MapQuest’s app has climbed to the top of the U.S. App Store, according to recent reports. The app’s surge in popularity came after it decided not to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America," a name suggested in a 2023 executive order by former President Donald Trump. While Google Maps and Apple Maps followed the directive, MapQuest chose to keep the lake's traditional name. This decision appears to have resonated with users, contributing to a significant rise in the app's rankings. According to data from market intelligence provider Sensor Tower, the app saw a notable increase in downloads following the controversy. The app's U.S. App Store ranking jumped from No. 128 on August 28 to No. 92 the next day, then to No. 3 on August 31 and finally to the top spot in the Navigation category. By Tuesday, it had reached the No. 1 position across both apps and games on the U.S. App Store. Sensor Tower estimates that the app has been downloaded around 632,000 times in the U.S. since the executive order was issued, while MapQuest claims over 1.5 million installs in the U.S. and Canada combined. Many of these new users are actively using the app, according to MapQuest General Manager Doug Berger. More than half of the app’s U.S. downloads this year—56%—occurred between August 27 and September 1, according to Sensor Tower. During this time, daily downloads increased by 123% compared to the previous day and were more than 50 times higher than the same period last year. This spike in usage was partly due to MapQuest's decision to stand out from its larger competitors like Google and Apple, which complied with the name change. MapQuest continues to use traditional names for other geographical features, such as the Gulf of Mexico, instead of the proposed "Gulf of America." The company also created a fun online tool that allows users to rename Lake Ontario and share the results on social media. MapQuest is currently owned by System1, an internet advertising company that acquired it from Verizon in 2019. Verizon had previously bought MapQuest’s original parent company, AOL, in 2015.