The Apple Maps Hijack
macOS is deeply integrated with its own native applications. One of the most aggressive integrations involves data detection in text. When you are reading an email in the Mail app, looking at a contact card, or even browsing certain websites in Safari, macOS automatically detects strings of text that look like physical addresses and turns them into clickable links. While this seems convenient, clicking one of these links completely bypasses your default web browser (like Chrome or Firefox) and instantly launches the heavy Apple Maps application. For users who prefer Google Maps or simply want to view the address within their web browser, this auto-launch behavior is highly disruptive.
Bypassing the Data Detectors
To avoid the unwanted application launch and stop macOS from automatically opening Apple Maps when you click an address, you must change how you interact with the detected links.
Apple does not provide a simple toggle to change the default mapping application away from Apple Maps within the core OS settings. If a link is formatted specifically as an Apple Maps deep link, it will always open the app. To circumvent this, you must stop left-clicking the addresses directly. When you see an address underlined by macOS data detectors, hover your mouse over it until a small, downward-facing arrow appears on the right side of the highlighted text (or simply Right-Click or Control-Click the address). From the context menu that appears, select Copy Address. You can then open your preferred web browser and paste the address directly into Google Maps or your search engine of choice, entirely avoiding the Apple Maps application.