Google Maps and now Apple Maps (as of ~6 months ago) have offline maps, but not by default. If you enable and download them for your area of interest you can use a subset of the normal app.
I make sure to have this around my usual area and anytime I travel to an area with poor coverage, plus my Garmin watch has offline maps and GPS everywhere, but this is not typical.
Offline maps are a life saver in areas with bad coverage. One of the first things I setup for a new phone or when I’m headed somewhere new on vacation.
This is one of the most interesting differences I often notice between users who rarely leave the city and those who routinely leave. Offline functionality often seems unnecessary at best and absurd at worst to the former group, while the more rural/remote the person the more they value offline functionality. For the most extreme example, talk to the average person who lives outside of Anchorage or Fairbanks in Alaska, and they only really care what the app can do when it's offline as that is it's assumed status when on the go (disclaimer: I moved out of alaska a little over 5 years ago so things might have changed somewhat).
Yeah, if I'm going to travel internationally or if I'm somewhere I know I'll have spotty cell service, I'll download maps. I should probably be better about doing it in local areas where I "assume" things will be fine.
I grew up in a rural area and lived in Colorado for a while. Going home or venturing into the mountains often resulted in bad service so it just became second nature. Good observation!
Lots of people dislike the design choices in OSMAnd, so it's worth mentioning that there are lots of apps that use OSM data and provide offline maps and routing.
I make sure to have this around my usual area and anytime I travel to an area with poor coverage, plus my Garmin watch has offline maps and GPS everywhere, but this is not typical.
OSMand usage is even less common.