Waze is mimicking some Google Now features in the iOS 8 notification panel

Finally, a developer is actually trying to do something useful with the notification center widgets in iOS 8.

Waze just released an update that includes a widget which can be added to the "today" view of the notification panel in iOS 8. The widget will show estimated travel time to two different locations, which are pre-set as "home" and "work." The widget is also a quick trigger to launch into directions to either location. 

Waze is a mapping service which uses crowd-sourced routes and live, crowd-sourced traffic information. It's always played second fiddle to Google Maps and Apple Maps, but it's still a useful service.

This is a pretty cool use of the today view, but Waze definitely borrowed this feature from Google Now.

Google Now has been displaying cards with directions to frequent locations since its inception, and this predictive information is a big part of what made it unique and useful.

But hey, I'm not complaining. Useful features are useful.

I just think that it's interesting that widgets have been on Android for a years, and there has been an incredible demand for them by consumers, yet developers seem slow to really adopt them. I mean, how many truly useful widgets have you actually found on iOS? To me, it seems like iOS 8 is one of the slowest adopted iOS versions by developers.

Are you using Waze? Will you try it out now that it has a cool widget? Are you an Android user still laughing at iPhone users who are thrilled about finally getting widgets? Let me know what you think in the comments.