Waze faces criticism over routing and voice features in Italy

Waze provides two free voice options: a user‑recorded voice available on Android and iPhone, and two zero‑cost catalog voices. Voices of famous personalities are sold from €5.99 onward, and third‑party APKs promising free celebrity voices are discouraged as unsafe.

Italian drivers have increasingly complained about the app’s routing and vocal alerts. Users report being steered onto secondary roads or complex intersections for marginal time savings, sometimes leading to slower trips and the “Waze Effect,” where many drivers crowd normally quiet streets. Excessive voice notifications are also cited as a distraction. Google, which acquired Waze in 2013, has begun rolling out a Personalized Navigation feature that favors familiar or more comfortable routes instead of always chasing the quickest path.