chore(ios): update Google Maps SDK versions for SPM

[andredestro]

Description

Updates the Google Maps SDK for iOS dependencies used by SPM installs:

• ios-maps-sdk: 9.4.0 to 10.15.0 (.upToNextMajor)
• google-maps-ios-utils: 6.1.0 to 7.1.0 (.exact)

CocoaPods installs intentionally stay on GoogleMaps ~> 9.4 and Google-Maps-iOS-Utils 6.1.0. Google no longer publishes the Maps SDK to the CocoaPods Trunk (it stops at 9.4.0), so 10.x is SPM-only and the podspec cannot follow.

Also adds a "Google Maps SDK versions" section to the README documenting the version divergence between the two package managers, the dark mode default difference in SDK 10.x, and a warning that CocoaPods support will be removed in Capacitor 10.

Change Type

• Fix
• Feature
• Refactor
• Breaking Change
• Documentation
• Other (CI, chores, etc.)

Notes on the version choices:

• Google Maps SDK 10.x requires iOS 16 and Xcode 16; versions 10.8.0+ require Xcode 26. CI already selects Xcode 26.0.
• Google Maps iOS Utils versions above 6.1.0 (including the 6.1.1-6.1.3 patches, retroactively acknowledged as breaking and re-released as 7.0.0) depend on GoogleMaps ~> 10.0, so the utils bump must ship together with the SDK bump.
• No plugin code changes were needed: the 10.x breaking changes are behavioral (dark mode by default, updated compass button style), not API-level.

Tests or Reproductions

• swift package resolve on the plugin resolves ios-maps-sdk 10.15.0 and google-maps-ios-utils 7.1.0.
• Plugin package builds for iOS Simulator with the new SDKs (no source changes required).
• example-app-spm (SPM, Capacitor 9.0.0-alpha.5): xcodebuild clean build succeeds, resolving Maps 10.15.0 + Utils 7.1.0.
• example-app (CocoaPods, Capacitor 9.0.0-alpha.5): pod install still resolves Maps 9.4.0 + Utils 6.1.0 and xcodebuild clean build succeeds, confirming the CocoaPods path is unaffected.

Screenshots / Media

N/A

Platforms Affected

• Android
• iOS
• Web

Notes / Comments

• SPM and CocoaPods installs now run different major versions of the native SDK. The most visible difference is that SDK 10.x renders maps in dark mode by default when the device is in dark mode.
• This can be revisited to drop the divergence once CocoaPods support is removed in Capacitor 10 (CocoaPods Trunk becomes read-only in late 2026).

[OS-pedrogustavobilro]

I saw there was a 11.0.0 release yesterday https://github.com/googlemaps/ios-maps-sdk/releases/tag/11.0.0, wondering if we should update now while we're at it.

But https://github.com/googlemaps/google-maps-ios-utils/releases/tag/v7.0.0 says it's using version 10 of SDK still, and the commit for 11.0.0 mentions release candidate, so not so sure if we should update 😅

What do you think?

[andredestro]

I'd hold off on 11 for now. GoogleMapsUtils 7.1.0 declares from: "10.0.0" on the Maps SDK, which SPM resolves as < 11.0.0, so bumping to 11 would conflict with utils.

[OS-pedrogustavobilro]

Tested on SPM app, had to update example app dependencies and re-sync because of a crash that's fixed in 9.0.0-alpha.6, commited that.

Anyway, LGTM, approving!