If Waze Talks Too Much, Try This New Setting

I’m a big fan of the Waze app, and it’s my favorite mapping app after I became more privacy-focused and installed Graphene OS on my aging Google Pixel 6 Pro. I’ve been using it for several months and have found many reasons why Waze is better than Google Maps, including a better interface, more comprehensive alerts, and personalized navigation based on previous trips. But the real reason I’ve always wanted to try Waze is its voice pack feature. It’s great fun to change the original voice, in turns, to another person, a celebrity or even a cartoon character.

And while it was interesting to hear SpongeBob direct me to the local urgent care, it got old pretty quickly. The novelty of a new voice wears off much faster than you imagine, especially if it keeps repeating the same canned lines over and over again. Luckily, Waze recently introduced a new feature that I’ve been using since its launch. Dubbed their Less Chatty mode, it’s meant to offer fewer voice messages while driving.

Enabling the new Less Chatty mode in the Waze app is simple. Simply load the app and tap the speaker icon in the top right. From there, you tap the Less Talkative tab to enable the mode and get fewer distractions, while still having your basic instructions followed by your favorite voice. I use Less Chatty mode when driving alone, after hearing everything in a given voice. I like to set it to normal when driving with a friend or family member because it’s great fun to hear their favorite voices help them get home.

To be clear, this new mode won’t stop all alerts, especially those about road conditions and upcoming turns, but it will keep them much shorter and to the point. That way Nate Bargatze won’t make the same dad joke for the third time on my way to Home Depot. The idea is to allow the driver to concentrate more on the road and its audio content. This is one of the reasons why Waze has become my favorite maps app, but there are other Google Maps alternatives that people swear by if you’re interested.