May 13, 2015 - The moment your phone reads 'No service,' Google Maps suddenly drops out. That is, unless you've saved your maps for offline access. To access one of Google Maps' best hidden features, you have to know the magic word. How to Use Your Google Maps — Offline. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired. Nokia's Here Maps and the.
This app is only available on the App Store for iOS devices.
Description
Navigate your world faster and easier with Google Maps. Over 220 countries and territories mapped and hundreds of millions of businesses and places on the map. Get real-time GPS navigation, traffic, and transit info, and explore local neighborhoods by knowing where to eat, drink and go - no matter what part of the world you’re in.
Get there faster with real-time updates
• Beat traffic with real-time ETAs and traffic conditions
• Catch your bus, train, or ride-share with real-time transit info
• Save time with automatic rerouting based on live traffic, incidents, and road closures
Discover places and explore like a local
• Discover local restaurant, events, and activities that matter to you
• Know what’s trending and new places that are opening in the areas you care about
• Decide more confidently with “Your match,” a number on how likely you are to like a place
• Group planning made easy. Share a shortlist of options and vote in real-time
• Create lists of your favorite places and share with friends
• Follow must-try places recommended by local experts, Google, and publishers
More experiences on Google Maps
• Offline maps to search and navigate without an internet connection
• Street View and indoor imagery for restaurants, shops, museums and more
• Indoor maps to quickly find your way inside big places like airports, malls and stadiums
* Some features not available in all countries
What’s New
Thanks for using Google Maps! This release brings bug fixes that improve our product to help you discover new places and navigate to them.
Good app
This app does an above-average job at assisting in navigation. I like that it apparently integrates user movement over time; for example, when I moved to my house, it ignored a pedestrian footpath to the other half of my street, but it now no longer routes me two miles away when I’m going to the bus. The reason I don’t give it five stars is its integration with Lyft/Uber, because my pocket would open the links and sometimes nearly summon a car (I had to delete them to avoid being charged), and because of transit system shortcomings. GMaps doesn’t offer enough different choices for routes, sometimes missing obvious bus lines or transfers, sometimes only giving one option it thinks best, though I might know more info and want to prompt more choices, which isn’t possible. I a forced to enter fake destination or origin information to force other routes to display. One bus may be very crowded at certain times, one route may have a steep hill. It needs to offer a way to expand route choices. Also, I still need to use OneBusAway to check on arrival times, as GMaps is not always current, especially with detours and alterations. As for driving, it’s fine, except the way it ignores neighborhood shortcuts and alternatives. Overall, a good tool to assist you, but you need your own knowledge to make it truly effective. Therefore, 3.5 stars, which I weighted up to 4.
Best gps app
I have been using google maps since 2011. I never write reviews but this app has surpassed my expectations. I have tried waze, ios maps and they dont do it for me. I am a truck driver by trade and aside from truck route maps on a desktop, i always use google maps. Will google maps ever be perfect? No but we are talking about perfect cellphone service and non hesitant location tracking to have a perfect gps. Depending where you are and who your carrier is, your cell reception might be shakily and you might miss a turn, not the app’s fault. Once google introduced the option for additional stops with in your route, they locked in my loyalty to the app. The reason why i wrote this review today is a new option that i have long awaited. Since i drive for miles, i am always on the app. I also am always listening to music. Of course i have had many times where i missed that very important turn because i was skipping or searching for a new song. Not anymore, maps now has a very simple tab on the map that lets me skip my song with my maps still on the screen. Thats a game changer for me. Once again, google has made me a pleased customer. Great work.
Disregard earlier review
This app is garbage. It’s been out for years and they don’t fix basic algorithm mistakes like how it arbitrarily decides to omit immediate-next turns (and then you drive to the wrong borough and you’re twenty minutes later than you would be if you were using something other than garbage), or it tells you to be in any number of lanes to make a turn or an exit when there is really only one acceptable lane to be in to not kill everyone trying to drive around you, or it doesn’t tell you that the highway you’re on drops a lane, or it wastes time telling you that the next thing you need to do is merge when the only thing in the world you could physically ever do at that juncture IS merge (or just dunk your car in a ditch and be done with driving altogether).
