MapQuest surges in App Store after defying Trump’s Lake Ontario rename

After trade talks between the U.S. and Canada fell apart earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario, which is bounded by the Canadian province of Ontario and New York, as Lake America.

When Trump signed the order last Thursday, MapQuest wrote on X, “We’re not changing it,” along with a map view of the body of water labeled “Lake Ontario.”

MapQuest, which launched in 1996 when users printed directions on their family computer, saw a surge in popularity after pushing back against Trump’s executive order.

It was the No. 1 navigation app and No. 8 overall free app in the App Store as of Sunday night, marking the highest chart position in its 30-year history, according to a new press release.

Since MapQuest defied Trump last Thursday, not only have downloads spiked, but people are using the brand’s apps about 50 times more than usual.

"We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they're familiar with," Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest, said in a statement.

"Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app."

This is the third controversial geographic name change by the president after he renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and North America’s tallest peak, Denali in Alaska, back to Mount McKinley early in his second term.

Google Maps took a different approach to MapQuest, agreeing to change Lake Ontario to Lake America for U.S. users. Those in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario on Google Maps and other countries will see both names.

In a blog post Saturday, Google explained that it made the change because the U.S. Geographic Names Information System had changed the name for Lake Ontario to Lake America and “we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources.”

Similarly, when Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Google Maps changed it for users in the U.S., kept it for those in Mexico and used both names for everyone else.

Critics accused Google of bending the knee to Trump after changing the name of Lake Ontario.

“Google Maps has now capitulated to Donald Trump and changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America,” MeidasTouch, a progressive media company, wrote on X.

“Time to stop using @Google Cowards,” Eric Reguly, a Canadian newspaper columnist, wrote on X.

Apple, which changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico on its Maps app following Trump’s January 2025 executive order, had yet to rename Lake Ontario as of Monday afternoon.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, however, expects Apple Maps to change the name to Lake America soon.

“I know that the president reached out to Apple directly, so I’m sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America,” he told host Cheryl Casone, standing in for Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria earlier Monday.