Three best offline map apps for road trips and GPS navigation like a sat nav
If you don’t want to rack up roaming charges or rely on a data connection in remote places, try one of these apps with offline sat-nav features
If travel is about finding yourself, it has got a lot easier in recent years with the launch of some excellent mapping apps. If you’re driving – and particularly if you’re on a road trip – the turn-by-turn directions offered by such apps are incredible.
However, if you want to resist roaming charges and/or visit remote areas without mobile phone coverage, you do have to do some preparatory work before you leave home. Even if you use them in offline mode, it’s wise to be wary of using your phone’s GPS too much, which will quickly run down the battery.
In-flight tracking app for window-seat fans tells you where in the world you are and what’s going on below
Those warnings aside, these three free apps on both iOS and Android are all worth considering for your next road trip.
1. Google Maps
It’s the go-to mapping app for many, but Google Maps has only recently permitted offline use, and the way it does so is curiously cumbersome. Instead of downloading specific cities, countries or regions, you have to highlight an area of the map you want to download by pinching the screen to zoom in and out.