Offline Maps on Apple Watch

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alasta

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#318298 5-Jan-2025 11:46

Has anyone managed to get offline maps working properly on an Apple Watch? When I download a map to my watch it works fine for about a week at which point I get a notification on the watch telling me that I can't use the map any more because I need to download a new version of it. This appears to require me to go into Apple Maps on my phone, turn off the 'sync with apple watch' setting, then turn it back on again in order to force a refresh of the maps.

Should it not be refreshing regularly when it's on the charger? Is it normal to have to repeat this manual procedure every week in order to keep the same maps available on the watch?

For reference, here are the settings I have selected:

boosacnoodle

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#3327835 5-Jan-2025 15:02

Do you have more than one Apple Watch paired? Ie for use overnight

alasta

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#3327863 5-Jan-2025 16:33

No, definitely just one.

alasta

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#3348389 27-Feb-2025 16:02

As an update, I have read the documentation on Apple's support site but there is nothing beyond what I am already doing. I noticed that the offline maps settings contains an instruction to have both iPhone and Apple Watch both connected to wifi while the watch is charging - I have checked this but to no avail.

I rang Apple earlier this week and the person I spoke with confirmed that the offline maps on the watch are supposed to update automatically but she wasn't able to confirm the refresh interval or what triggers the refresh. She talked me through the process of unpairing and repairing the watch, but this had a whole lot of unintended consequences and did not resolve the original problem.

The only remaining solution is to let the maps to expire from the watch - which typically occurs every week or two - and then force a refresh by manually toggling the 'sync with Apple Watch' option.

I am not impressed. Garmin's implementation of maps is far more seamless.

wellygary

8274 posts

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#3348391 27-Feb-2025 16:15

It certainly looks like you are not alone in being frustrated by "expiring" maps

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255283618?sortBy=rank

alasta

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#3365140 18-Apr-2025 10:34

I have an update for the benefit of anyone who might be interested in this issue. The advisory message that comes up on the Apple Watch after a couple of weeks has changed from:

"Update your Apple Watch maps to continue using them."

to:

"New maps are available."

There is still no option to download these refreshed maps, so the only way to do it is to disable and reenable the 'sync to Apple Watch' setting. The good news is that the maps no longer appear to be expiring, so hopefully this means that I can just keep using them and perform the manual procedure to force a refresh once or twice a year.