How to Use Google Maps Offline: Download Maps and Navigate Without Internet

Download an offline map on Android

Google’s current Android instructions require an internet connection and a signed-in Maps session.

For an area centered on a place:

1. Open the Google Maps app while connected.
2. Search for the place.
3. Open the place name or address at the bottom. Swipe across the action row if More is not visible.
4. Tap More → Download offline map → Download.
5. Wait until Offline maps shows the download as complete.

For more control over the boundary:

1. Tap your profile photo or initial.
2. Tap Offline maps.
3. Tap Select your own map.
4. Move and zoom the selection until it covers the entire driving route.
5. Tap Download, then wait until the area shows as complete in the Offline maps list.

The custom-area path is usually clearer for a road trip because you can compare the whole corridor with the selection before committing storage. The app shows a size estimate for the selected area. Use the app’s size estimate, available device space, and any restriction it shows when choosing an area.

Download an offline map on iPhone or iPad

On an iPhone or iPad, use the Google Maps app—not Apple Maps. Be connected to the internet and make sure the Google Maps app is not in Incognito mode.

For an area centered on a place:

1. Open the Google Maps app.
2. Search for the place.
3. Tap the place name or address at the bottom.
4. Tap More → Download offline map → Download.
5. Wait until Offline maps shows the download as complete before leaving the connection.

To frame the area yourself:

1. Tap your profile photo or initial.
2. Tap Offline maps → Select your own map.
3. Move and zoom the map so the full driving corridor fits inside the selection.
4. Tap Download.
5. Wait until the area is listed as complete under Offline maps.

On Android, download while signed in. On both Android and iPhone/iPad, turn off Incognito mode before using Offline Maps.

Use a downloaded map

After the area finishes downloading, use Google Maps for the ordinary driving task:

1. Open the full Google Maps app on the device that holds the download.
2. Choose a destination inside the downloaded area and request driving directions.
3. Check that the complete route remains inside the downloaded boundary.
4. When the connection is slow or unavailable, the downloaded map can guide a fully covered driving route. Do not expect live traffic, alternative routes, or non-driving directions.

Opening Offline maps is how you find and manage the saved-area record; it is not a separate navigation mode. A saved place, a Google My Maps project, and a downloaded area are different objects.

For the separate driving-display question, see Immersive Navigation.

Test the map before you travel

While stationary and able to restore service without interrupting emergency communications, preview a covered driving route with Wi-Fi and mobile data temporarily off; this checks the preview, not real-world positioning accuracy:

1. Open Offline maps and confirm the selected area shows as complete, not waiting, paused, failed, or expired.
2. Note the displayed expiry/status and check that the intended road corridor fits inside the saved area.
3. Temporarily turn off Wi-Fi and mobile data on your phone without interrupting emergency communications.
4. Request a driving route preview between two non-sensitive public points inside the area.
5. Confirm the preview stays within downloaded coverage.
6. Restore connectivity, then correct any gap before departure.

Airplane mode is not required for this check, and its effect on GPS and other radios varies by device. Do not change phone settings while driving. An offline map remains a backup: follow actual signs, traffic laws, closures, emergency messages, and instructions from local authorities.

Will the whole route work offline?

Check the road, not only the pins. Mountain passes, river crossings, ring roads, ferries, and highway interchanges can send a route outside the rectangle even when both endpoints look safely inside.

Download an area, not a route file

Google Maps downloads map coverage to a phone or tablet. It does not create a portable route file. A start and destination can both sit inside the downloaded box while a winding road between them leaves it. That route is not fully covered.

Plan while connected, then select an area wide enough for every road segment you may need. Leave practical space around junctions and the destination rather than tracing a narrow line. If the trip has several destinations, add and reorder the stops before choosing the download area; the numbered stop list and the downloaded coverage remain separate.

For route choices before downloading, see avoid ferries, tolls and highways.

A line in Google My Maps and a path in Google Earth are also different objects. The Maps, My Maps, and Earth comparison explains which product owns planning, presentation, and navigation work.

Before you download, follow this check:

1. Preview the intended driving route while online.
2. Note every bend and any likely junction where the route could change.
3. Open Select your own map and include the full road corridor.
4. Leave a practical margin around the route rather than placing it on the boundary.
5. After download, compare the saved area with the route again.

Extra coverage uses storage. Compare the app’s download estimate with the device’s available space.

What works without internet?

Offline Maps preserves a narrower job than connected Maps. It is designed around saved map coverage and driving directions inside that coverage—not every search, image, place detail, or travel mode.

Need another offline navigation app?

For a different app, see our Organic Maps offline guide. It covers map preparation, alternative routes, intermediate-stop order and car-display prerequisites. Prepare the app you will use separately before travel.

