the essential
Google-owned navigation app Waze is experiencing a bug that changes the default language, affecting not only French users, but also others abroad.
This Wednesday, November 6, drivers who opened the Waze navigation application to get to work or elsewhere were surprised by a strange linguistic bug. According to numerous accounts on social networks, Waze, owned by Google, suddenly changed the language of its displays.
L’application #Waze is it being hacked or what?
The application is changing language by itself I go from Russian to English to Portuguese Hebrew Arabic ud83eudd23
Even distances are changing to miles or feet
What the fuck ud83dudc80— NousSoufflâmesud83dudca8 (@Vinoblanca) https://twitter.com/Vinoblanca/status/1854126324178174056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Instead of the usual French, some users saw instructions appear in Hebrew, while others noticed changes to Turkish or Russian. This problem, already relayed on the Downdetector platform which monitors application failures, seems to affect not only French people, but also users in the United Kingdom.
Units of measurement also changed
In addition to languages, some users have observed a change in units of measurement. So those who navigate in miles suddenly saw their distances converted to kilometers, and vice versa. Strange vehicles have also appeared on the map.
Uuuuhhh I open my @Waze_France just now and the map is not changing, the application is in Hebrew, a weird car appears, the meter is in miles, and I can't change it back to French, is that normal?? ud83dude05 pic.twitter.com/uCKjodNEnG
— Bryan Phonefixerud83dudcf1 (@iBryan57) https://twitter.com/iBryan57/status/1854137639508615500?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This bug made for a disconcerting browsing experience and quickly sparked strong reactions online. For the moment, Waze has not yet communicated on the origin of this disruption, leaving users waiting for a quick solution to find their usual landmarks.
