Your Maps key tells you what is wrong
When Google refuses your Maps key, Settings → Maps now names the exact setting to change instead of saying the test failed — and the page checks the key every time you open it.
Released 9 September 2026
If you bring your own Google Maps key and Google will not accept it, you now get the reason and the fix — not just "the test failed".
What's new
- The reason, in plain words. Google refuses a key for several different reasons and reports all of them the same way. Settings → Maps now tells them apart: a key restricted to websites, a key restricted to IP addresses, an API that was never switched on, billing that is off, or a quota you have used up — each one naming the setting to change.
- The page checks for itself. Opening Settings → Maps runs one sample lookup, so a key that has stopped working shows a red Key rejected badge straight away. You no longer have to press Test to find out, and the badge no longer claims address search is running when it is not.
- No more silent charges for a broken key. A refused key used to be asked again on every letter you typed into an address box, and Google counts each of those. Type-ahead now stands down and the address form falls back to search-on-submit until the key is fixed.
- The instructions match reality. The setup steps used to say to restrict the key to your project, which most people read as restricting it to a website — the one setting that stops it working. They now say to leave Application restrictions on None and restrict the key by API instead.
Nothing changes if your address search is already working, or if you are on the free OpenStreetMap option.