How to Download Maps on Your Phone to Travel Offline

Even in this day and age , you ca n’t always guarantee a secure cellular connection to a mobile web everywhere you go , specially if you ’re on vacation . That can get a job when you ’re attempt to make your elbow room from A to B using your map app of choice . The root is to download and stash surgical incision of the map you ’re going to need forward of fourth dimension .

With the comer ofiOS 17 — currently in public genus Beta — Apple Maps has finally trance up to Google Maps in this paying attention , enabling you to define a certain area to put in locally on your earphone . Should you lose signal , you ’ll still be able to come up your way and get routine - by - turn directions to your next destination .

Google Maps

Open up Google Maps on your phone , and search for the country you want to salve . Once you ’ve got it displayed , pink the back clitoris ( Android ) or cross button ( iOS ) at the top to exculpate the hunt but leave the expanse on screen . Next , rap your Google account profile icon ( top right ) and pluck Offline maps .

You may find that some areas , such as your home location , have been downloaded in advance . dab Select your own map to create a raw download , and Google Maps draws an area around the location you just searched for — you may pinch and zoom , and drop behind around the map , to change which part of the map gets saved .

Down at the bottom of the covert , you ’ll see an estimate of how much home storage quad the cache single-valued function will take up , and obviously saving more of the single-valued function mean it takes up more room on your phone . When you ’re glad with the area that you ’ve selected , rap on Download to save it .

Photo:Tamas Tuzes-Katai/Unsplash

On the inclination of downloaded maps , you may tap the three dots to the right of any entry in the list to rename it , update it with the latest map information , or delete it . Offline maps expire and ca n’t be used after 30 days without an update , but the app itself will attempt to mechanically update them in the background signal if they ’re due to snuff it within 15 days and your phone is associate to wifi .

To exchange this behavior , tap the cog ikon in the top right corner of the offline maps leaning . you’re able to sprain off auto - updates , choose whether they can be downloaded over cellular web as well as wireless fidelity , and get prompts for recommended map downloads — usually pulled from search and Gmail content around trips you ’re about to take .

Apple Maps

In Apple Maps on iOS 17 or subsequently , you may also download maps for offline use ( these map will work offline on your Apple Watch too , though you ca n’t broach downloads from the watch ) . In the app , navigate to a part of the world that you ’d like to save to your phone , exploit your Apple account visibility icon on the right , then pick out Offline Maps .

Tap Download New Map , and cull an area of the map you require to spare — either your current location , a late hunt , or a new search . You ’ll then be introduce with a screen showing the section of the map that ’ll be downloaded , and you may zoom and drag around to transfer the size and locating of the area ( the amount of room the download will take up on your earpiece is continually update at the bottom ) .

When you ’re happy with the neighborhood that ’s select on silver screen , tap Download , and the necessary caching begins . Once the map appears in the listing on the Offline Maps screen door , you ’re able to tap on it to conform the field it covers , rename it from the default name assigned to it , and erase it from your phone .

Screenshot: Google Maps

Screenshot: Google Maps

As we ’re writing this , Apple has yet to bring forth any prescribed put up documents for the feature , so we ’re making several assumptions here — but it does appear that offline maps will be updated on a regular basis whenever your phone has connectivity so that the cached maps are as accurate as potential .

These reflex update can be move around off in the circumstance on the Offline Maps screen , and you may choose to have maps download over cellular meshwork as well as wifi . The other on-off switch switches lease you force Apple Maps to employ the download maps even when an internet connector is available , and to optimise maps store — though until the feature of speech launches in full , we ’re not on the nose sure how this works .

Google MapsiOS 9Web mapping

Screenshot: Apple Maps