You are planning a Saturday that involves the hardware store, your sister’s place, the pharmacy, and a birthday pickup across town, and you are seriously considering typing each address into Google Maps one at a time, driving the first leg, stopping, retyping the next address, and repeating that four separate times. Most people do exactly this for years without ever realizing Google Maps will happily chain every one of those stops into a single route.
The feature has existed for a while, but it is genuinely easy to miss. It is not on the main search screen, it is tucked inside a menu you only see once you have already started building directions, and the exact tap sequence is different enough between Android, iPhone, and the desktop site that instructions for one rarely line up with what you see on another.
This guide covers each platform on its own, separately, with the real current menu names rather than a single blended “tap add stop” instruction that may not match what is actually in front of you. It also covers the parts most guides skip entirely: the real limit on how many stops you can add (and why you will see both “9” and “10” quoted as the answer), what the stop-reordering really does and does not do automatically, what to check when the option to add a stop simply is not there, and how adding a stop while you are already driving is a different feature from planning your stops ahead of time.
Key Takeaways
- Google’s own help documentation says you can add up to 9 stops, and that figure includes your final destination, not your starting point. Add the starting point back in and you get the “10” that some other sites quote instead, same limit, counted differently.
- Google Maps does not automatically reorder your stops into the most efficient sequence. It calculates the best route for the order you give it, but rearranging the stops themselves is a manual drag-and-drop action, on every platform.
- Adding a stop before you leave (route planning) and adding a stop while you are already navigating (a gas or food detour) are two different features in two different parts of the app, with different menus.
- Multiple stops are not available in public transit or flight directions, only driving, walking, cycling, and two-wheeler modes.
- If “Add stop” is missing, the most common causes are an unsupported travel mode, not having started a route yet, or an older app version, not a broken feature.
- Sharing a route with multiple stops works through the “Share” link option, but Google’s own help page specifically states the separate “send to phone” feature does not support routes with multiple destinations.
Before You Start
- ✓Pick a supported travel mode first. Driving, walking, cycling, and two-wheeler all support multiple stops. Transit and flights do not, and the add-stop option will not appear at all in those modes.
- ✓Start a route before looking for the option. There is no “add a stop” button on the plain search screen. It only shows up once you have entered a starting point and at least one destination and directions are already on screen.
- ✓Know roughly how many stops you actually need. If it is more than nine destinations, Google Maps’ own route planner cannot hold them all in one trip. There is a real workaround for that further down this guide.
The Real Stop Limit (and Why You’ll See Both “9” and “10” Quoted)
Google’s own current help documentation for adding multiple destinations states plainly that you can add up to 9 stops, and that this number includes your final destination. In other words: your starting point plus up to 8 stops along the way plus 1 final destination equals 9 “stops” by Google’s own count, or 10 locations total if you count the starting point too.
That counting difference is exactly why you will see this guide say “9” while another page confidently says “10.” Neither is lying, they are counting from a different starting point, literally. This guide uses Google’s own number and its own definition: 9 stops, including the final destination, not counting your starting point.
This limit is identical across Android, iPhone, and the desktop site. There is no platform where you get more stops than another, and there is also no official way to raise the limit inside the regular Google Maps app itself. If a trip genuinely needs more than nine stops, the practical workaround is to finish the first nine, then start a fresh route from your ninth stop for the next leg. It is clumsy, but it works, since Google Maps has no built-in “continue this route” feature for picking up exactly where the limit cuts off.
How to Add Stops on Android
This covers planning your stops before you start driving, the version of this feature most people are actually looking for.
- Open the Google Maps app and search for or tap your first destination, then tap Directions.
- Once your route and starting point are showing, tap the three-dot More menu in the top right corner of the screen.
- Tap Edit stops.
- Choose another destination to add it as a stop. Repeat to add more, up to the 9-stop limit described above.
- To change the order, find the stop you want to move, press and hold its handle, and drag it to its new position in the list.
- Tap Done once your stops are arranged the way you want them.
Google’s own help page describes the core action as: “At the top right, tap More and then Edit stops,” with reordering described as finding the destination you want to move and dragging it. The Google Maps directions help page covers the full current steps if your menu layout looks slightly different from what is described here, which can happen for accounts on a staged app rollout.
How to Add Stops on iPhone
The iPhone flow uses the same menu names as Android, since both run the same underlying Google Maps app with only minor layout differences.
- Open Google Maps, search for your first destination, and tap Directions.
- With your route on screen, tap More in the top right corner.
- Tap Edit stops.
- Tap to choose another destination and add it as a stop. You can add up to 9 stops total, including your final destination.
