Waze is getting in the holiday spirit with its 2020 version of Holiday Mode, which includes a very festive voice for your navigation needs. That’s right. Santa will now give you directions.
Not that most people will be traveling places for the holidays this year. But it’s there if you find yourself in an area you’re not familiar with and you want jolly old St. Nick telling you where to turn.
The Santa voice is just the tip of the iceberg though. While it might seem like the most fun, there’s a little more to the Waze 2020 Holiday Mode than just a new nav voice.
Waze Holiday Mode for 2020 is live now for users in three countries
If you live in the US, the UK, or Canada, then Waze Holiday Mode is live for you in the Waze app right now. Or at least it should be according to Waze, which Tweeted about the new mode on December 9.
You may need to update the application to see it if it isn’t immediately visible. But otherwise it should just be available for you the next time you open the app.
If you activate Holiday Mode, you’ll see Santa’s sleigh on the map instead of a tiny car. This isn’t too unlike the visual changes that Google Maps and Uber have made to be festive.
You’ll also see tiny Waze bubbles with Santa hats and beards around the map.
Enjoy curated Christmas playlists through Pandora
If you really want to take things up a notch, you can listen to Christmas-themed playlists through Waze using Pandora.
The playlists are curated, so you can bet they include a bunch of Christmas classics. You will also need to have a subscription to Pandora Premium. So if you don’t feel like subscribing, you could always play your own Christmas playlist through a different service and outside of Waze.
Christmas is still a couple of weeks away, but that’s no reason why you can’t start celebrating a little bit early with the Holiday Mode.
This ho-ho-holiday season you can drive with Santa on Waze! The only thing more festive than that is, well, we can’t think of anything more festive. Happy holidays!
— waze (@waze) December 9, 2020
Waze is adding a new voice for the holidays. We’ll give you a hint, they’re known for being jolly, having a large beard, and wearing a lot of red. Okay, maybe that was too much of a hint. pic.twitter.com/KU46sFI4rj
— waze (@waze) December 8, 2020