Comaps is available for iphones :3
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/comaps/id6747180809
also for others:
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/app.comaps.fdroid/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.comaps.google
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
182 points (97.9% liked)
Technology
82956 readers
2886 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
That article slurps Apple’s nutsac for having such a great moneymaking idea! Fuck ads. Tired of everything being a vessel for marketing.
I mean… maps has been kinda shitty for years!
It’s still better than Wayze trying to sell you burgers and fries at every stop sign… but you need to tap the search box like 3 fucking times to input shit, and why is that? So you have ample opportunity to see Crapple’s list of “suggestions….“
And have you noticed that you need to zoom down to AntMan scale to see the names of some businesses in a shopping center, and yet others are virtually visible from orbit? Could it be that businesses that pay Apple stick out like a sore thumb, and business that don’t virtually disappear? Nah… Fucking Apphole behavior.
It’s time to face facts, Apple stopped giving a shit about the customer years ago. Before their headquarters was literally a Bond villain’s donut you could drive through their parking lot and it was a sea of shitty rust buckets, executive parking lot underground.
I was giving serious consideration to going Android again rather then buying a 2K+ tablet… but then I need to buy a new watch and phone at the same time to have a slim chance of interoperability so it’s basically a wash.
Fuck Apple.
Unfortunately it’s the best option in Germany after Google threw a tantrum over privacy laws here. However OpenStreetMap is getting better.
There's room for you at Comaps! It's nice and it works on iOS, FOSS
I love Comaps. I have it installed on my Android phone. I contribute to OpenStreet maps when I can.
But, I don't think Comaps is a realistic replacement for Apple or Google maps.
One: OpenStreet maps is missing a toooon of locations, businesses and residential addresses. Two: having the enter the address in a non-standard way (for the US) City, Street, Building Number, makes finding things even harder. That's gonna instantly turn away 99% of people.
I still begrudgingly have Google maps installed on my phone... :(
I also have HERE Maps installed on my phone. It's way more usable than Comaps and it's not Google. But, it's not FOSS and still owned by a big corporation. But at least it's not (entirely) owned by the US (Magic Earth is). For me, I think HERE maps is a decent step away from Google.
I'll still keep contributing to OpenStreet maps, hoping one day I can switch to Comaps.
I think at this point in my life I've added enough to my home town that I'm comfortable using it as my main map program, I also admit to having here maps as a backup, but I haven't used it in a minute
I love Comaps. I have it installed on my Android phone. I contribute to OpenStreet maps when I can.
are the two related?
Open street maps is the back end for comaps and most open source mapping programs
Comaps, OSM And, and other apps use OpenStreet maps as their data source, sometimes as their only data source. So if the data isn't in OpenStreet maps, it's not gonna be in Comaps. Comaps is basically a frontend for OpenStreet map data.
thank you. why would I go for comaps instead of open street maps then?
OpenStreet maps is primarily a data source. I guess you could use the website: https://www.openstreetmap.org/
But they don't have mobile apps.
Holy wah... #2 is a deal breaker for sure. So sad.
I use OsmAnd which I think is also really good. I've heard nothing but good things about CoMaps too, like you said, which is a (seemingly well-justified) fork of Organic Maps.
If anyone's curious about contributing to OpenStreetMap too to make the maps in your area better, I know a bit, and I'd be happy to answer questions, even if they're just random curiosities. It's a lot of fun.
I thought this was a joke ad for a dev convention. Come on over and build something great at Comap(p)s 2026! We have a friendly competition where the team who builds the most feature-rich app all get programmer socks!
Are the paths reversed ?
It’s already been working like garbage lately. Wonder if this is related.
This is why Apple users pay more to not use Google stuff…
Fuck this.
Default search engine? Google. Apple Intelligence? Believe it or not, also Google.
I don’t use any of those
Time to dust off my old folded paper maps.
I can sell some of the duplicates I have. I'm gonna be RICH!
You can buy up to date ones at the gas station still
What a piece of crap, this thing didn't warn me about the bridge being closed and jammed up because of a car fire. Stupid paper...
how ever did people live and get around before the mobile spy tracking hardware was in everyone's pockets.
shocker, your time isn't really as valuable as you think it is..
I left on a trip to San Francisco and forgot my STREET maps but I did have an aviation map so I used that.
It did NOT have the freeway numbers marked. I got there looking for water towers and radio towers and bodies of water. I managed OK.
I am willing to bet there is still a radio in your vehicle, and very likely a local news station with traffic and weather reports.
Back to the basics: Start carrying a yellow pages book with you so that you can find addresses of various businesses. If you need restaurant descriptions, you need one of those tourist guide books too.
I prefer Apple Maps because it’s not ad laden but the coverage for businesses simply isn’t there, and it is pretty aggressive about populating businesses that don’t really exist (ie the business registration not the place of business, if they have one eg Plumber who doesn’t have a shop), don’t exist in the category (eg a factory isn’t a retail establishment), or just plain don’t exist. It also likes to ignore the actual road name for directions; instead of “take the exit towards A361 Burford Rd”, it says “take the exit to Diddly Squat Market” because some street view scanner picked up a sign and chose the wrong one.
If they start pushing ads, Google wins in “find me dinner nearby”.
My one deal breaker that keeps me on gmaps over Apple is the forced yelp integration. I refuse to install yelp and to get any meaningful information it tries to open the app.
Gmaps has a way better UX imo.
Yeah that also is awful. Can’t learn anything about the place without getting accidentally redirected to the App Store.
the difference with google is they're collecting and montetizing all that data on you whereas apple is doing non-targeted ads.
Honestly, if I want to find a local bicycle shop, and apple maps can help me find one without being obnoxious, then im okay with it as long as they don't share any data about me with the bicycle shop. I want to shop locally and support my local businesses, rather than shop online.
"Stuffing ads into the Maps app" makes it sound evil, even if we have no idea how it's going to look.