Downloading google maps apps and using it offline

From there, tap on "Directions" in the lower-right corner and decide on a route. With the directions pulled up, tap on the black banner right below the destination entry to download an offline copy of the entire map and all the businesses along your route.

After that, you can proceed to the next step. If you're using an iPhone or if you didn't see the black banner on Android, the process of downloading offline maps is a little more tedious, but it's still doable. To get started, open Google Maps and tap on the hamburger menu in the top-left corner, then choose "Offline areas," and select "Custom area" on the following screen. You'll now be shown a preview map that you can move around to center on an area you'd like to download.

You can zoom in or out as well, and when you do, you'll see a preview of the area's approximate file size. You can download map areas that are a maximum size of roughly 1.

But once you've picked out an area that you want to access offline, just tap "Download" to save it. In the future, when you need directions in an area that you've downloaded, but you don't have cellular reception, you'll have no need to worry.

Just open your Google Maps app, then the entire map, including streets, businesses, and points of interest in the downloaded area will be visible — even without a connection.

As long as you stay within the bounds of your downloaded map area, you'll essentially have a fully functional Google Maps app even without the internet. This means that features like driving directions and search will continue to work, but note that map overlays like satellite view and traffic data , along with walking, transit biking, or ride share routes will not work without a data connection.

There's one more thing you should know about downloading offline areas in Google Maps. Each offline area will expire after a month if you don't update it, which means you'll no longer be able to access the downloaded area without an internet connection.

Google does this to save space on your phone and to ensure you're not using an outdated map. However, it's easy to update your offline maps if you want to be able to access them indefinitely. To start, tap the hamburger icon in the top-left corner of Google Maps, then choose "Offline maps" Android or "Offline areas" iPhone.

From here, select the downloaded map area, then press "Update" on the following screen. Once you've done that, you'll have offline access to this map area for another month. Getting ready to take that road trip or get yourself into a wild hike? Also: The best driving apps for Android. You will need to download the area of interest before taking advantage of Google Maps offline mode.

This is what we mean when we say things must be done proactively. You need to download the map area before leaving the comfort of the internet. Massive amounts of information need to be downloaded in such cases, so be ready to sacrifice plenty of storage space for your maps. These can take up to 1. If you have a device with microSD card support, you can even transfer data to your SD card. The world changes pretty much daily.

Maps are dynamic and require updating. If you want to keep your maps offline indefinitely, all you need to do is go to the Google Maps offline settings and activate automatic updates. This will ensure your offline maps are constantly updated.

Almost everything else should work as expected. You can look for addresses, find businesses, and easily navigate to them. Also: The 10 best car phone holders available. You can navigate and find directions without a data connection now. Just remember, not every feature will be there, as we mentioned before. Navigation works offline just by setting up your route when you have a connection.

Maps will automatically download the info you need to get to your destination. This is completely independent of your manually downloaded map areas.