November 12, 2026, 9:12 am | Read time: 2 minutes
Who doesn’t know it: Even when you navigate well with Maps, you sometimes spend way too long in the car searching for a parking spot. In such cases, it might be better to take public transportation or a rental scooter. To make this decision easier, Apple is reportedly working on a new Maps feature that includes parking search time in the estimated arrival time.
Apple Testing New Maps Feature
Apple Maps could soon incorporate several additional factors into the estimated arrival time when navigating by car. This includes not only the time spent searching for parking but also the walking time from the parked car to the destination.
Developer pdfu discovered a feature flag for a new function called “TimeToPark” in the program code of iOS 27.3 Beta 1. Flags are used in software to toggle certain features on and off. When “TimeToPark” is activated, Apple’s iOS system component CoreRoutine kicks in, which can read the user’s location and movement patterns.
In this case, the component is used to collect location and movement data in the background. This allows measurement of how long a user is near the destination before the car is parked and how far the walking distance is. Both factors are stored for each individual trip and sorted by day of the week and time of day.
“TimeToPark” Not Yet Integrated into Maps
The new feature can only be activated in internal versions of iOS 27.3–only by Apple’s own developers. The option is not available in the regular developer beta. The feature flag is only for activating data collection. The Maps app itself cannot yet use the new “TimeToPark” function.
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Apple may first want to collect data to determine how accurate the arrival time calculation, including parking and walking, actually is. After all, these factors can vary significantly depending on the day of the week and time of day. For example, it would take into account that finding a parking spot takes longer during rush hour than at quieter times.