How to Drop a Pin in iPhone

iPhone & iPod

Updated November 21, 2018

Placing a pin down on a location in Apple Maps essentially 'pins' the place down for future reference, saving you valuable time. It's a great way of finding locations and tracking ways of getting to and from there.

How you pin locations isn't always as intuitive as you might like though. Follow these simple steps to learn how to drop a pin on iPhone.

Instructions in this article apply to both iOS 11 and iOS 12.

How to Drop a Pin on Apple Maps

Launch Maps from your iPhone's Home screen. The screen opens up on your current location with a blue pin highlighting exactly where you are.
Tap and hold on a location where you want to drop a pin. If you're using an iPhone X, iPhone XS or iPhone XR, you'll feel a brief vibration from your iPhone as the pin appears on the screen. Older iPhones don't offer this tactile feedback.

Nothing showing up when you hold down on the screen? Try zooming in by pinching your fingers outwards, then holding down again on the road.
Your new pin now shows up as a marked location. To get a more realistic view of the location, tap Edit Location to view a zoomed in shot of the road.
That's it!

Getting More From Your Apple Maps Pin

Once you've pinned a location, swipe up on Marked Location to get more options.
You can tap Directions to be given the fastest route there. Your iPhone automatically determines if the location is near enough for you to walk to, or whether it needs to provide driving instructions.

Want to add the location to a contact on your iPhone Contacts list? Tap Create New Contact or Add to Existing Contact to attach an address to a friend or colleague.

Different colored pins mean different things:

Green: Your starting location.
Red: Your search result.
Blue: Your iPhone's current location.

How to Save Pins on Apple Maps

Amongst the options for your marked location, you can add a pin to your favorites.

Tap Favorite and you can either enter a specific name before the location is added to your favorites list, or choose to use the iPhone's suggested name instead. Once you've named the location, the marked location changes to the name you've given it.

How to Delete a Pin on Apple Maps

A pin stays on Maps until you choose to remove it.

Tap the pin you want to delete.
Swipe up on the lower panel of the screen, named either 'Marked Location' or the name you've given it.
Tap Remove or Remove Marker to delete the pin from your map.
That's it!

This process is the same when dealing with a favorite pin.

How to View Favorite Locations in Maps on iPhone

Tap the search bar at the bottom of the screen.
Scroll down past the previous places you've searched for.
Tap Favorites at the bottom of the list.
Tap the location you're looking for to bring it up on the map.

How to Share Pins

It's possible to share your location and dropped pins with a friend. This is a great way to help work out a meeting place.

Tap the pin.
Swipe up on Marked Location to bring up the lower panel.
Tap Share.
If your friend also has an iPhone, tap Message. They'll receive an iMessage that has the location and direction details attached.

If your friend has an Android smartphone, share it via email so they get the same amount of detail.
You're done!