I love Organic Maps. Works on Android and IOS. Fully offline (maps predownload at first run) and all route calculation is locally computed so it’s especially good for hiking or where signal is poor.
Only thing I miss is live traffic updates but for me that’s an acceptable tradeoff for the ultimate offline privacy as far as a digital map can do it.
The voice it uses is whatever’s built into the phone’s accessibility features so on some devices it sounds a bit janky, but on Android at least you can install different ones if that bothers you.
I use Here We Go when i need live traffic and comaps other times.
https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/?ref=itsfoss.com
Check out CoMaps! Essentially the same.
If it meets your requirements, try Vela Maps which is a degoogled Google Maps.
" A degoogled maps & navigation client for Android - what NewPipe is to YouTube, for Google Maps. Open vector tiles for the basemap, the device itself scraping Google’s public web endpoints (per-user, no backend) for the things only Google does well: POI quality, routing, and traffic-aware ETAs. Built to run on GrapheneOS and other no-GMS ROMs. "
I think it’s a fairly new product and seems to be rapidly improving performance with quite a few updates lately. (I have discovered some glitches but they seem to be addressed as soon as the app updates the next time.)
It might meet your requirements because it’s not Google Maps.
It might not meet your requirements if you want a truly no-Google product, because it uses a few Google things anonymously in the back end…
This needs to be made a library so that someone can write an OsmAnd plugin for the POI search.
Super cool. had no idea that existed
Removed by mod
This was fun to read, thanks! I hope you’ve already thrown away the device you’ve written this from.
I was wondering to pass to regular Navigator. There are many sold second hand . Why to use mobile for navigation? The only worry is the update of maps…
I’m using OSMAnd+ myself. CoMaps is another one that uses OSM as the backend but is much more minimal in design.
For both, I use GeoShare which can interpet a google directions link when searching an address on my phone and pass it to OSMAnd+ or CoMaps (or, like, any other map app)
I use both, but I use OSMAnd~ for mobile mapping, and CoMaps for navigation.
Comaps works well for me. If it’s not comprehensive enough, contribute! OSM is crowd-sourced.
I’ve just started using MapQuest like many others since the lake ontario thing. It’s been pretty good and I find it a lot more functional and accurate than the Foss options at the moment. It’s not perfect but it’s also not Google or apple.
More accurate how? It’s still OSM underneath isn’t it?
I found when I typed in locations by name or even lots of street addresses to OSM it would often give wrong results or just say cannot be found. Haven’t run into that at all with MapQuest, every address I type in has come up on the map. Type in company/business names and they pop up. Had trouble with that when I tried osm
CoMaps, which uses OpenStreetMap. StreetComplete gamifies adding data to OpenStreetMap.
Sometimes Magic Earth.The only time i use google is when i want street view.
I use HERE WeGo. I switched over a month ago and haven’t had a problem yet.
I use that too! Kinda clunky but does the job. I prefer CoMaps - it seems smoother - but it doesn’t have all the actual addresses for the little towns I pass through.
I have a standalone GPS like it’s 2008, in addition to excellent offline navigation it also probably doesn’t spy on me
I use CoMaps when navigating: https://www.comaps.app/
I also recommend Obtainium for installing it: https://obtainium.imranr.dev/
No. Most aren’t able to do basic navigation to addresses of people. I’d like it to be different but for me CoMaps and the other ones aren’t useful (yet)
I’ve generally been able to with Organic Maps. If the street address won’t get me exactly to them, I’ll add a mark right at their place on the map and route to that. That almost always works.
Probably because the area youre in is not mapped out, however the routing engine is pretty much on par with the ones by Garmin and others
Roads work but I do prefer entering a destination instead of going to a city and then having to figure out where the street and streetnumber are.
Especially since I only use navigation if i don’t already know where something is.
I’ve been using CoMaps for a while as my only map app and I’m very happy with it.
My main issue with it is that often it cannot find the street/city I’m searching. That’s why I don’t use it all the time.
This is a real problem. Search on any OSM app is not the same as GMaps or the other mainstream map services. Contributing to OSM through EveryDoor or StreetComplete in your area will definitely help improve this but as a stop gap I use an app called GMaps WV. It loads Google Maps in an isolated web browser, which allows you to use their search and once you find what your looking for it has a share option that copies the coordinates to the clipboard which you paste into CoMaps and let it take over.
Contributing to OSM is the best way to give yourself and others freedom from Google. It’s very easy to do through StreetComplete, which is a gamified system that updates the map as people complete quests.
The city exist on the map, it’s the search that doesn’t find. Not sure what I could do in that case.
It can’t find the entire city on the map, even though it’s on the map? I’ve never experienced that, I’m not sure how that’s possible.
My issue with OSM is that i need an account which may potentially contribute to leak my identity
I was also worried about this, but if you make your changes wide reaching enough and don’t use the same username as everywhere else (honestly, this is a good practice for all accounts), it shouldn’t leak your identity.
Not really fixing the account issue, but can you use an email alias? I use one for my account.
Have you downloaded the map for that area?
Yes.
good or better then google maps, no, they’re are a trillion $ company with major resoirces
I use OSMAnd+ its a little bit shit but ot gets me by. I also edit a little bit of Open Street maps in my area to help
This right here; if I can ever manage to get my transmission fixed, I can start recording my DoorDash trips, again. OSM is painfully lacking info in my city.
Time to get some oil on your hands!
Err probably not. But what transmission and what are the issues you’re having? Might be something much simpler than you think
It’s primarily an issue of getting the necessary tools to be able to drop the bastich in the first place, and then figuring out when to do it, because now is absolutely not the time in the southeastern United States.
Comaps is what I use because it is free, Osmand+ is what you should use if you are willing to pay a bit, but don’t use Organic Maps.
Osmand is free on fdroid. Comaps is probably a better google maps substitute for most people though. Osmand has deep features but is comparitively a bit clunky.
Whats wrong with organic? I’ve used all of these and it felt almost identical to comaps
https://itsfoss.com/news/organic-maps-fork-comaps/
Despite being advertised as a community-driven project, key decisions, including financial management, partnerships (with Kayak, for instance), and the inclusion of proprietary components in the code were made by a small group of shareholders, often without input from the broader contributor community. These shareholders have reportedly used the project’s donation funds for personal expenses, like holiday trips, raising serious concerns about financial transparency.
Which is why they forked CoMaps.
If you listen to the CoMaps developers’ perspective, they’re naturally going to talk up their competitors at Organic Maps. In any case, Organic Maps another open-source map, free and open to everyone. And new features are added much faster than in CoMaps (public transportation, hiking style, alternative routing). Try both options and choose the one that works best for you.
Organic Maps is also technically committing tax fraud by paying the owners dividends but no salaries. They’re making quite a bit off the donations too. All of which was pocketed.
Why are 100% of your comments shilling for Organic Maps? Just curious.
Maksim is a Russian name, Organic Maps creators are Russian and Belarussian. Could literally be a friend of theirs lol
Oh wow, thanks for letting me know
for basic things openstreetmaps based ones (comaps organic maps), for anything else no.
