Introduction: Apple Maps Is More Than Just Directions
Most iPhone owners open Apple Maps only when they need directions, type in a destination, and close it when they arrive. That is like owning a Swiss Army knife and only using the blade. Hidden inside Apple Maps are two features that can genuinely change how you travel: offline maps, which keep working when you have no signal, and Guides, which collect the best places in a city into beautiful, shareable collections. Together, they turn Apple Maps from a simple navigation app into a proper travel companion.
In this guide, you will learn how to use Apple Maps on your iPhone, with a focus on offline maps and Guides. You will learn how to download a map before a trip so you can navigate without mobile data, how to create your own Guides for places you love, how to follow Guides made by travel experts, and how to get the most out of Apple Maps’ everyday features along the way. Everything here uses the built-in Maps app, so there is nothing extra to install and nothing to pay for.
Offline maps are especially useful in situations you might not expect. Driving through a rural area with patchy coverage, travelling abroad without a local data plan, hiking in the mountains, or simply trying to save battery and data all become easier when your maps live on your phone. Guides, meanwhile, are perfect for planning: instead of a scattered list of screenshots and notes, you get an organised collection of restaurants, sights, and hidden gems that you can open with one tap and share with travelling companions.
Getting Around Apple Maps: The Basics
Open the Maps app on your iPhone. The first thing you see is a map of your current area, with a search bar at the bottom. Tap the search bar and type a place name, an address, or a type of place, such as “coffee” or “pharmacy”. Apple Maps will show matching results with photos, ratings, hours, and reviews where available. Tap a result to see its full place card, which is where most of the useful features live.
A place card is worth exploring. It usually shows the address, phone number, website, and opening hours, plus buttons for directions, calling, and sharing. Scroll down and you will often find photos, reviews, and a section called “Good to Know” with details like whether a place is wheelchair accessible or accepts cards. At the bottom of many place cards, you will find the option to add the place to a Guide, which we will come back to shortly.
For directions, tap Directions on a place card or search for a destination, then choose how you are travelling: driving, walking, cycling, or public transit, where available. Apple Maps shows you the route, the estimated time, and turn-by-turn instructions. You can also tap the three dots or the route options to avoid toll roads or motorways if you prefer. If you use an Apple Watch, directions can tap your wrist at each turn, which is handy when your phone is in your pocket.
Before You Start: Check These Settings
Before downloading offline maps, make sure your iPhone has enough free storage. Offline maps can be large, especially for big cities, so check your available space in Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage. If storage is tight, download a smaller area, or delete an old offline map you no longer need. You can manage downloaded maps from inside the Maps app, as described below.
It is also best to download maps while connected to Wi-Fi. Apple Maps may warn you if you try to download over mobile data, and a large map can consume a significant chunk of a data allowance. Plug your phone in or make sure it has plenty of battery, too, because a download interrupted by a dead battery will simply need to be started again.
Finally, check that Location Services are switched on for Maps. Go to Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Location Services, then Maps, and choose “While Using the App” or “Always” if you want background directions. Without location access, Maps cannot show where you are on the map, which defeats much of the purpose of an offline map.
Step 1: Download an Offline Map Before Your Trip
Open Apple Maps and search for the city or area you want to download, for example the city you are visiting next weekend. Once the map is showing that area, tap your profile picture or initials in the top corner of the screen. This opens your Maps account menu. Tap “Offline Maps” in the menu. If you do not see it immediately, look under the Maps settings section of the menu.
On the Offline Maps screen, tap “Download New Map”. Apple Maps will suggest the area currently on your screen, and you can adjust the download area by pinching to zoom in or out and dragging the map. A smaller area downloads faster and uses less storage, while a larger area covers more of your trip. Aim for an area that covers your hotel, the sights you plan to visit, and the routes between them, with a little margin around the edges.
When you are happy with the area, tap Download. Apple Maps will download the map data, including roads, place names, and points of interest for that area. A progress indicator shows how far along it is. Leave the app open or let it finish in the background, and wait for the confirmation that the download is complete. The map is now stored on your phone and ready to use without an internet connection.
