How well does citymapper work offline?

Google maps downloaded for offline use have worked well for me. Place your phone in airplane mode and it’s a GPS. No idea about citymapper.

I can't answer your primary question because I have only ever used it online. I'd like to suggest that you try an esim and do use data when traveling. I first started using esims last year after reading about them several times on this forum. It has been a huge game changer. Real time access to information while traveling, no matter whether there is wifi or not.

I encourage you to give it an esim a try. Not expensive, but boy does it make a difference.

I agree on the advice to use an eSIM. We started using them last year in countries not covered by our free roaming and it is so much easier than trying to constantly find wifi and download everything to your phone before you go out. They are really inexpensive and simple to use. We have used Nomad but there are many other companies as well.

I'm using a Giffgaff esim right now. Easy to buy, convenient, gives me 15 GB of data plus a local phone number. Can't beat it. Cost me 10 GBP for 30 days' use.

It's an English number, and I might or might not continue to use it once we're in France.

I dont think it would. I just shut off my wifi and tried to use CityMapper and it couldn't find any location in a downloaded city. When you think about it, it probably can't store every single possible destination in a city in the download. And can't tell where you are. But it also needs that wifi to get the real time info that is so helpful. It will tell you, for example, which subway train is arriving at the station in so many minutes.

jules, I agree with the others about getting an eSIM—it makes all the difference in the world. I use T-Mobile now, as it has a free int'l plan but before that I would buy an Airalo eSIM. It's inexpensive and works so well. You don't have to worry about the amount of data you're using, and if you run low, you just top it off. I highly recommend this. It makes travel so much easier.

According to CityMapper it works offline to check schedules - this page has details how to do that: https://citymapper.com/news/1282/offline-support

I think that as long as you've downloaded the city map on your phone, you'd have access to schedules and routes, but not necessarily live updates (late/delayed trains, suggestions for best car to sit in, etc.). I had an occasion or two in the London underground where my cell reception wasn't fantastic and the app worked fine, but honestly I didn't notice if it was offline!

FWIW, I have a Google Fi eSIM that I use for travel. I have the plan you pay a base rate for the line and then $10 per gig for data as you go. On a 11 day trip to Amsterdam and London using my phone for CityMapper, internet, etc. I used 1.2 GB of data ($12).

I appreciate all the suggestions/comments.

Sounds like I should stick with maps.me and google offline, which have always worked well for me. (Except for not having live data and public transportation) We will only be driving for a few days in the North York Moors, and I suspect, the cell service may not be great there. It seems the only time I've wanted cell service for car navigation, the cell service/navigation ended up being so bad, it wasn't worth it. One example, rural eastern/central Belgium, massive construction work on secondary roads, when I switched to data, google still couldn't figure out a route, and that was after a struggle with it trying to locate us.

I'm hesitant to try to esim, because I lose my phone number, and I don't want one more hassle at the beginning of a trip when we are tired and getting off a plane and boarding a train. Also, my husband never uses his phone enough to warrant getting esim for him, and should we become separated or need to find each other, the plan is always to take our phones off airplane and call/message each other.

Jules m, as a test I just tried Citymapper (with data) to get me from York Minster to North York Moors National Park. Response " end is out of bounds".

I'm hesitant to try to esim, because I lose my phone number, and I
don't want one more hassle at the beginning of a trip when we are
tired and getting off a plane and boarding a train.

I'm not a techie, but I believe if your phone can handle two sims, you can have both turned on at the same time and set what each sim is responsible for (as long as your carrier allows you to add a second sim). When I travel, I turn off my home number sim and make the eSIM primary for phone and data. Assuming your phone works similarly, I believe you could have an eSim set as primary for data and your use your regular phone sim for phone calls (with data turned off). Smarter people than me can weigh in on this though, I only know my very specific situation ;)

Yes, you can have more than one line on at a time. What I do is combine esim with What's App where I can make telephone calls without any difficulty with the esim.

It makes sense to take advantage of technology that makes life or travel easier. Turning on an esim is as easy as pushing a button on your phone. Maybe 2 seconds of time? I'm not trying to pressure you, just reassure you that your worries are unfounded. You could do this easily. My guess is that once you tried it, you would never go back to not using them.

It would say that about York Minster to North Yorkshire Moors National Park because Citymapper on!y works in urban areas as a whole. It isnt the be all and end all as so many people on here claim.

