Komoot’s Apple Watch App Gets Offline Maps & Routes: Go!
In arguably one of the biggest news for outdoor-oriented Apple Watch owners in years, Komoot has just announced true offline mapping and routes for their Apple Watch app. Until now, their app required some kind of connection, especially on a phone, to have offline maps/routes.
This is a big deal in the world of the Apple Watch, which still lacks a route that can be used and works worldwide offline and route creation. When Apple released native offline maps 1.5 years ago, that proved to be limited. It mostly only worked in North America (with a few packs outside of that), and was very dependent on being able to create the route you wanted in Apple Maps. If the track did not appear in Apple Maps, you could not plot a route over that part of the world (eg, no import of GPX files/etc…). Here in Europe, where I live, I couldn’t even make a route out of my area using normal routes, as they don’t appear on Apple Maps. And finally, it’s all in a different app in Apple’s case (so workout data is different from map/route data).
But Komoot? No hassles and all in one app – so, this is a big deal. Of course, to be clear, there is one other great map/route app for the Apple Watch, which is WorkOutDoors. I emphasized that in my in-depth review of the Apple Watch Ultra 3. It’s incredibly in-depth, and to be clear, it has *FAR* more features on the watch than what Komoot makes today. Things like a ClimbPro-like feature, customizable data pages/fields, nacho cheese remover, and more. But equally, it is often seen as having a very high bar for complexity. Although the implementation of Komoot is very easy (probably very easy right now).
Oh – and to be clear, *NONE* of this requires an internet or phone connection once you’ve downloaded the first route (and in fact, all my testing is without a phone or cell phone).
So, let’s dive into it!
Using the Routing Feature:
The first thing you should know is that you don’t need to be a Komoot Premium user here. Instead, you just need to open that region of the map (like Komoot always works). So that could be a one-time map purchase, a one-time region purchase, or Komoot Premium. There are plenty of ways to fry this fish – but the point is, you don’t need another registration here (and every Komoot user gets one free region anyway).
I will assume that, as a Komoot user, you know how to route in Komoot. You can do that through the app or desktop in the browser, and by simply clicking on a new route, saving the route you found in the collection (Komoot’s strongest point), or importing it via a GPX file/etc.
Once that’s done, you’ll go ahead and save the path to your account as usual. From there, open the Komoot Apple Watch app, and you’ll see ‘Saved Routes’, and open a list of your routes:
From there, simply tap on ‘Save Offline’. It will continue and start downloading the route, as well as the map location required for the route. In negotiating this with Komoot, it will synchronize not only the route, but also the buffer around the route. Here’s what they said today:
To download the route: It will download a 3 km wide strip of map tiles around the route (about 1.5 km in each direction – if you think of the route as a straight line).
Recording: When you start recording, it will automatically download a 5.5 x 5.5 km square at your current location. If you continue to record outside of that square, you’ll need to be online so the app can download more tiles as you go.
Update: The archived map tiles are updated every 7 days to ensure the latest information.
Note that today, you can’t simply pick a major part/region to download in advance (regardless of route plans), although Komoot says that’s high on their priority list and is coming.
Either way, just tap Navigate:
Note that the first time you do this, it will also verify some Apple Health settings (about rights to write exercise data/etc…). However, at this point, you are out and following the route. You’ll see the route up, directional arrows, and the distance to the next turn (and name details if available).
There is also a data page that shows your total distance, total time, and current speed.
Additionally, when you tap the controls menu, you get the biggest pause and screen lock buttons you’ve ever seen in your life. Unfortunately, this page is not customizable yet.
You can use the Digital Crown to cycle through the slider for other metrics. And I mean their actual slate, it’s like a big bible of all these data metrics (5 pages scrolling down). And look, I’m new to group data metrics, but this isn’t very useful in this way to provide these. This feels like a workout summary (after a workout), rather than something I should see mid-workout.
