Smartwatches are ridiculously popular, and while I can’t run the numbers as to the percentage of smartphone owners who have a smartwatch to pair with it, I’m almost certain that you know at least one person who has a smartwatch if you don’t have one yourself.
They’re so popular because they bring plenty of utility, even for people who don’t use them for fitness and health. Case in point, you can use Google Maps on your Wear OS smartwatch, and with a recent update, you can now navigate even without an internet connection.
Just Like Your Android Smartphone, Your Wear OS Watch Is Getting Offline Google Maps
Google Maps has been available on Wear OS for quite some time now. After all, the screen of a smartwatch might be small, but it is certainly big enough for you to be able to do some basic navigation. However, you’d have to have the watch connected to the internet over Wi-Fi or LTE to be able to use this feature. Yep, there was no support for using Google Maps on your smartwatch offline, like you can with your Android device.
Thankfully, that’s about to change now, and that’s huge. This is coming just about a week after the launch of the latest Wear OS smartwatch, the Google Pixel Watch 3. Now, if you have Wear OS, Google Maps will be getting support for offline maps, and that’s about to change a whole lot with how you use your smartwatch to get around.
With this feature now, maps in your area are going to be downloaded automatically to your smartwatch so that even when you don’t have an internet connection, you’ll find yourself easily able to navigate to places in your vicinity. Obviously, this won’t work if the offline map isn’t on your device.
What Do I Need To Do To Get This Feature?
This feature is available in a beta version of Google Maps for Wear OS. The Google Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch families are expected to get access, but at the moment, it has been confirmed to be available on the Google Pixel Watch 2 and Watch 3, as well as the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch Ultra. At the moment though, it is still rolling out.
When the feature gets to your smartwatch, you’ll have an “Offline Maps” prompt show up when you first open the new version of Google Maps, and it will have its own section in the menu too.
Paired With Vibrational Navigation, You’ll Be Able To Keep Your Phone In Your Pocket For Longer
Now that you can use Google Maps without even needing to connect your phone or turn on your internet, you can make sure that your gorgeous smartphone stays in your pocket for longer and away from the ravenous glare of people who might want to snatch it out of your hands and take for the hills.
Plus, since Wear OS smartwatches support haptic feedback to tell you when a turn is coming up, you don’t even need to keep checking your wrist either. Just keep walking until it tells you when it is time to turn.