It can't even get you from York to Thirsk or Skipton to Grassington.

North West and Yorkshire is a misnomer.

In WA state I've just tried one of my test routes again Seattle to Cle Elum. It used to gjve me a driving route, but not a transit route. Now I get the out of range message as it ends coverage at North Bend.

Likewise Seattle to Port Townsend. Nothing.

Stuart, I was just wanting to let Jules know that even if she had Citymapper, it wouldn't work for her plans.

I'm not a techie, but I believe if your phone can handle two sims, you can have both turned on at the same time and set what each sim is responsible for (as long as your carrier allows you to add a second sim). When I travel, I turn off my home number sim and make the eSIM primary for phone and data. Assuming your phone works similarly, I believe you could have an eSim set as primary for data and your use your regular phone sim for phone calls (with data turned off). Smarter people than me can weigh in on this though, I only know my very specific situation ;)

I think the manner in which data, phone calling and data priorities are set may depend could be a function of operating system. My Google Pixel 9 runs Android 16, and I can set priority for each of the above functions separately. My old Samsung, running an earlier Android version, was not so easy to set up for dual-SIM operation.

Right now my data and phone call priority is the British eSIM, while the text priority is my US SIM, as they don't charge me for overseas texts. Note that I don't "lose" my US phone number. I just gain a British one.

It would say that about York Minster to North Yorkshire Moors National Park because Citymapper on!y works in urban areas as a whole. It isnt the be all and end all as so many people on here claim.

Hence the City in its very name

How well does citymapper work offline?

Not at all, I would imagine, since it is always feeding from live data from the transit system(s) in question.

Good point re. City mapper, Kim. My point, with the North Moors example was in response to acquiring a eSIM, and that I am most likely to need cell service/data when outside of a city. Within a city, I usually do quite well with maps.me or Google maps offline. I had just heard so much about citymapper, I thought I’d give it a try.

Actually, by the time I get to a city, I’m pretty well orientated by all the time spent staring at a map in my planning.

Note that for offline Google Maps in airplane mode, while GPS may position you on the map, Directions, with instructions for turns, etc. most likely will not work.

@mark, both google maps and maps.me work offline and provides step by step instructions, if the applicable maps have been downloaded. Its easy to down load maps on both of them. I've been using maps.me for years, and have used google maps in the U.S., and in Europe and New Zealand, offline.

“Note that for offline Google Maps in airplane mode, while GPS may position you on the map, Directions, with instructions for turns, etc. most likely will not work.”

This is not correct. The whole point of downloading Google Maps to your phone to use offline is that step by step instructions do work. I too have used downloaded Google maps all over the world, from the Caribbean to New Zealand and it worked like a charm everywherecharm
The only thing that doesn’t work of course is real life traffic updates etc.

The only thing that doesn’t work of course is real life traffic updates etc.

What doesn't work in airplane mode:

Public transport - "Can't seem to find a way there. Try a Google Search."
Walking - "Can't seem to find a way there. Try a Google Search."
Bicycle - "Can't seem to find a way there. Try a Google Search."

Driving does work, but based on some testing this afternoon, may provide a default route instead of the most direct route - and no alternate routes. I loaded an offline map for my area of Los Angeles and asked for directions to the Atwater branch of the LA Public Library [a few blocks away]. Driving directions only, no walking. So no time estimate. Not an issue here, but what if I were in Rome [which was the case not so long ago} and wanted to walk from A to B?

At the library, crossed Glendale Blvd. to go the post office. Then asked for directions to the local Sizzler - driving only - no walking available - the route was left on Glendale Blvd., right on Brunswick, then right on Los Feliz to the Sizzler at the corner of Los Feliz and Revere. But the post office was at the intersection of Glendale & Revere - all I had to do was walk three blocks straight up Revere to Sizzler. But if I didn't know the area, or the streets weren't in a grid pattern {Rome or London], not such a good outcome. Once I started walking up Revere, the route eventually re-drew directly to Sizzler. But no walking time estimate.

Same basic case for directions to Quentin Tarantino's Vista Theatre, which is an easy bus ride for me, but only driving directions available in airplane mode.

I use international roaming on Consumer Cellular, so data no longer an issue. But the offline maps do have limitations - plus limited metadata for named locations.