How Do I Enable Offline Search on My iPhone?

If you’re like most smartphone users, you probably don’t leave home without your phone. You’re constantly using it for your work and personal life, and you never know when something may come up that you need right away.

But what happens when you run out of data or you’re in a dead zone?

Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to turn on offline search. 

In this post, we’ll show you how to enable offline search on your iPhone or Android and what popular apps are available in offline mode.

What is offline search?

Offline search is a very handy, and relatively new, feature that has been introduced by Google. It works on any device that can complete a successful google search which includes iPhone and Android devices alike. 

Essentially, offline search is where you place a search into google even if you have no internet at the time, and a notification of the results will come up as soon as you connected again.

When you first hear of this feature you may think what it is useful for. The truth is, even though it may seem a little useless at first, offline search does in fact have many benefits and uses in a variety of situations.

What are the benefits of offline search? 

Imagine you are on a long aeroplane ride and have forgotten to check what rental services are available at your destination, or the silence just makes you think of a burning question that you must know the answer to. The offline search feature allows you to input your queries and questions into the search bar and as soon as you land and have access to signal, it will send you a notification of the results. 

Offline search is also handy for those who live in an area with a weak signal, who don’t have access to a steady data plan, who don’t have a reliable Wi-Fi connection, or who are required to keep airplane mode enabled on their phone all day for their job. 

This feature means that they can line up all their searches and easily get back to them and view the results when they get a chance and find an internet connection or some signal. This could be at home, a friend’s place, a café, or any other area where a good signal or wifi is available.

How do I enable offline search?

Before starting the process to enable offline search, you need to have the latest update of the Google app installed on your device. To make sure your app is updated, follow the steps outlined below. 

Android

1. Open the Google Play Store on your Android device.
2. Swipe right from the left edge.
3. Tap My Apps & Games.
4. Locate and tap the Google entry.
5. If you see an UPDATE button, tap it.
6. Allow the update to fully complete.

iPhone 

1. Open the App Store on your device. 
2. Press the account button in the top right-hand corner. 
3. Scroll down to view your available updates. 
4. Find Google and click on the UPDATE button next to it. 
5. Wait for the update to be fully installed before continuing. 

Now that you have the latest version of the Google app on your device, you can continue with the process. First, you will need to put your phone into airplane mode so you can both enable and test this feature. 

Now open the Google app (please note that this will not work if you are using the Google search widget on your home screen) and enter your phrase into the search box. Because you have no wifi or signal, a little pop-up box will show up informing you that the Google app will remember your search and notify you when it’s ready.

Tap that notification entry and press OK, and Google will save the search. Now when you turn off airplane mode you will receive an alert from the Google app that your search results are ready to view. 

Or, you can go to Settings > Offline search within the google app to turn on “Always retry searches”. This allows you to always get notifications whenever one of your search results is ready.

How do I disable offline search? 

If you no longer require the feature, or just simply want to switch it off when it is not in use, then follow these steps to do so. 

1. Launch the Google application. 
2. Click on the Menu icon in the top-left corner of the screen to allow the menu to slide out. 
3. Tap on Settings which you will find between the Customise and Send feedback options.
4. Click on Offline Search. 
5. Toggle on the grey switch, right across the Always retry searches text to switch the feature off. 

And that’s it! Please note that if you are switching off the feature to save battery life, be rest assured that offline search does not drain your battery whilst in use. 

What Apps Can I Use In Offline Mode? 

Just because you don’t have signal or access to the internet, does not render everything on your device to be useless. There are many applications that support offline use so you can still get things done even if you find yourself stuck in a dead zone. 

If you’re looking for entertainment and have a Spotify premium account you can still listen to all your downloaded music offline. Or sign in to your Netflix account to watch your favourite tv shows and movies that you downloaded beforehand. 

If you would rather spend some time getting work done, you can enable offline mode onto your Google drive. To do this, Open Google Drive then next to the file, tap More. To save a file offline, tap Make available offline. NOw you can edit and view files in your drive even if you don’t have access to a Wi-Fi or mobile network.

How To Download Google Maps For Offline Use

Although many people think that Google maps only works when you are connected to the internet, the truth is that it’s also available offline, Yes, you can download maps for a particular region locally on your phone and use it to navigate your way around a town without any signal. 

Follow these steps to successfully download google maps for offline use on your device: 

1. Launch the Google Maps app on your phone and search for the place you’re headed to.
2.  Click on the three dots at the top right-hand corner to view the additional settings menu.
3.  Select’ download offline map’.

And there you have it. So the next time you find yourself stranded in the city without any network setting, you should be able to find your way back or home (or to the nearest train station) swiftly.