- To reorder, press and hold the stop you want to move, then drag it up or down the list.
- Tap Done to lock in your route.
One genuine gap worth flagging honestly: Google’s own iPhone help documentation covers adding and reordering stops in detail, but does not include an explicit step for removing a single stop once it has been added. In practice, opening Edit stops and looking for a small remove control next to each stop (the same pattern desktop uses, shown below) is the reliable method, rather than a documented, named button.
How to Add Stops on Desktop (Computer)
The desktop version of Google Maps at maps.google.com uses visibly different controls from the mobile apps, built around the directions panel on the left side of the screen rather than a top-right menu.
- Go to Google Maps and click Directions.
- Enter your starting point and first destination in the two search boxes.
- Click Add destination, directly below the destination fields, to add another stop.
- Repeat to add more stops, up to 9 total including your final destination.
- To reorder stops, click and drag the small handle to the left of any destination field up or down.
The real desktop directions panel, two destinations entered, with the Add destination control highlighted.
Click Add destination as many times as you need, and each click opens a new search field. Once you have three or more destinations entered, a small circular remove control appears at the end of every field except the first, letting you delete a stop directly rather than clearing the text manually.
A real three-stop route. The drag handles on the left of each field reorder stops; Add destination is still available for a fourth.
From here you can click Share to send the full multi-stop route as a link, or use the travel-mode icons at the top of the panel to confirm you are still in a mode that supports multiple stops before you finalize anything.
Reordering, Removing, and the “Optimize Route” Question
This is the single most misunderstood part of Google Maps’ multi-stop feature, so it is worth being direct about it: there is no consumer “Optimize Route” button in the regular Google Maps app that automatically rearranges your stops into the most efficient order. Google’s own help documentation for adding and reordering stops does not mention any such feature, and independent route-planning companies that specifically compete with Google Maps on this exact capability confirm the same thing from the outside, that reordering in Google Maps is a manual, drag-and-drop action on every platform, not an automatic one.
What Google Maps does do automatically is calculate the best route for the stop order you give it, factoring in live traffic and road conditions for that specific sequence. That is a real and useful calculation, but it is not the same thing as rearranging which stop comes first, second, or third. If stop order matters for minimizing total drive time, that part is still on you, drag the stops into the sequence you think makes sense and let Google Maps handle the turn-by-turn routing from there.
Automatic waypoint reordering does exist, technically, but it lives in Google’s Routes API, a developer tool used by logistics and delivery platforms, not a button available inside the free consumer app. If a guide or video tells you to tap “Optimize” in the regular Google Maps app and your stops will rearrange themselves, that feature is not present in the version everyday users have access to.
Removing a stop, once added, uses the small remove control next to that stop’s field (shown in the desktop screenshot above) on every platform, rather than a separate named “Remove stop” menu item.
Adding a Stop While You’re Already Navigating
Everything above covers planning your stops before you leave. Google Maps has a second, separate feature for adding one quick stop in the middle of an active, already-started navigation session, and it works differently.
While turn-by-turn navigation is running, tap anywhere on the screen to bring up the top menu bar, then tap Add stop. Instead of typing a full address, you get quick category buttons for gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores, and coffee shops, plus a general search option for anything else. Tap the microphone icon next to search to add a stop by voice instead of typing, useful for exactly the situation this feature is built for, finding a bathroom or a coffee stop without taking your eyes off the road for long. Once you pick a result, tapping Add stop again inserts it into your current trip without restarting navigation. To remove it, the exit/overflow menu includes a Remove stop option.
This same in-navigation flow is what Google’s own navigation help page documents for Apple CarPlay specifically: tap the screen, tap Add Stop, pick a category or search by voice, then tap Add Stop again to confirm. Android Auto and CarPlay both mirror your phone’s active navigation session rather than offering a separate way to plan a full multi-stop route from scratch, so the practical approach for a trip with several planned stops is to build the whole route on your phone first, using the Android or iPhone steps above, and then connect to CarPlay or Android Auto to drive it.
Sharing a Multi-Stop Route With Someone Else
Google Maps actually has two different sharing mechanisms, and they do not behave the same way with multi-stop routes. Google’s own sharing help page is specific on this point: the Send to phone feature, which pushes a route from your computer straight to your mobile device, explicitly does not support routes with multiple destinations. Attempting to send a multi-stop route this way will not carry all your stops over.
The Share option, by contrast, generates a link you can send over email, text, or any messaging app, and that link does preserve the full multi-stop route, every destination and its order. If you are coordinating a multi-car trip or just want someone else to see your full planned stops, Share is the option that actually carries all of them, not Send to phone.
