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How do I prepare my iPhone for offline navigation before a trip?

By Chad, founder · Verified for 1.3.1 on October 21, 2026

Get the phone ready before you leave. Once the signal drops, the phone can only show what’s already on it, and with a state downloaded, that’s nearly everything.

Steps

  1. Download your state. Open Tools → Offline maps, pick your state and download it. Wi-Fi is best, since a state is a big download, but cellular works too. One download per state, no boxes to draw. It carries the topo, contours, terrain, roads and trails, the Forest Service’s motor vehicle use maps, public land, water, place names and the routing pack, and reaches up to 25 miles past the state line. Riding into the next state? Download that one too. Once it’s on the phone, it updates itself over Wi-Fi when new map data comes out.
  2. Check your ride is covered. In Layers, turn on Trip-ready coverage. It shades everywhere the map, search and routing are all on the phone. If the country you plan to ride sits inside the shading, you’re set.
  3. Add satellite for an area, if you want it. Satellite imagery streams with a signal. To have it offline, draw an area under Tools → Offline maps and add satellite for it.
  4. Plan the route, or bring one in. Plan it in the app, or bring in a GPX (see the GPX guide). Inside a downloaded state, planning works the same with no signal as it does at home: it snaps to the roads and trails and shows the miles, the climb and your fuel range. Spot a trail from camp you want to try tomorrow? Plan it right there.
  5. Turn on Siri for SK Maps. iOS asks once whether to turn on SK Maps shortcuts. If you dismissed it, open the Shortcuts app and switch them on under App Shortcuts. For marking with the screen off, allow Always location.
  6. Test it in airplane mode. Turn on airplane mode. Zoom in: contours, roads and public land should draw. Tap a numbered road. Search a creek or a pass nearby. Say “Hey Siri, mark a hazard in SK Maps” and watch the pin land. If all of that works, the phone is ready.
  7. Start a trip. Tap Start a trip before you roll. Every waypoint, ride and route you add files itself under it, so the weekend stays together.

What still needs a signal

The weather forecast, snow, smoke, air quality, fire perimeters and river readings. Satellite and the USGS topo base stream unless you added them for a drawn area. Everything else in a downloaded state works with no signal: the map, search, planning a new route, recording, following a route and the off-route buzz.

What the download needs

Downloading a state and using it offline are part of the paid features: the annual plan, which starts with a 14-day free trial, or the One-Time Unlock. Recording, waypoints, trips, import and export are free. See pricing.

Back it up

iCloud backup is on by default, to your own iCloud. For a copy you hold yourself, Tools → Import & export → Export all data writes one file with every waypoint, track, trip, photo and setting.

Get SK Maps

SK Maps: Offroad GPS is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, free to try for two weeks on the annual plan. More in the guides and support.