers should pick Taxi, and Waze will prioritize routes that work well for commercial drivers.
If you drive an electric car, use the Electric Vehicles section in the same menu to select your charging plug type and preferred charging network. Waze will then factor charging stops into your route. Gas drivers can select a Preferred Gas Type, which nudges Waze toward stations that sell the fuel you use.
The same menu also houses Toll and HOV Passes. If your car is registered for HOV lanes or you hold clean-air permits, add them here. Waze will use them to suggest faster routes that you're legally allowed to take, often improving your ETA on highways that would otherwise be off-limits.
Waze's biggest advantage is also its noisiest: thousands of drivers reporting everything from potholes to police cars. By default, you see a lot of that on your screen, which can turn into visual overload.
Take control in Settings > Alerts and Reports > Reports. You'll find categories like Police, Crash, Traffic, Camera, Construction, Bad Weather, and Road Features. Each has up to two toggles: Show on Map and Alert While Driving.
There's no right or wrong combination — a delivery driver may want every speed-camera notification, while a highway commuter might disable construction alerts. The key is to keep only what matters for your regular routes. Turn off the rest, and you'll spend more time looking at the road and less time checking icons on the map.
One caveat: Waze's report offerings vary by region. In Switzerland, for example, local law forbids navigation apps from warning drivers about police locations, so that category simply doesn't appear.
Interacting with Waze while driving is a distraction, no matter how quick the tap. That's why Waze introduced Conversational Reporting in late 2024, powered by Google's Gemini AI.
You can find it under Settings > Voice and Sound > Talk to Report. Once enabled, tap the Talk to Report icon and describe what you see in natural language — "there's a broken-down car in the left lane just before the bridge." If Waze doesn't understand, it can ask a clarifying question. The same update also added voice-based map updates, so you can report address changes or road closures hands-free.
If you haven't tried it yet, the AI upgrades alone are a good reason to update the app. Beyond reporting, Waze can also personalize navigation based on your driving history. Head to Settings > Navigation > Personalization > Personalized Navigation and turn on Get Personalized ETAs and Get Personalized Routes. For drivers who repeat the same commute daily, Waze will start anticipating the way you like to ride.
Missing a speed-limit sign in an unfamiliar neighborhood is easy; staying on the right side of the law is easier when the app reminds you. Waze includes a built-in speedometer and speed-limit display, but only if you switch them on.
Go to Settings > Speedometer and enable Show Speedometer. Then decide whether you want the local speed limit displayed at all times or only when you're over it. Below that, you can set a Speeding Threshold — either "At Speed Limit" or a few miles per hour over — and turn on Alert At Threshold. From that point, Waze will chime if you cross your chosen limit.
It's a simple feature, but on long highway stretches or unfamiliar roads, that little nudge can save you from an expensive ticket. You can also fine-tune speed-related alerts in Settings > Alerts and Reports > Reports > Road Features, which includes speed bumps, school zones, and changing speed limits.
Drivers who rely on Waze for hours every day — rideshare, delivery, long-haul — need the app to behave. On Android, the Keep Waze On Top toggle in Settings > General keeps the map visible when you take a call. That way you're not frantically swapping apps mid-turn.
Also in Settings > General is Prevent Auto-lock. It's normally enabled by default, but it's worth double-checking; it stops your smartphone from switching off the screen while the app is navigating.
Finally, consider your ears. The Normal voice guidance can be chatty. Switch to Less Chatty in Settings > Voice and Sound > Spoken Directions, and Waze will only pipe up for essential turns and hazards. That's ideal for long trips with music, audiobooks, or hands-free calls.
Waze is a heavy app because it constantly uses GPS and data to keep its community maps fresh. On Android, you can activate Battery Saver (Settings > General > Battery Saver) to dim the screen and reduce updates when your phone is low. It's a small trade-off in exchange for not arriving with a dead phone.
And since Waze is built on location sharing, it's worth spending a minute on privacy too. The app tracks your trips to improve ETAs and, yes, to personalize ads. You can review or delete your location history under Settings > Privacy, and you can stop ad personalization in the same menu.
None of these settings require a learning curve. Spend ten minutes once, customize the app to your vehicle and driving style, and Waze becomes a sharper, quieter, safer copilot — exactly what you want on the next commute.