Manage downloaded maps

On Android or iPhone/iPad, open the Google Maps app and tap profile photo or initial → Offline maps. That list holds completed, expiring, and other saved-area records on that device.

Rename or delete an area

To rename an area on either platform, select it in Offline maps, tap Edit at the top right, enter the new name, and tap Save. To remove one, select it and tap Delete.

Deleting an offline map removes that saved area from the device. Do not treat it as a control for Maps Activity, Timeline, saved places, or a My Maps project; those records have separate controls.

Update the map before it expires

Open profile photo or initial → Offline maps, select the area, and tap Update while connected. Use the expiry date shown for that map.

When an offline map has 15 days or less remaining and the device is connected to Wi-Fi, Google Maps attempts to update the area automatically. “Attempts” matters: low storage, a weak connection, a changed setting, or an interrupted session can still leave it unfinished. Check the status yourself before travel.

You can turn Auto-update offline maps on or off in Offline maps settings. The documented 15-day period is the trigger for an attempted Wi-Fi update, not a universal map lifetime. Confirm the displayed status rather than assuming the attempt succeeded.

Save Android downloads to an SD card

Android stores offline maps internally by default. Google documents SD-card storage only for devices running Android 6.0 or later when the card is configured as portable storage.

1. Get manufacturer help if the card is not already configured for portable storage; do not casually format a card as a troubleshooting step.
2. In Maps, tap profile photo or initial → Offline maps → Settings.
3. Under Storage preferences, choose SD card → Save.
4. Download the required area again.

Changing the preference does not move an existing download; Google says to download the map again. iPhone and iPad do not have this Android SD-card workflow.

Fix an offline map that does not work

Offline downloads are unavailable in some countries or regions because of contractual limits, language support, address formats, or other reasons. Check availability for your region without assuming a missing control is an account fault, and do not bypass regional restrictions.

Optional edge cases and trip backups

Computer and car downloads are different

Google’s current Offline Maps instructions give the download workflow for Android and iPhone/iPad, not a matching desktop-web procedure. Printing directions, saving a browser page, or leaving a tab open is not the documented mobile Offline Maps download.

Google Maps built into a car has separate controls. In a supported car, the documented manual path is Settings → Offline maps → Select your own map → Download. Auto-download is under Settings → Privacy Center → Offline maps. Availability can depend on manufacturer, language, region, and data plan.

Google’s car-only documentation says those offline maps expire one year after download. Do not apply that number to phone or tablet maps. Do not assume phone downloads transfer into a car; check built-in Maps separately from Android Auto or CarPlay. If a signed-in car suggests the wrong Home or Work area, change the saved Home address before travel.

Keep a destination backup

Write the essential destination outside Maps before leaving service: public place name, full address, contact instructions, and one compact location reference. A latitude-and-longitude backup is useful for an unambiguous meeting point; a full Plus Code can also identify a location. Neither supplies missing roads, live conditions, or emergency information.

For a paper reference, follow the guide to print Google Maps directions.

Keep backups privacy-safe. Do not post a home, student location, vulnerable person’s location, or private route. If the trip starts from the private Home shortcut, test its destination before departure and keep the actual address in a secure place rather than a public planning map.

If the issue is a different data surface, manage Google Maps Timeline separately or use the Maps search-history guide. Neither control creates or repairs an offline download.

Prepare a class or field trip without mixing products

For a school outing, the teacher workflow for Google mapping tools covers account, privacy, accessibility, and school-device decisions that an offline download cannot solve.

When a group has many public stops, you can organize the stops in a My Maps spreadsheet layer while planning. Share that custom planning map with students only under the intended view/edit permissions. Then prepare Offline Maps separately on each device that will provide driving navigation; the My Map itself is not the download.

During fieldwork, keep notes and sources outside the live map. Afterward, the student map project process can turn public observations into a cited, accessible map without exposing a student’s journey or home.

For a multi-day drive, the road-trip planning guide connects the offline download with daily routes, saved stops and a shared itinerary.

A short pre-trip checklist

• Download while connected, using the device you will actually carry.
• Wait until Offline maps shows the area as complete.
• Confirm the complete driving route—not only both endpoints—is inside the area.
• Note the displayed expiry/status; do not substitute a fixed lifetime from another device type.
• Update it manually when the trip matters.
• Preview a covered public driving route while stationary, then restore connectivity.
• Expect no transit, walking, cycling, live traffic, or alternative routes offline.
• Check location permission and the displayed position before departure.
• Save the destination address or coordinate separately.
• Follow real signs, closures, laws, and official alerts.

If navigation keeps recalculating, use the route-versus-position checks before treating an offline download as the solution.