Offline maps
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Cell service disappears exactly where the best rides happen. Flow's offline maps let you download your route and map tiles before you leave so navigation keeps working in the Sinkyone, the Lost Coast, and anywhere else the signal goes quiet.
What offline maps cover
When you download offline maps for a route or region:
- Map tiles — the visual map renders normally, including roads, terrain, and landmarks.
- Turn-by-turn instructions — the navigation banner and voice guidance continue to work.
- Charger data — nearby chargers along your route are cached so the map stays useful.
What offline maps do not cover:
- Live charger availability or real-time updates (these require a connection).
- Group ride broadcasting or spectating (live features are always online-only).
- Charger data outside your downloaded region.
Download a route before you ride
For any route over 50 miles, Flow automatically offers an offline download when you open the route. Tap Download for Offline and Flow fetches the map tiles and navigation data for the route corridor.
For shorter routes or regions not tied to a specific route:
- Open Settings → Offline Maps.
- Tap Add Region.
- Pan and zoom the map to the area you want to cover, then tap Download.
Downloads happen over Wi-Fi or mobile data. Tile size depends on the region — a typical 100-mile route corridor is a few hundred megabytes.
Manage downloaded regions
All downloaded regions appear in Settings → Offline Maps. From here you can:
- See the size and download date of each region.
- Update a region to refresh tiles if the area's map has changed.
- Delete a region to free up storage.
Using Flow offline
Once downloaded, just ride. Flow detects when the connection drops and continues from the cached data. The map looks and works normally. Voice guidance, turn-by-turn banners, and the charger display all keep working.
When signal returns, Flow reconnects automatically. Any ride data recorded offline is synced to your account when you're back online.
Tips
- Download before you leave home, not at the trailhead where cell service may already be marginal.
- Download over Wi-Fi to save mobile data and get faster tile fetches.
- Update regions periodically. Map data improves over time. If you ride the same routes regularly, refresh the download every few months.
- Charger data is a snapshot. New chargers added to the database after your download won't appear offline until you update.
- For multi-day expeditions, consider downloading a slightly wider region than your exact route in case you need to detour.