The 5 Best Offline Navigation Apps for iOS in 2023

On holiday without internet, or do you just have a small data bundle? Then you can still use your iPhone or iPad to navigate. storiesbase highlights the best offline navigation apps for you, and they are also CarPlay-enabled!

Offline navigation apps: these are our favorites

Our iPhone is an excellent tool on vacation. You keep in touch with friends and family, look for the best sights and of course you calculate a lot of routes to all kinds of destinations.

One problem: what do you do when you’re in a strange place and you want to know your way around, but you don’t have internet? Then you would do well to install a good offline maps app before your trip. Then you always know where you are. And how to get somewhere else. An additional advantage: you also save a lot of MBs from your data bundle.

All apps in this list are also compatible with Apple CarPlay , so you can see the navigation directly on the screen of your car radio. Provided that CarPlay supports, of course. You can often retrofit CarPlay with old cars .

1. Google Maps

Google’s maps app has had an extensive mode for years that allows you to easily save maps. You don’t download complete maps per country, but you save an area that you define by zooming in and out. You can then consult the offline maps in your Google account and remain on your device for a month. After that, they are automatically deleted so that you don’t get cramped in your storage space. Handy if you’re going on vacation and want to save an entire city offline just to be sure.

Google Maps has the most beautiful maps with the most details of all apps. You don’t have to make any purchases for it and if you save the areas offline in time for your vacation, there is nothing to worry about. You can also use a route function within your offline saved map. This means you have the most important functions of Google’s map service at hand, even if you do not have a mobile internet connection for a while.

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2. Waze

Waze is once again part of Google, but does it slightly differently than Google Maps. Waze is a lot more social, but one of our favorite offline navigation apps. An enthusiastic community keeps each other informed about traffic jams, speed traps and other things that affect your journey. You can also quickly send a message to your friends from the app to let them know what time you will arrive at the destination.

However, if you are careful with your data bundle, you can also use Waze offline. As long as you plan a route when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, you can hit the road offline with peace of mind. After the route has been created, Waze no longer needs an internet connection to send you in the right direction.

3. Sygic

Sygic also has an enthusiastic group of users, partly due to the extensive offline mode. By updating your maps in time when you are connected to the internet, you can also use the app offline.

Sygic has everything a good navigation app should have. Voice guidance, for example, but also a safety warning if a sharp bend or exit is approaching. When you are at your destination, the app also helps you find a parking space. In addition to the robust offline navigation maps, Sygic has some other nice features. This way you can use the iPhone in the dark to project the navigation on your windshield.

4. HERE WeGo

HERE WeGo is the most easy-to-use map download app. In the hamburger menu you will find an option to save offline maps for a specific country. You can select any country on earth, so that you always know where you are on vacation, without having to cost yourself.

The service is also owned by various German car brands, which also use the map material for navigation in their cars. So you know that the map material has always been thoroughly checked.

There are also many useful functions available. For example, HERE WeGo contains step-by-step voice navigation, extensive traffic information and a route planner to map out navigation for the car, a walking route or a journey by public transport. You can also save places so that you can find them more quickly later and travel there more easily.

5. Maps.me

Maps.me was very popular a while back, but now it suffers from quite a lot of advertisements. But hey, the app is free and does not contain in-app purchases. The maps come straight from OpenStreetMap, without much modification. So you have to trust that the group of people who enter the data is also working accurately. A bit like Wikipedia.

The app also has a route function and automatically maps out routes for you. You can also see exactly where you are with the help of GPS. Finally, there is a night mode, so that you are not blinded by the bright light of your iPhone in the dark.