Tech giant Google announced on Monday that it is rolling out an update for its Maps app for the iOS platform. The update will bring new features such as the highly requested offline maps support.

The Google Maps app's offline map support allows users to select a portion of the map and then save it locally on their device. Once saved, users can access that portion of the map even without Wi-Fi access or cellular data.

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The feature does not merely save local street layouts. Google said that saving a portion of Maps will allow users to search for destinations and local information without the need for either Wi-Fi or cellular data connection. The turn-by-turn navigation, contact details and business hours of local establishments are also saved.

This new feature has been praised by critics and users. When the app detects that there is no data connection or the connection is too slow to download content, it will prompt users to switch to the offline navigation feature. Once the phone detect the presence of a Wi-Fi connection or a faster cellular data network, it will automatically switch to online mode and activate all the features such as live traffic updates.

Users of Google Maps on iOS users need to simply update the app. For those who do not have the app yet, it can downloaded from the App Store. The latest version of the app is build 4.13.0 and it does not mention the offline navigation features. However, it does say on the description, "See popular times at more than a million places around the world."

Prior to the release of the new Google Maps update on the iOS platform, Android users had been using the offline Google Maps feature for more than a month already.

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