Google has announced that Wear OS smartwatches are getting offline Google Maps support – which means you can sync maps to your wrist to get directions and information even if there's no connected phone or internet access available.
The new feature, announced via a blog post, means Google Maps on a watch can now function in a similar way to Google Maps on a phone or tablet: offline maps saved locally can be loaded up when there's no connection to the web.
This does mean you miss out on real-time information on traffic conditions, but most of the standard Google Maps functions are still available. You can, for example, get walking directions from one spot to another just as you would normally.
Google doesn't specify which watches this will work on, so we're assuming it's more modern Wear OS devices. It looks as though some models, including the Pixel Watch 2, the Pixel Watch 3, and the Galaxy Watch 4, have already received the necessary update.
How to use offline maps
When the update reaches your Wear OS device, you should see a message the next time you open up Google Maps on your watch: "Offline maps on the phone are auto-downloaded to the watch."
It seems that a map for your home area (if you've got a home location set) is automatically downloaded to Wear OS, and maps you've saved through Google Maps for Android should also automatically sync across to your wrist – in the app on your phone, tap your profile picture (top right), then Offline maps to get started.
In the Google Maps for Wear OS menu, alongside recent locations and a link to the app settings, there should be a new Offline maps option, too. Tap on this to see what's been saved and to delete map regions if necessary.
The process of using the map should be more or less the same, with Google Maps falling back to using the map tiles stored locally when it needs to. It means Wear OS currently beats the best Apple Watches in this area for now, though more offline features are coming to Apple Maps on the Apple Watch with watchOS 11.
