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Apple has renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America on Apple Maps for US users, following Alphabet's lead and an executive order from the Trump administration. Canadian and international users will see the original or dual names. Meanwhile, MapQuest, which refused to comply with the order, has become the most downloaded navigation app in the United States, leapfrogging Google Maps and Apple Maps.
Apple has changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America on the web version of its Apple Maps for users in the United States, following a decision by Alphabet late on Saturday to update the name in its own mapping service.
The change mirrors an earlier approach taken by both companies after the Gulf of Mexico was renamed to the Gulf of America earlier in 2025. Apple confirmed that US users will see Lake America following a modification to the body of water's official listing in the US Geographic Names Information System. Users in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario, while users in the rest of the world will see both names displayed together.
The renaming decisions illustrate how major US technology companies are increasingly being pulled into geopolitical disputes, as the Trump administration pressures them to comply with executive orders that have been rejected by several allies and international bodies. The orders apply only to federal usage within the United States and do not govern what Canada, foreign governments, or international organisations call the lake.
In a notable act of defiance, MapQuest, a pioneering online mapping application, refused to rename Lake Ontario and has subsequently become the most in-demand navigation tool in the United States. MapQuest was openly dismissive of the president's August 27th executive order, and its stance appears to have resonated with American users. The app leapfrogged rivals Google Maps and Apple Maps to top the most-downloaded list, as first reported by TechCrunch.
The application held the top spot on Apple's App Store as of Tuesday morning, a position confirmed by the Guardian. The move by MapQuest stands in contrast to the compliance shown by the larger technology companies, highlighting the willingness of some firms to resist political pressure even at the risk of alienating certain segments of the market. The executive order on Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes of North America, has drawn significant criticism both domestically and internationally.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll found that a majority of Americans oppose Trump's recent moves to raise taxes on imported Canadian goods and his order to rename the lake, a name that has been in use for more than four hundred years. Within hours of the executive order being signed, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney and New York governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, announced that they would not be changing the name. New York borders the lake on the US side.
Since early 2025, Trump has repeatedly taunted Canada about becoming the fifty-first US state, an idea Canadian leaders have dismissed as ridiculous. The name change controversy adds another layer of tension to the already strained relationship between the two neighbouring countries and underscores the growing influence of executive power on the operations of private technology firms
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