i want to switch my maps back to gulf of mexico

DieselkW wrote:

Easy Peasy

A couple of things you forgot to mention:

• Spend any balance remaining on your Apple Account. 
• Cancel any subscriptions that block a country or region change, and wait until the end of the subscription period.
• Make sure that you have a payment method for your new country or region.
• Select a payment method and enter your new payment information and billing address, then tap Next. You must enter a valid payment method for your new country or region.
• If you are an Apple Cash user, that is only available in the US

Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support

And finally, don't forget that fraudulently entering your current residency is a violation of the Terms of Use for your Apple Account. Many users who attempted to change their region during the brief TikTok ban found out that there Apple Account had been locked and they were forced to create a new account, losing all data including the iCloud Backup from the previous Apple Account. It can happen at any time, so just be prepared. If you think Apple does not know your location because you are using a VPN, you would be wrong.

The map used by Apple and Google is produced by the US Geological Survey, an agency of the US government, who followed legitimate instructions from the President of the United States to change it. The solution is political, not technical. Contact your representatives, and/or work to elect people who better represent your views. And if you think this is the most serious problem facing us you haven’t been paying attention. Learn to pick your fights.

MYOBFLOTUS wrote:

Cannot do this. They have turned off this option. Apple do better. Your customers outside of the USA should not have to have bear witness to this type of idiocy for the next four years

Ah, yet another who didn’t bother to read any of the thread they posted to.

srinath150 wrote:

If I knew this earlier I would have bought a Samsung phone.

Don't be ridiculous, they had the Gulf of America showing 6 days ago, even before Apple Maps. You didn't really research that one before posting. In fact that is true for all Android phones using Google Maps.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Yes, if you change your region to Canada (or Mexico) that would work.

It will not. Canada is now "True North, Strong and even more Free". We're currently digging out of a 50 cm snowfall so we can make it to the airport for our trips to the Gulf of America.

Lalette wrote:

Have you had any of the problems that Apple says we will have if you change regions? Payments and subscriptions not working?

As always, to change regions, you need to:

• Spend any Apple Account Balance
• Cancel all subscriptions and wait for them to expire, or contact Apple to remove them immediately.
• Add a payment method based in your new region.
• Forget having an Apple Card anymore
• No longer able to use Apple Cash

Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support

Geoffreyfromma wrote:

i want to switch my maps back to gulf of mexico

The only way to do that is to contact your congresscritters and senators and tell them that they must pass a law changing the name back. Apple has no control over the official US maps that Apple and Google use.

edgardo287 wrote:

I WANT THE CORRECT NAME WHICH IS GULF OF MEXICO, (NOT GULF OF AMERICA).

I WANT CHOCOLATE PUDDING. AND ICE CREAM.

Seriously, did you read the thread before posting? Do you think that by shouting at us, your fellow users, anything is going to change?

Submit feedback using the link provided in earlier posts. Write to your elected representatives.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

So in a way the renaming is the US recognizing that “America” is not a country, it is a geographic area, and the residents of the United States are not Americans, they are USAans.

I've always been annoyed by the lack of a sensible demonym for people in my country. "USAans" sounds like an alien race from Star Trek. It's actually an improvement.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

Lawrence Finch wrote:

So in a way the renaming is the US recognizing that “America” is not a country, it is a geographic area, and the residents of the United States are not Americans, they are USAans.

I've always been annoyed by the lack of a sensible demonym for people in my country. "USAans" sounds like an alien race from Star Trek. It's actually an improvement.

Frank Lloyd Wright created a prefab metal house that he called “Usonian.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usonia

IdrisSeabright wrote:

I WANT CHOCOLATE PUDDING. AND ICE CREAM.

Well, you would have to come and visit. We make both chocolate and vanilla pudding and various ice creams (vanilla, pistachio, chocolate, ginger and cinnamon) from scratch (well, from milk, cream, eggs and flavorings).

If you're win the United States it is already displayed the correct way as the name has been changed by the USGS. If you are outside of the US, you'll see the older name. Correct is, of course, relative. This is true for many place names on maps throughout the world.

travelingwoman333 wrote:

From Wikipedia: "While the Interior Department confirmed that the Gulf of America name was effective for US federal agencies on January 24th, the change does not apply in an international context. Other countries and international bodies are not required to recognize the name change."

Correct, and US Geological Survey (USGS) is the US Federal Agency that provides maps to Apple and Google.

What the article doesn’t mention is that any news media that don’t use Gulf of America are excluded from any government press conferences.

IdrisSeabright wrote:

betaneptune wrote:

MapQuest still calls it "Gulf of Mexico".

And I care...why? I don't use MapQuest. And, in the large picture of current affairs, this is all very un-important.

Guess what? Why should I care if you don't care? I actually don't. I was making an informational remark. If you don't care, move on. Another informational remark. BTW, the post is on-topic, so find another thread.

travelingwoman333 wrote:

From Wikipedia

Wikipedia is not an authoritative reference.

However, Wikipedia does sometimes include better references. In this case, the cited article links to this publication from the Congressional Research Service where it says:

the E.O. would not require private company applications, such as Google Maps and Apple Maps, to adopt the changed names

However, Lawrence Finch makes probably the most important point. Continued usage of the old name would be a sign of disrespect, which is not appreciated, especially by the powerful. In other social media circles, this kind of purposeful use of an obsolete, given name is called "deadnaming" and is universally considered an insult, both by those who feel insulted and those who use it for that purpose.

I wonder if I'm the only one who sees the irony of so many people complaining when Apple tries (and fails) to stand up to the EU in order to protect its users from harmful apps. But in this case, people are upset that Apple isn't standing up to the US over something completely inconsequential to Apple's business and users.

All that being said, Wikipedia is a great resource to find out about other interesting events, such as the first controversy of the "Gulf of America". If you follow the links in that article, you can read about other examples of this same kind of renaming for geopolitical reasons.

The only thing that is unusual in this case is so many people demanding that an electronics company take a stand against a democratically elected government over a label on a map. While it is unusual, it isn't fooling anybody. Everyone knows that people are just upset that their candidate lost the election. It's fine to be upset, but this is the wrong venue for expressing discontent. If this is the extent of people's efforts to protest, organize, and retake political power in the US, then the Gulf of America isn't due to be renamed for a long, long time. 😄