How to Download and Use Apple Maps Offline on iPhone and iPad

With the latest update of iOS 17, Apple Maps on iPhone has an upgrade. Now, the Apple Maps on your iPhone lets you download offline maps and navigate around without needing an active cellular data connection. Here’s how to download and use Apple Maps offline on iPhone and iPad.

Offline maps are excellent if you are planning a hike or traveling to a new city or country and don’t have access to cellular data or don’t want to use cellular data. Additionally, Apple Maps also lets you download offline maps, update them, and much more. Let’s dive right in.

Note: The Offline Maps feature in Apple Maps is available on iOS 17 and later. So, ensure your iPhone and iPad are running iOS 17 or iPadOS 17, respectively.

Things You Can Do With Offline Maps in Apple Maps

The offline maps can provide you with the details like:

• Search for places.
• View ratings of places (inside the downloaded map).
• Turn-by-turn directions for driving, cycling, walking, and even local transit.
• Estimated arrival time (as it doesn’t have access to live traffic information).

Let’s learn how to download an offline map on your iPhone.

Download Offline Apple Maps in iOS 17 or iPadOS 17

You can download not just one but multiple offline maps on your iPhone and iPad in the Apple Maps. Here’s how

Note: The steps for iPad are identical to iPhone.So, follow along.

Step 1: Launch the Maps app on your iPhone or iPad and tap on your profile picture.

Step 2: Tap Offline Maps from the list.

Step 3: Tap Download New Map.

Step 4: Search for the location you wish to download the offline and tap on the result.

Step 5: A rectangle will appear on the screen; hold and drag the handles to adjust how much area you want to download for offline usage and tap Download.

Quick Tip: You can tap anywhere on the map to drop a pin and then tap Download to download an offline map.

Note: The bigger the area you select for the offline map, the bigger the size.

And now the maps will start downloading. If you wish to download more offline maps, repeat the process or tap Download New Map from the Offline Maps page.

Also Read: How to use Google Maps offline on iPhone.

How to Use Apple Maps Offline

Apple Maps lets you use and access offline maps automatically when there’s no internet connection. However, if you wish to save data and switch to offline maps, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open Apple Maps and tap on your profile picture to get started.

Step 2: Tap Offline Maps.

Step 3: Tap to turn on the toggle for ‘Only Use Offline Maps’.

Step 4: Now, Apple Maps will switch to offline maps. Tap on the search bar.

Step 5: Search for the downloaded location and tap on the result. Now, continue using the navigation like a regular map.

Resize, Rename, or Delete Offline Maps

After downloading an offline map on your iPhone or iPad, Apple Maps lets you resize, rename, or even delete an offline map. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the Apple Maps on your iPhone and tap on your profile picture.

Step 2: Now, tap Offline Maps.

Step 3: Select the downloaded map.

Step 4: Now, tap Resize, rename, or Delete Map per your requirements.

How to Update Offline Maps

The offline maps feature in the Maps app also lets you update the downloaded map to have the latest map for offline usage. Plus, you can also set it to update offline maps automatically for better convenience.

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Launch the Maps app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Go to your profile picture > Offline Maps.

Step 3: Tap Update All and turn on the toggle for Automatic Updates. And that’s it.

Optimize Storage for Offline Maps

Since offline maps are locally downloaded, they take up some storage space on your iPhone. To deal with this, Apple lets you automatically delete the unused offline maps on your iPhone.

Let’s look at the steps to follow:

Step 1: Launch the Apple Maps on your iPhone and tap on your profile picture

Step 2: Choose Offline Maps from the list.

Step 3: Turn on the toggle for Optimize Storage. And that’s it.

FAQ Related to Offline Maps on iPhone

Never Get Lost

In brevity, as much as offline maps on iPhone are great, they are also slightly less accurate than online maps. However, Apple finally made the wait over for the offline maps with the iOS 17 update. So, we can certainly expect more from now on.