Step 2: Use Your Offline Map Without Internet
To test your offline map, you can temporarily switch your phone to Airplane Mode, or simply wait until you are in an area with no signal. Open Apple Maps and search for a place inside the downloaded area. You should see results, place details, and directions just as you would online, although some details that require the internet, such as live traffic, real-time transit departures, and the very latest reviews, may be unavailable.
Navigation works offline for driving, walking, and cycling routes within the downloaded area. Enter your destination, choose your mode of transport, and follow the turn-by-turn directions as usual. Voice guidance continues to work, which makes offline maps genuinely practical for driving in areas where coverage drops in and out. If your route takes you outside the downloaded area, Apple Maps will warn you that part of the route is not available offline, so download a generous area when you can.
One limitation to keep in mind: offline maps do not include live traffic information or road closure updates that depend on a live connection. If you are driving somewhere with frequent roadworks or congestion, check the route while you still have a connection, and treat the offline route as a reliable fallback rather than a live-updating guide. For most trips, that fallback is exactly what you need.
Step 3: Manage, Update, and Delete Offline Maps
Offline maps are not frozen forever. Roads change, new places open, and Apple updates its map data regularly. To manage your maps, return to the Offline Maps screen from your profile menu. Here you will see a list of every map you have downloaded, along with its size and the date it was last updated.
Apple Maps can update offline maps automatically when you are connected to Wi-Fi and charging, depending on your settings on the same screen. Look for an option about automatic updates and make sure it is switched on if you want your maps to stay fresh without thinking about it. If you prefer manual control, you can update a map yourself from its entry in the list.
When a trip is over, delete its offline map to free up storage. On the Offline Maps screen, swipe on the map’s entry or tap it for a delete option. Deleting an offline map does not affect anything else on your phone, and you can always download the area again later. Making this a habit after each trip keeps your storage tidy and your map list short.
Step 4: Create Your Own Guide of Favourite Places
Guides are collections of places grouped around a theme, and creating one is simple. Find a place you want to save, for example a restaurant you loved, and open its place card. Scroll down and tap “Add to Guide” or the save option, then choose “New Guide”. Give your Guide a name, such as “Kyoto Food Trip” or “Weekend in Lisbon”, and optionally add a photo. The place is now saved to your new Guide.
To add more places, repeat the process: search for a place, open its card, and add it to the same Guide. You can build a Guide gradually over days or weeks as you research a trip, adding restaurants, museums, parks, and hotels as you discover them. Each Guide keeps its places in one organised list, with a map showing all of them at once, which makes planning routes between them much easier.
To view your Guides, tap your profile picture in Maps and look for the Guides section, or search for the Guide’s name. Opening a Guide shows its places on a map and in a list, with photos and details for each. You can edit a Guide at any time: rename it, change its photo, add or remove places, or reorder them to match the order you plan to visit them.
Step 5: Follow Expert Guides and Share Your Own
You do not have to build every Guide from scratch. Apple Maps features Guides created by trusted travel brands and local experts, covering cities and themes from food tours to hiking trails. To find them, search for a city, then look for a Guides section on the city’s place card or in the search results. Tapping a Guide opens it, and you can follow it to keep it in your own Guides list.
Following an expert Guide is a great way to discover places you would never find on your own, especially in a city you are visiting for the first time. Expert Guides often include context about why each place is special, which makes them more useful than a plain list of top-rated spots. You can also combine them with your own Guide: follow an expert Guide for inspiration, then save your favourites from it into your personal trip Guide.
Sharing a Guide is just as easy as creating one. Open the Guide, tap the share button, and send it to friends or family by message, email, or any other sharing option. They will receive a link that opens the Guide in Apple Maps on their own iPhone. If you are planning a group trip, a shared Guide means everyone is looking at the same list of places, which avoids the usual confusion of scattered recommendations in a group chat.
Step 6: Put Offline Maps and Guides Together on a Real Trip
Here is how the two features work together on a real trip. A week before you travel, create a Guide for the trip and add every place you want to visit. Then download an offline map covering the whole area of your Guide. When you arrive, open your Guide, pick the next place, and get directions, all without worrying about whether you have a local SIM card or a data plan.
