What do the icons and emojis mean on Waze?

Although both are owned by Google, Waze and Google Maps are different in many ways. One of the most obvious differences (and one of the main reasons why Waze is better than Google Maps) is the fun icons and emojis that Waze has been featuring for years now. As soon as you launch the app, you’ll immediately be greeted by a group of small cars driving alongside you. Some look cool in sunglasses; others sport a cheerful dog costume instead. Then, as you drive to your destination, other icons, like a traffic cone, police, and cameras, will appear on the map in certain locations.

That’s not to say that Google Maps isn’t without icons. On the contrary, Maps is full of all kinds of icons. But unlike Waze, most of the icons you see on Maps are landmarks and establishments: a shopping cart for a grocery store, a spoon and fork for a restaurant, and a gas pump for a gas station. They’re pretty easy to identify just by looking at the icon and zooming in to see the name of that location.

Waze’s icons and emojis aren’t as intuitive, so if you’re considering switching from Google Maps or any other navigation app to Waze, it’s a good idea to learn what these icons and emojis mean. There are generally two types: moods and traffic and road condition icons.

Waze Moods are little car icons with faces that you frequently see on the road. This is essentially the public avatar of Waze users (or Wazers, as they’re called), which other Wazers like you can see on the app. However, for privacy reasons, these other drivers are not displayed on the real-time map. Yes, they also took the route you’re currently taking, but no, they’re probably no longer in the same place by the time their moods appear on Waze.

By default, a Wazer’s mood is set to the happy pink car. However, you can easily replace this with one of the 100+ other moods available in the app. Just tap the hamburger icon in the top left corner and select View profile. Then open Mood and choose your desired car icon. You can choose from everyday moods like a shy yellow car and a purple heart-eyed car, or from special moods, like a candy car, a blue Pisces car and a car painted in the colors of the Argentine flag. There are also three special Waze Moods that only map editors can use: T-rex, 8-bit, and Robotic. You can unlock them when you become a map editor. Simply create an account in Waze Map Editor and submit a number of map edits.

Waze Moods are normally visible to other Wazers, but if you prefer to keep yours private, you can choose to hide it. In your profile page, simply enable Become invisible.

Part of what makes Waze a go-to navigation app for users is the active reporting of incidents by the Waze community. These incident reports are displayed as different icons on the map, so you can plan your trip more efficiently. Here’s what some of them mean:

• Police: There is an officer patrolling this road.
• Construction worker: Construction work is underway on this road.
• Traffic cone: One lane is blocked.
• Three red cars: There is traffic in this area.
• Red and white barricade: The road is closed (the entire road is usually marked by a strip of sugar cane).
• Green and blue car with an impact symbol: An accident has happened.
• Lifebuoy: A Wazer needs help.

Other incident icons on Waze include bad weather, hazards, cameras, and road features. Next, there are 12 different camera icons that you will see on the map, such as speed cameras (camera with speedometer), red light cameras (camera with traffic light), and mobile police cameras (yellow camera on a tripod). Road elements also come with different icons for different purposes, such as a railroad crossing, a school zone, and a multi-lane merge. There’s also the traffic light icon, which was a recently added Waze feature. These road icons should be pretty easy to recognize because they are usually the same road signs in real life.

Whenever you come across an incident icon on the map, you are free to tap on it to view more details about it. It will tell you where the incident is, how long ago it was reported, and who reported it. You may also like the crash report if you find it useful.