How to Access Offline Maps on Your iPhone

If you’re planning a weekend getaway this fall, you might consider using your iPhone Maps app for directions. But using the app for long periods could eat up your monthly data. Luckily, when Apple released iOS 17 in 2023, the tech giant brought offline maps to your computer. iPhone.

With Offline Maps, you can designate areas that you want to download from your Maps app to your iPhone for use in an emergency, so the app doesn’t destroy your cellular data. Before you start using this feature, you may be wondering how well it works.

To find out, I downloaded a map of my hometown and used it to get around for a few days. My wife and I went downtown for coffee before walking to an outdoor market. We drove home and headed back downtown for dinner after an NFL game ended. I’ve also used offline maps to get to and from my gym, as well as to walk my dog ​​around the neighborhood.

Here’s how to access offline maps and what to know about them before you go out.

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How to download maps offline

It might be a good idea to have a map of an unfamiliar area, like a new town or hiking trail, in case you don’t have Wi-Fi access or a cell signal. Here’s how to download a map to use offline.

1. Open Cards.
2. Use the Search maps to find the area you want to download a map for.
3. Faucet Download.

An outline will then appear on your map, which represents the area for which you will download a map. You can resize this outline until you’re happy, then press Download. A banner will announce the end of downloading your map.

Here’s how to access the settings page for your offline maps after downloading them.

1. Open Cards.
2. Tap your profile picture next to the Search maps bar.
3. Faucet Offline maps.

From this menu you can access all the maps you have downloaded, as well as settings for each map, such as map updates. You can also enable Automatic updates for the maps on this page.

There is also an option to Only use offline maps. If you enable this option, you will see Use offline maps at the top of your card when you use it. The area of ​​the map you downloaded will appear normally while the area outside the map will be covered with a grid. You can also press the Use offline maps banner to also return to the offline maps settings page.

Offline maps will get you to your destination, but expect some issues

Using offline maps was similar to using the online maps app. You open your Maps app, enter where you want to go and tap Go. You can also select your mode of transportation and whether you want to add stops along the way.

When you’re on the road, offline maps work the same as online maps. The map follows you and shows you nearby restaurants and shops. If you’re driving, offline maps will also show you the speed limit for the street you’re on. Siri will read directions along the way, telling you when to turn and where your destination is on the street.

There are some differences between offline and online maps. The biggest problem is that it won’t know exactly when you will arrive at your destination. When you search for directions, offline maps show an estimated time of arrival, but they cannot take into account real-time traffic patterns because they are offline.

When I used offline maps to find my way to a downtown restaurant after an NFL game, for example, the offline maps told me it would take me about 15 minutes to get to my destination. It actually took me about 40 minutes to get through traffic and get to dinner.

This brings me to my second problem with offline maps: if you stray from its path, it takes a while to recalibrate and find yourself again. While passing through the aforementioned traffic, I took a few impromptu turns on side streets and offline maps always showed me where I had left the path for about a minute.

Otherwise, offline maps take you back to the days of physical maps. You may not be able to predict how much traffic will delay your journey and if you take a wrong turn it may take you a second to figure out how to get back, but you will eventually be able to get to your destination. Pack some snacks just in case.

For more iOS news, here my opinion on iOS 26how to reduce the effects of Liquid Glass in the update and how text filtering works in the update. You can also view our iOS 26 Cheat Sheet.