Billions of Google Maps users unlock free upgrade that lets you find places even faster – ditch the old way right now

GOOGLE Maps users can now enjoy a clever feature that makes it faster to find your favourite places.

A new update has added "emoji pins" to the popular maps app.

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It means you can very easily identify what a pinned location is.

If you're always using pins, this could revolutionize how you use the app.

And if you don't use pins already, there's never been a better time to start.

Google revealed the news in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter.

The post read: "New update: Now you can customize your saved places with emojis to help you find your fav spots faster."

How to use emoji pins on Google Maps

First, make sure that you've updated the Google Maps app to the latest version.

The system for using emoji is very similar to the old method for pinning a location.

Find a place that you want to save first.

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That could be a pre-existing Google Maps marker or a pin that you've manually dropped.

Tap on it so that the menu pops up and then look for the Save button.

You might need to scroll along the menu bar to find Save.

Now tap on New List and then press the Choose Icon button at the very top of the screen.

This is where you can select an emoji.

There's no option to search for a specific emoji, but there are tabs on the bottom so you can sort by category.

Once you've decided on an icon, simply tap it and that will set the icon for that list.

You can then give it a name and description.

And you should select a List Type, which could be private (just for you), public (that anyone else can see) or shared (that other people of your choosing can view).

When you're happy, tap on Create in the top-right corner

Now choose that List for your pin and it'll be added.

You can then re-use this list in the future for other pins.

And once that's done, go back to your main Map screen and you'll see that the usual pin icon (which may have previously been a heart or a tab) has been replaced with your emoji.

Consider setting up other emoji for common pins.

Google suggested a few different options that you could try.

You could mark coffee shops with a mug of coffee, for instance.

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Or you could pin your favourite Mexican restaurants with a taco.

Google also flagged ice cream and hamburgers as good emoji pin ideas.