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It’s not just you: Google Maps traffic lines have disappeared for many users

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Why This Matters

A widespread bug in Google Maps is causing the color-coded traffic lines to disappear from the map interface across Android, iOS, and desktop platforms. While route calculations and some traffic data remain accessible, users lose the visual cues that help gauge traffic conditions, potentially impacting daily commutes and travel planning. This highlights the importance of reliable UI features in navigation apps and the need for prompt fixes from developers.

Key Takeaways

Megan Ellis / Android Authority

TL;DR A Google Maps bug is causing color-coded traffic lines (green, yellow, orange, and red) to vanish from the map interface, while underlying traffic data, road closures, and route calculations remain functional.

The issue affects Android, iOS, and desktop web browsers.

Standard fixes like toggling traffic layers, clearing cache, or switching accounts do not solve the problem.

If you rely on Google Maps to gauge whether your commute is clear or jammed up with heavy traffic, you might want to double-check your screen before heading out. A growing number of Google Maps users on both Android and iOS are reporting a confusing UI bug that completely removes color-coded traffic lines from their navigation layer, leaving routes visually clear even when severe delays lie ahead.

Reddit user Czerwony150 highlighted that traffic colors on Google Maps suddenly stopped working for them out of nowhere. This appears to be a display/rendering bug that prevents the green, yellow, orange, and red route lines from displaying in the map overview. You can still see some elements of the traffic layer, such as road closures and road maintenance work, but the visual traffic overview via colors is completely gone. Route calculations bring the traffic data back into view for that route, but the rest of the map overview remains devoid of traffic colors.

Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority Traffic layer is active but not visible. You can see road closure signs, but no traffic lines.

I can confirm that the issue appears to be occurring in Google Maps on Android (Xiaomi 17 Ultra running Hyper OS 3.0 based on Android 16) and iOS (iPhone 17 Pro running iOS 27 public beta), as well as when visiting Google Maps in a desktop browser.

Toggling the traffic layer, toggling incognito mode, changing the Google account, and clearing the app’s cache and data do not solve the issue yet.

We’ve reached out to Google to learn more about the issue and for an estimated timeline for a fix. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more.

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