How do I set up Radar Route?
Radar Route organizes driving outings on iPhone with iOS 26 or later. Start with the welcome screens, then use Home to plan an outing, Routes for reusable plans, and Places for familiar destinations.
In this article
Choose location and Contacts access
- Open Radar Route. On Welcome to Radar Route, tap Enable Location to request iPhone location access, or Not Now to continue.
- On Use addresses from Contacts, tap Enable Contacts if you want to choose destinations from your contacts’ postal addresses. Tap Not Now to continue without it.
- Open Home when you are ready to create an outing.
Both permissions are optional. Location supports nearby search, a Current Location starting point, progress during a started leg, and automatic arrival. Permission by itself does not start tracking. Automatic arrival requires Precise Location; you can choose addresses and record progress manually without it.
Choosing Not Now does not permanently prevent later location prompts. Search may request access when you use it. Contacts access is requested after Enable Contacts. Notification access is requested when you enable an outing’s Departure reminders.
Find the main controls
| Control | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Home | Create a new outing, open unfinished outings, and see the active or next eligible route. |
| Routes | Prepare saved plans or revisit completed and cancelled outings in Recent. |
| Places | Save familiar destinations or find recently confirmed places. |
| Settings | Tap the gear on Home to change driving preferences, stop defaults, distance units, or open permission settings. |
Radar Route plans driving trips. Turn-by-turn directions open in Apple Maps. It does not provide walking, cycling, transit, or truck-specific planning, or a separate Calendar connection.
Set the duration and distance units
- On Home, tap the gear labeled Settings.
- Under New stops, change Default duration. A new installation starts at 15 minutes. The control uses five-minute increments from 5 minutes to 24 hours.
- Set Distance units to Miles or Kilometers. This changes search and route distance displays.
Each new stop takes the current default duration. Changing the default leaves existing stops unchanged. You can edit an individual stop to any supported duration from zero to 24 hours in five-minute increments. Appearance follows the iPhone’s system appearance; there is no separate appearance selector.
Change a permission later
Open Home’s Settings and tap Open iPhone Settings. Review the relevant location or notification permission there. For Contacts, open Contacts in a place picker; denied access offers Open Settings, and limited access offers Manage Contact Access.