The latest post to the official Google Maps blog brings some welcome news. A couple of features that have been exclusive to betas of the Android app, not to mention hinted at by our cheeky teardown posts, are now in the public version. Specifically, that handy Wi-Fi-only mode for users on a limited data allotment should now be live for everyone (it was limited to a subset of users before), and the option to save local mapping data to the SD card is now active as well.

Wi-Fi only mode and local map data are a one-two punch combo that can knock out data charges, enabling easy navigation to anywhere in your local city without touching your mobile data stash. Perhaps it's no coincidence that these features are coming in after Google started its own mobile service provider with a pay-by-the-gig fee structure, huh?

The Maps blog post also highlights integration for services like Uber and Lyft, but we've known about those for a while now. Wi-Fi-only mode may or may not be available to you already, depending on whether you were part of the test group, but upgrading to the latest version of the Maps APK (posted to APK Mirror earlier today) will probably enable the feature one way or the other.

Source: Google Maps blog