Google Maps has a SECRET ‘gesture’ that lets you use app much faster

IT’S used by more than a billion people across the globe, guiding them on journeys spanning just a couple hundred metres to thousands of miles.

Despite that gargantuan user base, Google Maps still has a secret or two up its sleeve that few navigators know about.

GettyYou can double-tap the Maps interface to zoom by sliding your finger[/caption]

For instance, you can double-tap on your screen to quickly zoom in and out of whatever you’re looking at with the slide of a finger.

The nifty hack works on both the iOS and Android versions of the app, which is the world’s most popular navigation software.

It’s a great way to adjust the zoom if you’re using your phone with one hand while carrying a coffee or clinging to a rail on public transport.

The trick is simple. Double-tap the Maps interface and, instead of lifting your fingers after the second tap, hold it on the display.

You can then slide your finger up or down on the screen to adjust the zoom.

It’s a neat alternative to the pinch gesture favoured by most users when zooming in or out.

If you’re not the biggest fan of Google Maps, you’re in luck, as the double-tap gesture also works on other mapping services.

The Sun tried it out on both Apple Maps and Citymapper and can confirm that it also allows users to perform a single-finger zoom.

It’s not the only Google Maps trick worth knowing about.

If you’re hoping to make a car journey as cheap as possible, Google Maps has an easy way to avoid tolls on your route.

Simply type in your destination to the Google Maps app and tap “Directions”.

Then, select the three vertical dots next to “Your Location” and then tap “Route options”.

Here you’ll find a setting called “Avoid tolls” that you can toggle on or off. Switch on and then go back and tap “Start”.

GettyThe trick is useful if using Maps one-handed, for instance while driving[/caption]

In other news, a four-tonne chunk of a SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the Moon, according to online space junk trackers.

Boeing has sunk $450million into a flying taxi startup that hopes to whisk passengers across cities by the end of the decade.

Personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.

And, scientists are embarking on a mission to unravel the mystery behind dozens of grisly child mummies buried in an underground tomb in Sicily.

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