upgrade

[Don Smith]

Hello,

I have upgraded phones. In the past there was always a custom maps directory created that I put the old kmz files into to use. I can not find where the data is. I uninstalled copy and pasted my old custom maps directory into sdcard directory, but I get the error message "No maps found on SDcard in Custom Maps folder".

I upgraded to a pixel 6a.

thanks,

Don Smith

[Marko Teittinen]

Hello Don,

Sorry that you are having trouble moving your maps over to your new phone. Unfortunately it is currently more complex than what it used to be (explanation at the end of this message).

To get your old maps to your new phone, copy them first somewhere onto your new phone's storage. Then use Google's "Files" app to click on each one of your map files, and you should get each time a suggestion to open that map in Custom Maps. When the map is opened in Custom Maps, it is copied to the internal storage accessible only to the app. After you have opened all of your maps, you can move the map files to some safe storage, so that you can restore them to your next phone (or you can export all the maps using the app when you are migrating next time).

This change to accessing map files is forced by new Google Play Store rules. Some apps with file access permission were abusing the permission and spying on users, so Google has announced that only file manager apps can request file permission. Other apps using file access permission may be rejected from Play Store and the app author can be banned. All apps are now required to store their data files in their internal protected storage area. That also means that if you clear data for (or uninstall) Custom Maps, all your maps will be erased. That's why I recommend keeping a backup copy of maps somewhere else, like Google Drive or on a hard drive of your laptop.

Marko Teittinen

Author of Custom Maps