One real-world gotcha worth knowing about: a shared route is not necessarily frozen in place once sent. The recipient’s own copy can shift slightly based on their current location, live traffic, or their own app settings when they open it, so a route you shared an hour ago is not guaranteed to look pixel-for-pixel identical on their screen when they actually start driving it.
Troubleshooting: When “Add Stop” Doesn’t Show Up
If you cannot find the option to add a stop at all, work through these in order before assuming something is broken.
- Check your travel mode. Multiple destinations are not supported for public transit or flight directions, on any platform. Switch to driving, walking, cycling, or two-wheeler and the option reappears.
- Make sure a route is already started. There is no add-stop control on the plain search or exploration screen. You need a starting point and at least one destination entered first, with directions already showing.
- Look in the right menu for your platform. On Android and iPhone it is under the three-dot More menu, not a plus icon on the main screen. On desktop it is the Add destination link directly under the destination fields, not inside a separate menu at all.
- Update the app. Menu wording and placement for this feature have shifted over past versions, and a staged rollout means two phones on different app versions can genuinely show slightly different menus at the same time.
- Count your existing stops. If you already have 9 stops including your final destination, the option to add another simply will not do anything further, that is the hard limit, not a bug.
A Quick Note on Waze
If you are comparing notes with someone using Waze instead of Google Maps (both are Google products, run as separate apps), it is worth knowing the two are not equivalent here. Waze’s own help page states you can only add one stop per route, and that to visit a different location after that you need to start an entirely new drive. Google Maps’ ability to queue up to nine stops in a single planned route has no real equivalent inside Waze.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the maximum number of stops I can add in Google Maps?
Up to 9 stops, and that count includes your final destination, not your starting point. If you count the starting point too, that is where the commonly quoted “10” comes from, same limit, counted from a different starting point.
Does Google Maps automatically put my stops in the most efficient order?
No. Google Maps calculates the best route for whatever order you enter your stops in, including live traffic, but it does not automatically rearrange the stops themselves. Reordering is a manual drag-and-drop action on Android, iPhone, and desktop alike. There is no “Optimize Route” button in the free consumer app.
How do I remove a stop I already added?
Open Edit stops (mobile) or look at your list of destination fields (desktop) and use the small remove control next to the stop you want gone. Google’s own mobile help documentation covers adding and reordering stops but does not spell out a separate named “remove” step, the small X-style control next to each stop is the practical method on every platform.
How do I reorder stops in Google Maps?
Press and hold the stop you want to move (mobile) or click and drag its handle (desktop), then drag it to its new position in the list. This works the same way across Android, iPhone, and the desktop site.
Why don’t I see an option to add a stop?
The most common causes are being in a travel mode that doesn’t support multiple destinations (public transit or flights), not having started a route yet, looking in the wrong menu for your platform, or running an older app version mid-rollout. Work through those before assuming the feature is missing or broken.
Can I add stops when using public transit or flight directions?
No. Google’s own help documentation states multiple destinations are available for driving, walking, cycling, and two-wheeler modes, but not for public transit or flight searches.
Can I add a stop without restarting navigation I’ve already started?
Yes, this is a separate feature from pre-trip planning. While navigating, tap the screen, tap Add stop, choose a category like gas or food (or search or use voice input), then tap Add stop again to insert it into your current trip without restarting the route.
Can I share a route that has multiple stops with someone else?
Yes, using the Share option, which generates a link that preserves every stop and its order. Google’s own documentation notes that the separate Send to phone feature specifically does not support routes with multiple destinations, so Share is the one to use for a multi-stop trip.
Does Waze let you add multiple stops the same way Google Maps does?
No. Waze’s own help documentation states you can add only one stop per route, and visiting another location after that requires starting a new drive. Google Maps’ up-to-9-stop planning has no direct equivalent in Waze.
Can I plan a trip with more than 9 stops in Google Maps?
Not in a single route, there is no official way to raise the 9-stop limit inside the app. The practical workaround is to complete the first route, then start a new one from your final stop to continue the trip.
Do CarPlay and Android Auto let me plan a multi-stop route from scratch?
Not really, both mirror your phone’s active navigation and support adding one quick stop (gas, food, and similar categories) during an active trip, the same way the in-navigation Add stop feature works on a phone. For a trip with several stops planned in advance, build the full route on your phone first using the Android or iPhone steps, then connect to CarPlay or Android Auto to drive it.
Will my stops stay in the order I entered them, or does Google Maps rearrange them for me?
They stay in the order you entered or dragged them into. Google Maps recalculates the fastest route for that order, including current traffic, but it will not silently reorder your stops on its own.
