Don’t want or can’t use your mobile internet connection with Google Maps? Download maps in advance to your phone! You will be able to find your way around and let yourself be guided even without any network.
In the space of a few years, Google Maps has established itself as a reference on phones for getting around without getting lost. Whether it’s finding a street, locating a monument, or simply determining the best route to get from one point to another, Google’s mapping and guidance application has definitively replaced the maps in paper.
Only problem, to work while on the move, Google Maps requires an Internet connection via the mobile network, which can be a problem in certain situations. This is the case, for example, when you are in a white area or poorly covered by mobile network. Or, more simply, if you do not want to use the mobile network, because your data plan is limited or because you are abroad, with a reduced data budget.
Fortunately, Google has planned for this: you can indeed download maps in advance, via Wi-Fi, directly to your phone, which allows you to use Google Maps without any Internet connection – activating the GPS still remains essential for real-time guidance! The operation is very simple to perform, on Android as on iOS. You can thus download several personalized plans – There is no theoretical limit to the number of downloadable maps, a plan occupying a few tens of megabytes on average – and access them when you need them, to carry out a search, you locate or calculate a route.
Be careful, the downloaded maps are not eternal. An expiration date is mentioned for each. Google Maps updates them automatically via Wi-Fi. If no Wi-Fi connection is available before the expiration date indicated, they will have to be downloaded again manually. But you have room, the cards being valid for one year in general…
You can easily download and store Google Maps on your mobile to view and use offline without an internet connection.
- Open Google Maps on your phone and tap your avatar displayed at the top right of the search field.
- In the menu that appears, tap Offline maps.
- On the next screen, Google Maps offers two possibilities. The first one, Local, allows you to download the map of the surroundings based on your current geographical position. The second, Select your own plan, offers more freedom since it allows you to select a specific area anywhere in the world. Prefer this option and press Select your own plan.
- A map is displayed based on your position with a blue box delimiting the area to be downloaded. To select an area, move the map on the screen with one finger, and zoom in or out on the area you want to keep. When you are satisfied with the selection, press the button To download.
- The plan is being downloaded. Google Maps indicates that the update of the maps downloaded in the application will be made via a Wi-Fi connection. If your smartphone is not connected to Wi-Fi before the date indicated on the downloaded map, it will have to be downloaded from new.
- Once the plan has been downloaded, you return to the selection screen. By default it is called Map 1. Tap the three little dots next to their name and choose Rename in the context menu. You can thus give it a more explicit name.
- You can then repeat the operation to download another area if you wish – another city, another region, etc.
Note that Google has provided several ways to download maps from its app for offline use. If you don’t want to go through Google Maps menus, you can quickly define the area to recover with a little-known command.
- Open Google Maps on your smartphone, then in the search field, type Ok Maps and confirm by pressing the magnifying glass icon at the bottom right of the keyboard.
- Google Maps automatically displays the selection area of the map to download. Move the map on the screen, zoom in or zoom out in the blue frame to define the area to be recorded, then press the button To download.
- To find the map and rename it, press your avatar, at the top right of Google Maps, then select Offline maps in the menu.
Depending on your needs, you can easily manually update or delete a downloaded map on your phone.
- Open Google Maps on your phone and tap your avatar displayed at the top right of the search field.
- In the menu that appears, tap Offline maps.
- A list of all downloaded plans is displayed.
- To refresh a plan, tap her name. The map appears in thumbnail. Push the button Update. You can also tap the three little dots next to their name and choose Update in the context menu.
- To delete a plan that you no longer need – for example, if you used it for vacation – and free up storage on your phone, tap her name. The map appears in thumbnail. Push the button To delete. You can also tap the three little dots next to their name and choose To delete in the context menu.
