Wear OS watches including the Pixel Watch 3 are now getting offline Google Maps

Use Google Maps without a signal

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Google Mapsis even more useful when it works offline, because it means it can help in places with poor or no cellular coverage – and offline support forGoogleMaps is now rolling out to smartwatches running Wear OS, including the newPixel Watch 3.

This is an upgrade that had previously been announced, and as9to5Googlereports, is now showing up for users. It’s not clear what limits there will be on which models get an offline mode for Google Maps, but it’s also showing up on thePixel Watch 2.

According toSamMobile, the update is also now reaching Galaxy watches running Wear OS, including the newSamsung Galaxy Watch Ultraand going at least as far back as theSamsung Galaxy Watch 4that launched in 2021.

Once the update has arrived, opening Google Maps on the watch brings up a new message: “Offline maps on the phone are auto-downloaded to the watch.” There’s also an extra Offline maps page added in the Settings in Google Maps for Wear OS.

Navigate anywhere

It looks as though maps for your home area are downloaded to the watch automatically, while offline maps synced to Google Maps on your phone are transferred across too. If you want more offline maps, it seems as though you have to save them on your phone first.

All of this means that if you have a Wi-Fi only Wear OS watch without a phone nearby, you’ll still be able to navigate around areas covered by offline maps. If you have a Wi-Fi+LTE Wear OS but no cellular signal, offline maps will help here too.

Of course even on thebest smartwatches, storage space is more limited than it is on smartphones, so you might not be able to keep as many maps stored. You can delete maps you no longer need right from your wrist.

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Head to ourGoogle Pixel Watch 3 hands-onfor our first impressions of the smartwatch, Google Maps features and all. It’ll beApple’s turn to launch new smartwatches next month, specifically theApple Watch 10andApple Watch Ultra 3.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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