Just make your app make sense if you want any stars in my review of it! You’ve had years to make it minimally useable and you’ve been doing what this whole time? Adding features nobody asked for? Stop that.
UPDATE: I’m very generously giving these bozos an extra star for streamlining the alternate route button. It’s cute and convenient and I’m proud of you guys. Now invest this star miraculously because you’re still days from driving me into the arms of AN ACTUAL FLIP PHONE so that I can go back to VZ Navigator if I can’t honestly give Google Maps a five-star review. I’m dead serious about all of this.
Information
Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
English, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese (Hong Kong), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Supports
Family Sharing
With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.
Google Maps is a great free alternative to a dedicated sat nav, and is also very handy if you’re on foot. But did you know you can use it offline too?
That means when you go abroad you’ll have a map stored on your phone, and you won’t have to pay roaming fees to use it.
How To Download Google Maps For Offline Use On Iphone 5
Not only that, but you can also use it in areas where you won’t have mobile reception. The only thing is, you’ll need to be organized and sort it out before you go.
Follow our handy guide, and you’ll know your way around like a local.
Step 1: Find the area you want to use
First of all, you’ll need to download the Google Maps app. It should come pre-installed on your Android phone, but if not - or if you’ve deleted it - you can download it for free from Google Play.
In the search bar, type the name of the area you’d like to download a map for. It doesn’t have to be abroad – it could be somewhere remote in the UK.
Tap the bar at the bottom of the screen that contains the word you searched for. Then, if it’s somewhere specific, like a landmark or a train station, tap the three buttons in the top right corner. This will open the sub-menu and give you the option to ‘Download offline area’.
Step 2: Download it
A map will appear showing the area you can download. The maximum size is 46,332 square miles (120,000 square kilometres). If you try to save a bigger area, it will ask you to zoom in to select a smaller one.
It will also warn you how much space this will take on your phone – in our case, up to 175MB – and how much space you have left.
How To Download Google Maps For Offline Use On Iphone 8
Remember, particularly with large areas, to always download over wi-fi rather than mobile data to prevent racking up a big bill.
If you’re happy, click ‘Download’. It will then prompt you to name the map.
Step 3: View your map offline
Once you’ve downloaded it, the offline area should appear at the top of your screen (the icon looks like a folded map). Drag down and click it to open it.
How To Download Google Maps For Offline Use On Iphone 7
The icon will disappear after you’ve clicked it.
From then on, open Google Maps, tap the menu icon in the top left (it’s in the search bar), and select ‘Offline areas’ from the drop-down menu.
This will show a list of all the areas you’ve downloaded. To view one, just tap it.
How To Download Google Maps For Offline Use On Iphone 10
Step 4: Navigation
How To Download Google Maps For Offline Use On Iphone 1
To browse your offline map, use Google Maps just as you would normally. You can scroll around, and place names and road names should appear just as if you were connected to the internet.
You’ll also be able to get driving directions within your offline area, but not traffic updates. You also won’t be able to get directions for using public transport, cycling or walking. Once downloaded, you can’t modify routes to avoid a toll, say, or a ferry.
To check if your map has downloaded ok and is usable, turn on your phone’s airplane mode, open Google Maps and have a look around your downloaded area.
If you use an Android phone, you can also use Maps in wi-fi only mode (which is more convenient than putting your phone in airplane mode). To do so, go to the Menu, then Settings, and select Wi-Fi only. This will ensure you only use the offline maps you've downloaded, so don't risk running up huge roaming costs when abroad.
Offline areas need to be updated at least every 30 days - Google will prompt you so you don't forget. To get the most up-to-date maps, don’t download them too far in advance of your holiday.
That should be everything you need – happy hols!
Alternative offline sat navs
How To Download Google Maps For Offline Use On Iphone X
If you want an app with full sat nav capabilities that works offline, we’d recommend Here WeGo (previously known as Here Maps). The free app lets you download maps from over 100 countries with turn-by-turn voice instructions, absolutely free.
How To Download Offline Maps Iphone
Check out the video below to see it in action. Download it for Androidand iOS.