MapQuest surges from No. 128 to No. 1 upon defying Trump's "Lake America" rename

MapQuest, a mapping service that previously looked as though it was slowly fading into obscurity, is now number one among the top downloaded free apps on Apple's App Store in the US. The trigger was political: MapQuest rejected President Donald Trump’s executive order on August 27 that ordered federal agencies to relabel Lake Ontario as "Lake America" amid an escalating trade dispute with Canada. Google Maps and Apple Maps complied, while MapQuest retained "Lake Ontario" and continues to use "Gulf of Mexico" rather than "Gulf of America."

MapQuest's refusal to comply resulted in a surge of downloads, which saw it climb from 128th place on August 28 to 3rd place by August 31 before taking the overall top spot on September 1. Sensor Tower estimates that the app received 632,000 US downloads following the executive order, while MapQuest says it has recorded more than 1.5 million installs across both Canada and the US.
 

The attention has also generated active app engagement, with users submitting feature requests and bug reports alongside their downloads. MapQuest, once the dominant online mapping service before losing ground to Google Maps, is owned by advertising company System1. Whether this download spike driven by political protest translates into lasting user loyalty remains to be seen.