Instead, I want customizable data pages (like every other watch/device ever made), with customizable data fields. Right now, I can’t see the heart rate on my main data page, or any of the other metrics I want. Fear not though, Komoot says it’s coming. To state directly in this application:
“…the plan is to allow people to customize which data fields they want to prioritize, for each type of sport. When looking at the map or on the data screen itself, we’ll make sure it’s customizable. Estimate about 3 weeks from now.”
So to be clear, I want at least 2-3 customized data pages, with at least 4 pieces of data per page. Why so many? However, most long-distance hikers will have total trip metrics (eg, distance/time/distance left, etc…), and closing metrics (eg, lap time/distance/HR/etc…), and if in the mountains, another page of ascent/etc metrics (eg, current distance, total ascent, total descent, etc…). And finally, I want/need a page like ClimbPro that shows current/upcoming climbs.
On the ClimbPro side of things, Komoot says they know this is a gap they’re looking to fill (beyond just the Apple Watch app). But they don’t have a set time for that. Meanwhile, they made a list of other things nearby; check the next section for that.
Anyway, back to my mender.. if you go off course it will let you know you are off course, and the distance from the track. Unfortunately, due to a bug introduced in the latest build, it doesn’t trigger a real audible warning. Komoot says that will be fixed with an update this week.
Regarding redirection, the app *will* redirect if you have a connection, but it won’t redirect today without a connection. But, of course, you will still save the downloaded maps (according to the previous definition), so you can see where the route is.
Speaking of which, you can’t zoom out too far on the track, or you can use the touchscreen to move around on the fly. I’d like them to let me undo a heck of a lot more (like, my whole route if I want to). But those are the little things.
There are a few other minor bugs that are being fixed in the hopefully-Wednesday release, such as Auto-Pause not respecting the clock setting (it paused every time I stopped to take a picture, unless I set it to off).
Either way, when you’re done with the route, you can save it as usual, and you’ll get a summary screen, and another slide of summary metrics.
After that, it will remain queued in the Apple Watch app until it reconnects to Komoot, at which point it will sync with your Komoot account.
Which also means, you can be completely out in the woods without a cell phone/connection (or even your phone), and everything eventually syncs up perfectly.
Upcoming Changes and Features:
Here’s what Komoot says is coming directly to the Apple Watch app soon:
Live routing and synchronization: Make changes to the route on the iPhone and see them reflected on the watch without pausing or restarting the recording
Automatic redirection: Automatic route recalculation after deviation from the planned route.
Live tracking: Share real-time location with selected contacts for safety
Map view improvements: Zoom in to see more maps in a wider view and download more map regions for offline use
Organization: Sort and filter saved routes
Customization: Change the order of data fields displayed when recording or navigating
Map and route details: See Highlights, Points of Interest, and relevant warnings (such as dangerous sections) along the way
Notably, this is different from the huge list of changes that Komoot published as their 2026 priority list.
There are also other aspects that need to be addressed. I noticed in the Apple Fitness app, it doesn’t show a map (and DesFit noticed that it doesn’t have calories displayed there, but it does a summary of the activity on the watch). It seems that they don’t do the exercise amount properly in Apple Health. So hopefully they can take care of those things as well.
Finish:
Overall, this is a really solid start to the Komoot stuff in terms of offline mapping/routing. Of course, it still doesn’t have the same features as the native Garmin implementation, or even Komoot’s Garmin Connect IQ app. But, it’s a big leap from Apple’s native features, and it’s easier to use than WorkOutdoors. And again, no registration is required here, which is great.
I will give credit to Komoot. Back when Bending Spoons bought them (and basically fired everyone), I was very worried that we would see the end of meaningful development (like most of the other companies that Bending Spoons acquired). But to their credit, Bending Spoons has actually invested here in getting the product out the door, and some of their recent small purchases have shown a slight change in policy in terms of how they deal with growth after shooting (to be clear, they’re still burning basically everyone, like they did last week with Vimeo). How things go on Vimeo, of course, remains to be seen.
Still, at least for Apple users who want to be on the outside with offline browsing and routing, this is a big step forward. I hope that Komoot can fulfill the promises it made above (some of which are only scheduled for two days), and of course, continue to develop the platform even more.
With that – thanks for reading!
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