System1 jumps as MapQuest downloads surge after Lake Ontario stance
System1 shares rose after MapQuest said it would keep Lake Ontario unchanged, driving a surge in app downloads and usage, including top rankings in U.S. navigation and Canada.
MapQuest is refusing to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its maps, breaking from other mapping companies as President Donald Trump ‘s executive order collides with an ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war.
Trump’s latest flex is similar to his past declaration to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America (name changes have little impact on the economy and are not globally recognized).
Mapping companies are now faced with a decision: either respect Trump’s decree or keep things as they were.
MapQuest, which has been around for 30 years, made it clear it would not change Lake Ontario, and the results paid off.
We’re not changing it. pic.twitter.com/NdeE9v2BNO — MapQuest (@MapQuest) August 27, 2026 MapQuest App Downloads Soar The company, which calls itself the "OG of online mapping," announced Monday that mobile app downloads have soared since it announced it would not change the name.
MapQuest is the top-downloaded app in the Navigation category for the U.S. and hit number four for all U.S. apps, excluding games, Monday for the East Coast region, as reported by TechCrunch.
The MapQuest game hit the number eight position in the U.S. for apps and games.
That’s an impressive feat for a company that has been around for 30 years.
In Canada, the MapQuest app reached number 2.
Putting the leaderboard climb into perspective, the company said it has had "hundreds of thousands" of new downloads since announcing it would not change the Lake Ontario name.
The company said its app usage was 50 times average levels in recent days. ‘Same Approach As Gulf of Mexico’ TechCrunch cites Sensor Tower data showing MapQuest downloads were 162,000 in the U.S. for the week beginning Aug.
24 and 184,000 globally for the same period. "We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with," MapQuest general manager Doug Berger said in a s t atement. "Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right by downloading our app." Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL ) switched to Lake America on Google Maps, but only for residents in the U.S. (Users elsewhere see Lake Ontario).
This is done to follow the official changes in the Geographic Names Information System.
As of the time of writing, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL ) has not changed the name of its Apple Maps unit to Lake America or announced whether it will.
Apple did change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America earlier this year, aligning with Google Maps and Trump’s changes.
Read Also: Trump Renames Lake Ontario 'Lake America' Amid US-Canada Trade War, Mark Carney Says, 'We Know America is Changing' Stock Rally MapQuest’s tweet about not changing the name generated millions of views on social media.
In 2026 so far, users downloaded the app more than 687,000 times globally, a figure up 29% year-over-year according to Sensor Tower data.
Since 2012, MapQuest has been downloaded 24.4 million times, with the majority of app downloads (97%) coming from the United States region.
MapQuest’s parent company, System1 Inc. (NYSE: SST ), saw its stock soar on Monday amid news of the leaderboard surge.
The stock traded up as high as $2.63.
At the time of writing, shares are up 25.4% to $2.37.
System1 also owns Info.com, HowStuffWorks and Answers.
MapQuest was previously owned by both AOL and Verizon.
With the latest stock surge, System1 shares are still down 40% year-to-date in 2026.
The company’s second-quarter financial results showed revenue of $30.2 million, with System1 saying it was working to reduce debt in the second half of the year and to roll out AI platform tools for apps like MapQuest.
Read Also: Peter Schiff Asks Trump to Do This Instead of Renaming Lake Ontario ‘Lake America’ — ‘The Problem Isn’t Branding…’ Image via Shutterstock