During the trip, use your Guide as a daily plan. Each morning, open it and see which places are nearby. If you discover a great cafe or viewpoint that was not in your plan, add it to the Guide on the spot, so you remember it later and can recommend it to others. When you get home, your Guide becomes a record of the trip, which you can share with friends who ask for recommendations.
This combination also helps with battery life. Because offline maps do not need a constant data connection, your phone uses less power searching for signal in weak-coverage areas. That extra battery can matter a lot on a long day of sightseeing, when charging opportunities are few and far between.
Tips for Getting the Most from Apple Maps
- Download offline maps the night before a trip, on Wi-Fi, so you are never caught without one.
- Download a slightly larger area than you think you need, so detours and wrong turns stay inside the offline coverage.
- Name Guides clearly with the city and theme, so you can find them months later without guessing.
- Add places to a Guide as soon as you discover them, rather than relying on screenshots you will never sort through.
- Check opening hours on place cards before setting off, especially for smaller restaurants and attractions.
- Use the “Report an Issue” option on a place card if you spot a wrong address or closed business, which helps other travellers too.
- Share your Guide with travel companions before the trip, so everyone has the same plan on their own phone.
Troubleshooting: When Offline Maps or Guides Do Not Work
If you cannot find the Offline Maps option, check that your iPhone’s software is up to date. Offline maps are a relatively recent Apple Maps feature, and older software versions may not include it. Go to Settings, then General, then Software Update, and install any available update. After updating, reopen Maps and check the profile menu again.
If a download fails or stalls, check your Wi-Fi connection and your free storage. A weak Wi-Fi signal can interrupt large downloads, and insufficient storage will stop a download outright. Free up space by deleting an old offline map or unused apps, then try again. Restarting your phone also clears temporary download glitches.
If navigation does not work offline, confirm that your destination is inside the downloaded area. A destination just outside the boundary will not have offline road data. Download a larger area, or download a second map covering the missing region. Also confirm that Location Services are enabled for Maps, since without them the app cannot track your position.
If a Guide does not appear on a friend’s phone after sharing, ask them to check that they opened the link in Apple Maps rather than in a web browser preview. Shared Guides work best when opened directly in the Maps app on an iPhone. If the link still does not work, try sharing it again, or share the individual places from the Guide instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Are offline maps in Apple Maps free?
Yes. Downloading and using offline maps in Apple Maps is free. You only need an iPhone with enough storage and a Wi-Fi connection for the initial download.
2. Do offline maps include everything the online map has?
Almost everything you need for navigation: roads, place names, points of interest, and directions. Live traffic, real-time transit updates, and the latest reviews require an internet connection and are not available offline.
3. How much storage does an offline map use?
It depends on the size of the area. A small town uses very little, while a large city uses considerably more. Apple Maps shows the size before you download, so you can adjust the area to fit your available storage.
4. Can I use Guides without an internet connection?
Your own Guides will open offline, and places inside a downloaded offline map will show their details. Photos and the latest reviews in a Guide may need a connection to load fully, so download the map and open the Guide once while online before you go offline.
5. Can Android users open a Guide I share?
Guides are an Apple Maps feature, so they open properly in Apple Maps on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Someone on Android can view a shared link in a browser in a limited way, but the full Guide experience requires an Apple device.
6. Do offline maps expire?
They do not expire suddenly, but they can become out of date as roads and places change. Apple Maps can update them automatically on Wi-Fi, and you can also update or re-download a map manually from the Offline Maps screen.
Final Thoughts: Travel with Confidence, Signal or Not
Offline maps remove one of the biggest anxieties of travelling: the fear of being lost without a connection. Guides remove another: the chaos of scattered recommendations and forgotten restaurant names. Together, they make Apple Maps a tool you plan with, not just a tool you panic-open when you are already lost.
Before your next trip, take ten minutes to build a Guide and download a map. It is a small investment that pays off every time your phone shows full directions in a place where the signal bars have disappeared. Happy travels, and may your maps always be downloaded before you need them.
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