Offline Maps & Turn-by-Turn Nav
Offline-capable map and navigation apps — for spotty data, expensive roaming, or hiking out of cell range.
For building maps into your own app, see Maps & Geo. For routes designed for hiking or cycling, see Hiking & Cycling Routes. For combining offline maps with eSIM data, see eSIM & International Data. For offline-capable progressive web apps in general, see PWA.
Even with cheap eSIMs in 2026, dead zones, ferry crossings, mountain passes, and underground transit still exist — and pre-downloaded maps are noticeably faster than streaming tiles.
General-purpose offline navigation
- ★ Google Maps offline — free; "download this area" works in 80%+ of countries; routing offline is driving-only and degrades silently when traffic data isn't fresh. Default for most travelers.
- ★ Apple Maps — free; offline downloads added in iOS 17 (2023) and now solid in iOS 18; transit + driving + walking; visually best detail in major cities.
- Maps.me — free + paid (★ now ad-heavy); was the FOSS standard; sold to Daegu Limited and is now closed-source with intrusive ads.
- ★ Organic Maps — free, FOSS; the Maps.me fork without ads or tracking. Based on OpenStreetMap, fully offline by design. The 2024-26 default for privacy-conscious offline use.
- ★ ★ OsmAnd — free + paid Pro (~$30/yr or one-time per-platform); ★ ★ the most powerful FOSS offline map. Hiking, driving, cycling, contour lines, voice navigation, GPX import/export. Pro unlocks unlimited downloads and pro features. Free has a 7-region cap.
- Magic Earth — free; ★ free turn-by-turn voice navigation, ad-free, privacy-positive. Less feature-rich than OsmAnd but easier UX.
- HERE WeGo — free; offline driving / walking / transit; quality varies by country.
Where each one wins
- Cities, transit, walking: Apple Maps (iOS) or Google Maps.
- Driving across a country with shaky data: OsmAnd or Magic Earth.
- Hiking / off-road: OsmAnd, Organic Maps, or specialized apps below.
- Privacy-conscious / FOSS-first: Organic Maps + OsmAnd combo.
Specialized navigation
- Komoot — paid + free; ★ hiking and cycling-focused; route discovery + offline. See Hiking & Cycling Routes.
- Waze — free; driving with real-time crowd-sourced incidents; data-only, no offline.
- CoPilot GPS, TomTom Go, Sygic GPS — paid; old-school offline turn-by-turn dedicated apps.
OpenStreetMap data sources
- ★ OpenStreetMap — the underlying free map data for Organic Maps, OsmAnd, Komoot, Maps.me, and many others. Contributing edits via JOSM or iD helps everyone.
- OpenAndroMaps, Freizeitkarte — pre-rendered OSM map files for OsmAnd / Locus.
- Protomaps PMTiles — single-file map archives for self-hosting; see Maps & Geo.
Practical rules (2026)
- Download offline regions over Wi-Fi before flying — Google Maps will silently fall back to streaming and eat your eSIM data.
- Battery: GPS + screen-on draws hard. Pre-plan the route, lower screen brightness, switch to power-save.
- Verify routing offline: on first use after download, run a test route while still on Wi-Fi to confirm the routing graph downloaded too.
- Multi-app: serious overlanders run two apps simultaneously (Apple Maps + OsmAnd) since each fails differently.
Pick this if…
- Default phone navigation, offline-capable: Google Maps (Android) or Apple Maps (iOS), with offline regions pre-downloaded.
- FOSS / privacy: Organic Maps for daily, OsmAnd for advanced.
- Hiking, cycling, off-road: OsmAnd Pro or see Hiking & Cycling Routes.
- Free voice turn-by-turn: Magic Earth.
- You contribute back: edit OSM via iD or JOSM.