Waze and Headspace wants to help you find joy on your drives

Waze

Waze partners with Headspace to help you "discover the joy" during your drives, be more present behind the wheel, and arrive at your destination feeling good. The Headspace experience in the app offers custom navigation prompts from Headspace's mindfulness teacher and Director of Meditation, Eve Lewis Prieto. There are five new Moods: Aware, Bright, Hopeful, Joyful, and Open. And there's even a custom Spotify playlist from Headspace you can stream from Waze. If you want, you can even swap your in-app car for a hot air balloon.

The Headspace experience on Waze is available for a limited time. You can get it in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. To download the experience, click here—alternatively, you can tap "My Waze" to find the "Drive with Headspace" banner and tap to activate the experience.

Waze brings 'PAW Patrol' voices to its app

Waze wants to entertain any kids you might have in your car with a new PAW Patrol experience. This feature will be available for a limited time for English users on both Android and iOS. You can access the experience here or head to My Waze within the Waze app and select the PAW Patrol banner there.

PAW Patrol's Ryder will guide you through your trip with help from Chase, Marshall, and Skye. With Waze Mood, you can replace your icon with Chase's police car, Marshall's fire truck, or Skye's aircraft. This new experience helps promote the PAW Patrol: The Movie coming out on August 20. 

Waze's trip preview screen will show you best routing choice

Waze will give you more options about the route you want to take, even before leaving the house. The app will show alternative roads to take, traffic conditions, and real-time reports to help you decide the best course to take. The company wrote, "From now on, you'll be getting 'the why' in your trip preview, so you'll know Waze is making the best recommendation." This new trip preview feature has started rolling out to users and will reach everyone in the next couple of months. Waze reminds you to update to the latest version of the app to get the update.

Waze gets Cat and Dog themes

Are you a cat or dog person? Waze wants you to choose sides with its new Cat and Dog themes, including two navigation voices that personify these well-loved household pets. According to Waze, "Users who want to hang out with a dog that's feeling upbeat, excited, but with a tendency to get distracted or a cat that's feeling skeptical, irreverent and a little neurotic can now do so by activating this theme!"

You can also change your Waze car icon to either the Meow Mobile or Woof Wagon. And you can share your preference by picking between a Cat or Dog mood. This new theme is available in English, French, and Spanish for a limited time. You can access it here.