Save Maps For Offline Use In The New Google Maps For Android [How-To]

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Earlier today, Google released a major update for the Google Maps for Android that comes with a new UI, and a tablet optimized mode. The Navigation feature has also been enhanced with dynamic re-routing and live traffic updates. However, the new Maps is seemingly missing a few features including Latitude and Offline Maps.

While Google has announced that it will be killing off latitude on August 9th, the ability to save maps for offline use is still present but has been hidden.

For people who still use Latitude, Google has replaced it with the Locations feature now found inside the Google+ app. The company will be publicaly retiring Latitude on 9th August, so you still have some time to get used to the Locations feature.

While the new Google Maps for Android has the ability to download maps for offline use, there is no such option. Instead, users will have to enter a command in the search box to download the map of a specified area.

1. After updating to the new Google Maps, use the search box at the top to find the location whose map you want to save for offline use. Alternatively, you can navigate to the area manually that you want to save for offline use.

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2. Now, type “ok maps” in the search box at the top and Google Maps will pre-cache the Map area being shown on-screen for offline use.

While this exactly is not an intuitive way of saving maps for offline use, it should be enough to get the job done. Hopefully, Google is working on bringing the offline maps feature back to the Maps app sometime down the line.