How to Use Offline Google Maps on Android and iOS

Google Maps has changed the way we navigate the world around us. It has taken away the fear of getting lost in a new city or unknown areas and is full of little tricks. All you need is an active internet connection and GPS. Unfortunately, these two are not available everywhere. However, Google understands that Maps has a feature that you can use to download maps and use them offline on mobile phones.

This will require some planning before you can download a map of a region or city ahead of time. Without a network connection or GPS, you can’t do anything when you move into that area. Fortunately, the process is easy and it doesn’t take long to download maps on Google Maps.

Let’s start.

How to Download Offline Google Maps on Android and iOS

You can save maps on both internal memory and SD cards on your Android phone. Here are the steps.

Stage 1: Open Google Maps on your smartphone and search for the city or area where you want to save the map offline using the search bar at the top. Make sure both GPS and internet connection are enabled.

Step 2: The address of the location appears at the bottom of the screen with a few options. Tap the address to reveal more options.

Stage 3: Tap on the three-dot menu icon in the upper right corner and select Download offline map.

Step 4: Google Maps will ask you to select the area using an interactive rectangular UI element. Scroll and zoom until you find the area you want to download within its borders. It will also inform you about the storage that Maps will consume at the bottom. Click Download when you’re ready.

Step 5: You can also download a map of the entire city instead of a specific place or area, in which case the steps will change very little. Search for the city and tap the location card at the bottom, you will find the Download button directly.

Step 6: Once again, Google Maps will ask you to manually select the map area by zooming and panning. Tap the Download button when you are satisfied with the result.

Here’s how you can save maps to an SD card. The default location is internal memory on Android.

Stage 1: Open Google Maps, tap the profile picture and select Offline maps.

Step 2: Tap the gear icon at the top to open Settings and select SD Card under Storage preferences > Device. In my case, the option doesn’t show up as I don’t have an SD card installed.

The steps remain the same on iOS as well.

Search for the location or city using the search bar and tap the location information card at the bottom of the screen. Tap the three-dot menu icon to select Download offline map.

You will then be prompted to manually set the location field inside the box before downloading the map to your device’s internal memory.

How to Use Offline Maps on Android and iOS

Note that transit, walking, and cycling information is not available when you use offline maps in Google Maps on Android or iOS. Likewise, you won’t see traffic information, lane guidance, or alternative routes when directions are enabled. This is because Google Maps updates these data points in real time and needs an active internet connection and GPS to provide data entries.

Here’s how to find and use offline maps in Google Maps on Android and iOS.

On Android and iOS, tap the profile picture and select Offline maps to find a list of all downloaded maps.

Because maps are saved locally, what you download on Android won’t show up on iOS and vice versa.

Now tap the three-dot menu to manually update, view, rename the map to a more specific name that will help you identify it, or simply delete the offline map. You can find more offline map settings by tapping the gear icon on the same screen.

Inside, you can set the device to automatically update offline maps in Google Maps, set the download preference to Wi-Fi to save mobile data, and also choose to download Google recommended maps for offline use.

My world

Google Maps works fine in offline mode. Some features are missing, but it will get the job done and better than using old-fashioned folded paper maps. But Google isn’t the only map app out there. Apple is working hard to improve the map game too late. It offers a number of interesting and useful features that you should check out if you are using an iPhone. However, t is not available on Android platform.

So where are you going next?