Is Google Maps Down? Live status & outage reports

Service info and troubleshooting

Map won't load or shows blank screen

If the map just sits there spinning or shows a grey grid, start with the basics: force-close the app and reopen it. On desktop, clear the browser cache — cached tiles go stale and block fresh data from loading. Make sure your browser or the Maps app itself is up to date, because older versions frequently choke on updated API responses.

Location not updating or stuck

When the blue dot freezes or jumps to the wrong city, the issue is almost always GPS or location permissions. Go to your phone's settings and confirm the app has 'Precise Location' access, not just 'Approximate'. Indoors, switch on Wi-Fi — even without connecting, it helps triangulate position. On Android, toggle Airplane mode on and off to force a fresh GPS lock.

Search returning no results or wrong ones

This usually means a connectivity hiccup rather than a data problem. Try the following steps:

• Check your internet connection — open any other site to confirm it's live
• Clear the app cache (Settings → Apps → Maps → Storage → Clear Cache)
• Switch between mobile data and Wi-Fi to rule out one of them being the culprit
• If search works on desktop but not mobile, reinstall the app

Directions fail to calculate a route

Routing errors often appear when the app can't reach the routing server. A weak or unstable connection is the usual suspect. Download an offline map for your region in advance — open the app, search for your city, tap the area name, and select 'Download'. Offline mode calculates routes without touching the network at all.

App freezes or crashes mid-navigation

Heavy 3D rendering drains RAM fast. In settings, turn off the 3D buildings layer and switch to the Lite map style. If crashes persist, check whether your device has less than 1 GB of free storage — Maps needs room to write tile cache and will crash without it.

Satellite imagery not displaying

If switching to satellite view shows only grey tiles, it's a data-loading problem. The imagery layer is large, so a slow connection just times out. Connect to a stable Wi-Fi network and zoom into a smaller area before switching views — it reduces the data chunk the app has to fetch at once.