People are just noticing mind-blowing Google Maps trick – it’s a total life-saver

GOOGLE Maps has a clever trick that everyone should know: offline maps.

It might not sound so handy, but it could save you in a pickle.

Google Maps / The SunYou can very easily download offline maps on Google Maps[/caption]

Google Maps / The SunChoose an area to store and then download it ahead of a trip[/caption]

Have you ever been lost and couldn’t get Google Maps to work? It’s a common problem.

Maybe you’re on holiday in a different country, or you’ve decided to climb up a mountain.

Whatever the case, losing phone signal can seriously scupper your navigation.

Thankfully it’s extremely easy to download Offline Maps with the Google Maps app.

This means you can still navigate even when you don’t have phone signal.

You’ll be able to see the map because it’s pre-downloaded to your phone.

And if you have GPS or you can mark your location, you can even use navigation features.

This is not only really useful but potentially even life-saving in certain situations.

How to download Offline Maps on Google Maps

Downloading Google Maps for offline use is very easy.

If you tried to download the entirety of Google Maps, it would be a truly enormous file.

So instead, Google lets you choose an area, or even drag a selector to create your own map region.

This means you can be quite specific about the areas you’ve downloaded.

Maybe you just want to download the map for a single city, or a large area of wilderness.

First, go into the Google Maps app on your iOS or Android device.

Then tap on your profile picture and look for Offline Maps.

Now choose Select Your Own Map, and use your fingers to create a rectangular space.

As you create your map selection, you’ll be able to see how much storage space it will take up.

So be mindful about choosing an amount of “map” that’s unnecessarily large.

Once that’s done, press download and you’re sorted.

You’ll also need to make sure that you’re on WiFi (or you’ve chosen to allow cellular downloads) to store your maps. That means planning your downloads ahead of time.

When you’re done downloading, you’ll be able to see stored maps in Offline Maps.

So if you’re in a chosen area, your Google Maps should still work.

And once you’re done with the trip, you can simply delete the downloaded map to free up some space.

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