Download offline maps in Apple Maps – that’s how it works
If you are going on holiday abroad or just want to save your data bundle, it is useful to download maps for navigation in advance. This is how it will work in iOS 17.
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Download offline maps in Apple Maps
Apple Maps has now overtaken Google Maps in many places (especially with the new map material), but Google still had a big advantage: offline maps. Until now, because in iOS 17, Apple’s Maps and Navigation app finally gets the ability to save area maps to your device.
That is very useful for several things. For example, if you are on holiday outside the EU, you probably pay for mobile data, because this is not included in your bundle. And let such a Maps app be an app that consumes a lot of data and that you need a lot on vacation. But offline maps can also be useful within the EU. Imagine you are in a place with poor or no mobile coverage. Without offline maps you can no longer navigate at all. In short, offline maps offer a lot of added value, and if you can also store them in Apple Maps from now on, you will need one less app on your phone.
This is how offline maps work in iOS 17
Saving offline maps in iOS 17 works in a similar way to Google Maps. So you can’t save entire countries or provinces, but choose an area in a rectangle that you want to keep offline. That works as follows:
- Open the Maps app and tap your user icon at the bottom right;
- Select ‘Offline maps>Download new map’;
- The app now asks you to find a city, but your final map can be much larger. So look for a city that falls in the area you want to download;
- A rectangle will now appear on your screen, containing the city you are looking for. Now just zoom out to make the area bigger, and resize the rectangle if necessary;
- Confirm with ‘Download’.
The downloaded maps will then appear in the overview menu ‘Offline maps’. Here you also set that you only want to download maps via WiFi and that they should be updated automatically. The option ‘Only use offline maps’ is self-explanatory, then Maps will only show the map material that is on your device.
Handy, by the way: already downloaded map material is displayed in the app when you add an extra map. That way you can easily store the entire globe – if your storage capacity allows it.
Lots of storage usage
Because Apple’s cards take up quite a bit of space. As a test, we saved the entire Benelux, and Apple’s Maps were 10 times larger than Google’s. We should mention that we know from our own experience that Google’s Maps are never completely complete. You do have the most important information, but sometimes a restaurant or shop is missing. There is a good chance that all information can be found at Apple.
Furthermore, there are few restrictions at Apple when downloading. The largest area we were able to download at one time included the Benelux, a large part of Germany, Switzerland, northern Italy, part of France and Austria. Let’s hope it stays that way in the final release.
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