We know that Housekeepers on our platform love using the integrated maps within their Housekeep app. By incorporating maps straight into the Housekeeper app, we’re able to remove one of the biggest stresses of independent cleaners: their travel routes.

There is, however, one potential downside to this. Using maps extensively can have a significant impact on your data usage. Although they won’t completely eliminate data usage, there are a few workarounds that can significantly reduce your data usage when using maps.

Offline apps 

Your first option for reducing data usage around London would be to download an offline maps app. This means that you will lose certain live-updating features that come with full data connectivity, but it will greatly reduce your data usage.

There are quite a few options for choosing a suitable app. We asked around the Housekeep office for some recommendations:

HERE WeGo 
With HERE WeGo, you’re able to download an entire country’s worth of maps from your home WiFi. Once out and about, HERE WeGo will recommend optimised travel routes despite operating offline. As mentioned, there may be occasional instances where bus diversions or similar aren’t taken into account but, all things considered, the pros may well outweigh the cons with this one

Download on Android
Download on iOs

Maps.me
Another free app with downloadable maps, maps.me operates similarly to HERE WeGo, and if you’ve downloaded the maps via WiFi in advance, you won’t need to use your precious data getting from A-B. As these apps are both free, there’s no harm in downloading both and seeing which works best for you :)
Download on Android
Download on iOs

Downloading a Google map in advance

Our app is designed to be a slim as possible; it's low in storage use and low in data use. 
Google Maps, however, is a complex, hungry beast. Google is aware of this though, and there’s actually a viable solution that doesn’t involve using a different maps provider!

You can actually pre-load a Google map ahead of time, using your home WiFi. We’ve made a handy video that will talk you through the steps, one-by-one.

1. Make sure you’re connected to Wifi, not 3g/4g, and load up Google MapsClick the three line menu button on the left-hand side

2. Click Offline maps

3. Pinch to zoom out and select the area of London that you’d like to download. As you pinch out you’ll see a live figure at the bottom telling you how much offline storage that this will use.

4. Click Download

5. While downloading, you can select the three dots next to the download and rename the map as you please