This Help file describes waze touch screen version. There may be slight differences between the versions for different phones, but most features will look and work the same.
Starting waze and creating an account
To open the program – press the waze icon on the phone desktop.
’’’If you are a new user, you will get a welcome message and a request to accept waze's terms of use. Click the Accept button to continue to use waze, or the Decline button to exit the program.’’’
If you have accepted the terms of use, you will next get a form to create your account.
You are asked to provide a username and password, an email address, and optionally to choose a waze nickname, which is used to identify you on the map and in reports you send, should you choose to be identified. (You define how far you want to be identified in your Profile – see the Settings section).
- Tap the first line of the form (Username). A virtual keyboard display will come up.
- Enter the username you'd like. Then tap the Next button to be prompted for the next line of the form (password).
- After you have proceeded to fill in all the form in this way, waze will display the filled-in form (your password will be displayed as five stars no matter how long it actually is).
- If the information is the way you want it, tap Create to create your account. If not, tap the line you want to change.
After creating your account you will be asked to sign in. You only have to do this once: your phone will thereafter be logged in automatically. You will only have to log in again if:
- The required user name is already taken.
- You are using the user name and password you created on a different phone, and you made a mistake when logging in. Then you'll get a "wrong login" message and will be returned to the screen displaying your username (and hidden password) so that you can change them as necessary. (Note: to change your username you should first log in to the waze.com site and change it there, then update your phone).
- Someone else using another phone is logged in to your account. In this case you will not get an error message; your internet connection will keep going on and off. (We suggest you avoid giving your login details to friends – they can create their own accounts.)
Once you have an account that you've previously logged in to, starting waze will bring you directly to the main screen. To save battery consumption, it's a good idea to close waze when you leave your car and to minimize it or shut off the display whenever you don't need it.
Overview: What do you See?
The Waze screen has the following main sections:
- A top status bar
- the main screen where the map is displayed
- A side bar with 2 icons: a compass
and a map edit icon 
- A green ticker symbol on the right hand, which accesses information about your current points gained
- Text buttons at the bottom of the screen for the four main waze functions:
- Me on Map (display where you are right now). On some versions, you will see only a bulls-eye icon
with no text - Search (e.g. for fastest route to a location)
- Events (view live reports of events in your area)
- Report (enter your own reports of events)
- Me on Map (display where you are right now). On some versions, you will see only a bulls-eye icon
Initially the main screen displays "me on map" - a map showing your location and an icon for your car on it. 
You can only see the map if you have full GPS connectivity. If you're in an area where GPS reception is partial, you will see map with a big cursor displaying your approximate location. If you don’t have any GPS reception at all, a map of your last known location will be displayed with no identifier of your current location.
The Main Screen
By default, the main screen displays the map of your area with your current location on it. You can change the map display in several ways:
- Drag the screen to move the map in the direction you drag it (you can also move the map using your phone's wheel/trackball/arrow buttons).
- Tap the screen (one short tap) to open the sidebar menu (described below) – allowing you to zoom in and out and to mark a location
- Tap and hold (a long tap) on a road or highway to highlight it and display a few options for interacting with it:
- Set as departure - use this location as the departure point for your route. If you haven't chosen this option and you request a route, your current location will be used as the departure point.
- Set as destiantion – this location is the destination point of your route. If you choose this option, you won't need to enter an address for your destination when requesting a route.
- Properties - lets you view more information about the road you've selected, such as its length, average speed, average time to drive it, the type of road (e.g. highway, city street), and its name and the name of the city it's in.
- You can return to the default display of your current location at any time by hitting the “x” and closing this menu.
The Side Bar
The side-bar gives easy access to the functions you use most while you're driving. Tap anywhere on the screen (map or status bar) – to display the full sidebar
The Compass Icon - lets you toggle between two possible map displays:
- The default display: the compass needle swings as you drive, and the map rotates, so that you always see the map in the direction you're driving.
- Click this icon to change the display: the compass icon changes to an arrow and the letter N
. The map is fixed and does not rotate. The arrow indicating North points to the top of the screen all the time.
The zoom in 
/ out 
icons - for zooming in and out on the map. On the iPhone you can also do this on the touch screen in the usual way.
The Pin icon 
marks where you are on the map (if you're moving: where you were when you pressed it). Locations that you've marked can be quickly accessed via the Search button (Search > Marked Locations).
The Edit Map icon 
lets you update the map. Tap the map icon to display a menu of possible actions:
- Record a New Road - if the road you’re driving on isn't on the map yet, you can add it to the map just by driving it. Select this option to start recording the route as you travel it; select again to turn recording off. (For best results, start recording from a point that's already on the map, e.g. where the new road intersects with a road already on the map) You will get a message that recording is now on (or off); press OK to confirm.
- Update House Numbers – the number of the house you are next to (or if you're moving, the house you were next to when you made the selection) is displayed with up/down arrows to change it. When the correct number is displayed, press OK.
- Report map problem – gives you a sub-menu for reporting the most common mistakes on the map.
- Select the appropriate mistake
- Optional: if you want to add any text, select "more details"
- Press Send to send the report, or Cancel to exit the report
Map problem categories are:
- Incorrect turn - the map shows that you can make a turn at that point which in fact isn't allowed
- Incorrect address – the name of the street is incorrect
- Incorrect route – the navigation instructions here are incorrect
- Missing Roundabout
- General Map Error - here you'll usually want to use the virtual keyboard to key in the details before you press Send.After you press Send you get a message that the report was sent correctly.
The Green Points Ticker 
This icon, on the right-hand side of the main screen below the status bar, allows you to view the number of points you have accumulated and your current rank.
- To open the ticker, tap on the little green arrow and the ticker will slide out.
- To close the ticker – tap the green arrow again.
If you accumulate points while driving (by sending reports or driving on roads that are dotted), the green ticker will automatically slide out, and your new points will be shown under “gained points.” The ticker will slide back in after a few seconds.
If you don't want to display the points ticker icon on your screen, you turn it off (or on again) via Settings > General > 'Show points ticker' and choosing "on" or "off".
The Command Buttons (bottom)
The buttons at the bottom of the screen give you access to all waze functions:
Me on Map
displays the map of your current location, with an icon representing your car (you can change the icon for your car via the Settings > Profile menu). This is the default state of waze's main screen provided you have GPS connectivity in your current location (green or orange GPS icon on the status bar). Whenever the car icon isn't displayed, just press "Me on Map" to update the map to your current location. If you don't have a good enough GPS connection (grey GPS icon with an X on it), the "me on map" button isn't highlighted and you can't use it, because if you don't have a GPS connection, waze can't determine even an approximate location for you.
Search
to find the best route to a location, and to access locations you've searched for or saved in the past.
Pressing the Search button brings up a menu: Favorites; New Address; History; and Marked Locations:
- Favorites – press this to get a list of locations you've added to your Favorites in the past. Select one to calculate the best route to it from where you are now. If you selected a location, waze will calculate the route and return you to the map to start driving to it.
- New Address – pressing this brings up a virtual on-screen keyboard to type in the address.
- Key in the address you want to drive to, or part of it. Press the ABC/123 key to switch the keyboard between upper-case, lower-case and numbers/punctuation. You don’t have to enter a city: waze will search for a street matching that address near your current location, starting with the city you are in. If your destination is not close to you, you might want to add a city as well. You don't have to include a house number: if you don't, or if you include one that isn't yet on the map although the street itself is, waze will find the mid-point of the street.
- Press the [search] button to search for that location. Waze will display a list of one or more possible locations.