Short answer: not directly. Apple doesn't document a way to import a GPX file into Apple Maps, and we found no working method. The limit is in Apple Maps, not in MapsLinkQuest. The converter sites we checked, ExportMyMap and Takeout Tools, report the same thing: Apple Maps has no way to import a GPX, KML or CSV file.
Option 1: view the whole list in an app that reads GPX
Apple Maps can't show the list, but a GPX app on your iPhone can.
- Organic Maps is the one we tested on an iPhone. Importing our export brought in all six pins of a test list with names intact. The Organic Maps page has the steps.
- GPX Viewer costs $0.99 as a one-time purchase on the App Store. Its listing says it imports GPX files from iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, email, links and the clipboard, and that it shows waypoints. It caches map tiles you have already scrolled while online, but it doesn't download whole maps for offline use. We haven't tested it with a MapsLinkQuest file.
- Maps.me is free with optional subscriptions and uses OpenStreetMap maps you can download for offline use. Its App Store release notes mention importing markers from files on your device. We haven't tested which formats it reads.
- WorkOutDoors only makes sense with an Apple Watch. Its App Store page lists it as an $8.99 workout app that requires an Apple Watch Series 4 or later and imports GPX, TCX and FIT routes. We haven't checked whether it shows a list of pins.
Step 1, convert your list. Paste your Google Maps shared list link into the converter above and export as GPX.
Step 2, get it onto your iPhone. AirDrop it to yourself, save it into Files, or email it to yourself, however you'd normally move a file onto iOS.
Step 3, open it in one of the apps above. Open the file from Files or Mail and pick the app from the share sheet, or open the app and use its own import option. Your points load in that app, not inside the native Maps app.
Option 2: add places to an Apple Maps Guide by hand
Apple documents custom Guides in Maps on iPhone and Mac. Its Maps guide for Mac says to click a place, choose More, then Add to Guides, and pick the Guide. That adds one place at a time. We found nothing in Apple's documentation about adding many places at once or from a file. The iPhone steps may be worded differently, and we haven't run them.
To feed a Guide from your list, export it as CSV so every place has a latitude and longitude column. The CSV page has the details. Then look up each place in Apple Maps and add it. GPX Viewer's listing says it can send a waypoint to Apple Maps, which saves some typing. Searching typed coordinates is another way in, but Apple doesn't document it and reports disagree: a 2017 article says it works, and a 2023 Apple Community thread says it didn't for that user. Test one place before you commit to a long list. It is slow by design, since 25 places means 25 rounds of the same steps.
If it doesn't work
- Tapping the file in Apple Maps does nothing. That is expected, since Apple doesn't document file import in Maps. Open the file in a GPX app instead.
- Only 25 places came through. The free tier converts up to 25 places per list. Longer lists need a paid tier.
- Some pins are labeled with numbers. Pins with no name in your Google Maps list come through labeled by their coordinates.
- Your app won't take the file. Try the app's own import option instead of tapping the file in Mail, or switch the export to KML in the converter above. Each app's App Store listing says which formats it reads.
Waze has the same limit. The Waze page shows a link method that works there.