Apple and Google Maps rename Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' under Trump order

Apple has relabeled Lake Ontario as "Lake America" in Apple Maps, mirroring a change Google made days earlier and bringing both major navigation platforms into line with an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on August 27.

According to TechCrunch, the new name is now visible to Apple Maps users in the United States on both the mobile app and the website. The rollout is regional: users in Canada continue to see "Lake Ontario," and users outside the two countries see both names. The Verge, citing an earlier Bloomberg report, confirmed the same split and noted that Google updated its own maps shortly after the new name appeared in the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), while Apple waited longer.

What the order requires

TechCrunch reports that the August 27 order gave the Interior Department 30 days to update the lake's name in the federal naming service and other government databases. "In recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people, I am directing that the Lake officially be renamed as Lake America," the order reads, as quoted by TechCrunch.

The decision sits against a tense diplomatic backdrop. According to TechCrunch, both the directive and the tech companies' compliance have further strained relations with Canada after trade talks between the two countries broke down.

Google has said it applies name changes when official government sources such as GNIS are updated. Apple did not respond to a request for comment, TechCrunch reported.

MapQuest declines, and surges

Not every mapping service follows government databases this closely. MapQuest said it will keep "Lake Ontario" on its maps, choosing the name people already know, and it likewise declined to rename the Gulf of Mexico as "Gulf of America" last year.

That stance appears to be paying off. According to TechCrunch, MapQuest downloads have skyrocketed since Apple and Google made their changes, lifting the app to the No. 1 position in the US App Store's Top charts as of September 1 — ahead of perennial leader ChatGPT — and to No. 6 overall on Google's Play Store across both apps and games. The company has leaned into the attention on X, posting a GIF of an apple captioned "Them Too" and, alongside a screenshot of its chart position, writing "The people have spoken. We are working."

A repeat of the Gulf of America

This is not the first time the two companies have aligned their maps with a presidential renaming. Both outlets note that Apple and Google switched "Gulf of Mexico" to "Gulf of America" after a similar order from Trump last year, establishing the pattern now playing out on the Great Lakes.

Why it matters

The episode shows how directly official government data now flows into consumer maps, and how differently the same geography can appear depending on where a user lives: Americans see "Lake America," Canadians see "Lake Ontario," and everyone else sees both labels at once. That turns naming policy into a platform decision rather than a purely bureaucratic one, especially when the body of water in question sits on an international border during a trade dispute. MapQuest's chart-topping downloads, meanwhile, demonstrate that a meaningful slice of users will switch tools over a naming controversy — penalising platforms seen as politically compliant and rewarding the one holding out.