Google Maps still available offline via “OK Maps” easter egg in Android app update

The Google Maps for Android update has arrived bringing a new design and new features, while removing others and sort-of hiding the offline mode.

Luckily, there’s a sort-of easter egg feature that will let you still enjoy offline maps whenever there’s no Internet connection available. The feature is called “OK Maps” – or better said that’s what you’ll have to search for inside the app to enable offline maps.

In order to save maps and access them offline, you’ll have to go to the map region that you want to save, type “ok maps” into the search bar (or “okay maps” as shown in the image above by TechCrunch) and the map area will be saved for offline browsing.

The feature may not be as straightforward as the old “make available offline” button, but it will still help you cache a copy of the area you want to access while offline using Google Maps. Naturally, Google Maps features that require an Internet connection will not work on the saved map.

Furthermore, the “My Maps” functionality is now available in this version, but should return in future updates of the app.

We did say that some Google Maps features have been removed from Google Maps and these are Latitude and check-ins. They’ll be retired from old Google Maps versions starting with August 9, so even if you don’t update to the most recent Google Maps version – or if your device isn’t compatible with the latest Google Maps update – you won’t be able to use them in the future.