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Offline Maps: The Easiest Way to Cut Travel Data Use
Offline maps let Google Maps navigate a whole driving route at zero data. How to download the right areas, what still needs a connection, and what it saves.
Offline maps are the cheapest data saving on any trip: download the city on Wi-Fi at home and driving navigation runs at zero data. It also keeps directions working in a tunnel, on a hike, or when the eSIM drops. The download takes a few minutes.
What Google says offline maps can do
Google Maps Help states that offline maps "can guide you to your destination as long as the entire route is within the offline map." The same page lists the limits: no transit, bicycling or walking directions while offline, and no live traffic or alternate routes for driving. Searching inside the downloaded area works; searching for places outside it does not.
How to download
- Open Google Maps on Wi-Fi, signed in.
- Tap your profile picture, then Offline maps, then Select your own map.
- Drag and zoom the rectangle over the city and its surroundings; a major city with suburbs is usually a few hundred megabytes.
- Download, then repeat for each city or region on the itinerary.
- In the Offline maps settings, keep auto-update on Wi-Fi only and set downloads to Wi-Fi only.
Apple Maps supports offline maps as well (Maps, then your profile, then Offline Maps, then Download New Map) with similar limits.
What it saves
Navigation is cheap even online: the carrier figure this site uses is 5 to 10 MB per hour, so a typical week with half an hour of navigation a day costs 18 to 35 MB. That is small next to social video at up to 700 MB an hour. The real value of offline maps is not the megabytes; it is that the one app you need most keeps working with no signal, and that you can set the navigation row in the calculator to zero without guessing.
What still needs data
- Searching for a place outside the downloaded area.
- Transit directions, live departures and rideshare pickups.
- Photos, reviews and opening hours that are not cached.
- Live location sharing.
Habits that pair well
Save the hotel, the airport and key places to a list before the trip, because saved places show offline. Screenshot the transit route for the airport leg, since transit directions are the one thing offline maps cannot do. Keep Low Data Mode (iPhone) or Data Saver (Android) on for the trip, so apps skip background refreshes that no estimate includes.
Offline maps take five minutes to set up and remove the one failure that strands people: no directions when the connection dies. The rest of the silent data users are covered in background data drains while traveling.
Frequently asked questions
Can Google Maps give directions without data?
Yes, for driving. Google Maps Help says offline maps can guide you to your destination as long as the whole route is inside the downloaded area. Transit, cycling and walking directions need a connection.
How much data does Google Maps use per hour?
Google publishes no figure. The Consumer Cellular carrier figure used across this site is 5 to 10 MB per hour of navigation, which offline maps bring to zero for driving.
Do offline maps expire?
Downloaded areas need refreshing periodically. Google Maps updates them automatically on Wi-Fi by default and warns before they expire.