Apple Maps began showing 'Lake America' instead of 'Lake Ontario' to U.S. users this week, following Google's lead by a few days. The change appears only for people using Apple Maps in the United States; Canadian users still see 'Lake Ontario,' and users elsewhere see both names.
The rebrand traces back to an executive order President Trump signed on August 27, giving the Interior Department 30 days to update the lake's name across federal databases, including the Geographic Names Information System. Trump's order renamed the lake broadly, citing 'its critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people.' It was Apple and Google's own rollout choices — not the order itself, which only binds U.S. federal agencies — that restricted the new name to U.S.-based users while keeping 'Lake Ontario' visible in Canada.
Google said in a statement that its update followed 'our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country.' Apple did not respond to a request for comment. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Trump had 'reached out to Apple directly' to request the update — comments Engadget reported were relayed by Reuters; the Washington Examiner also quoted the same Burgum line.
Not every map maker fell in line. MapQuest said it would keep 'Lake Ontario,' the name people already know — the same call it made when it declined to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. That holdout paid off: MapQuest's iOS app rocketed to No. 1 on the U.S. App Store's Top charts, putting it ahead of perennial chart-topper ChatGPT as of September 1, and the app reached No. 6 overall on Google Play. MapQuest posted a GIF on X captioned 'Them Too,' then celebrated its chart position with 'The people have spoken. We are working.'
The renaming lands amid a rougher patch between Washington and Ottawa. Trade talks between the U.S. and Canada collapsed just hours before an August 21 deadline, and 50% tariffs took effect that day on nearly $20 billion in Canadian exports.
This isn't the first time Apple and Google have redrawn the map at a president's request. Both companies previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America after a similar Trump directive.
Here's the thing: a president can sign whatever order he likes about what the federal government calls a lake. It's another matter when the two largest mapping platforms on Earth redraw reality for millions of users based on a phone call from the Interior Secretary, with no legal requirement forcing their hand. Trump's order binds federal agencies, not private companies — Apple and Google chose deference on their own.
MapQuest's surprise comeback is the free market working as it should: offer users an app that doesn't bend to political theater, and enough of them will reward it with downloads. Nobody asked Apple Maps to relitigate the Great Lakes. It did anyway, and the changelog now reads differently depending on which side of the border — or which app — you're standing on.
