Google Maps Will Now Be Able to Show You How Crowded a Restaurant is in Real Time

Y’know how when you’re going out somewhere to eat, but the restaurant slaps you with a two-hour wait time? Isn’t that frustrating? Well, now, Google Maps will be able to tell you how crowded a restaurant is in real time as part of the most recent iOS update. The feature has actually been available on desktop since Black Friday, but just recently was made available for mobile users.

We assume that the new Google Goblins™ living in your phone are using a complex algorithm to measure crowd levels in your immediate area via Dark Magick. It would admittedly be easier if Google Maps pinged the amount of people in a crowd by each individual phone (installed with the Google Maps app), which would then calculate the total number of patrons in a certain restaurant. But they didn’t ask us.

While this doesn’t exactly help trim down wait times in restaurants, it does help you plan your evening better. So there’s that.

Check out Google’s FAQ for the feature here.