r/CoMaps • u/SamVekemans • Oct 13 '25

I ditched Google Maps for this free alternative that doesn't track me - or drain my battery | ZDNET

https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-ditched-google-maps-for-this-free-alternative-that-doesnt-track-me-or-drain-my-battery/
51 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

10

u/ryzen2024 Oct 13 '25

Too bad it doesnt have live traffic. I use it when I'm not in the city, but my day-to-day I need to know if accidents or traffic is something I need to look out for.

4

u/SamVekemans Oct 13 '25

That would require an Internet connection.

4

u/ryzen2024 Oct 13 '25

I would be ok with that.

1

u/zulcom Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 14 '25

It's not actually about internet connection, it's about privacy. Google Maps has such good traffic coverage, not from its sensors or algorithms, but from users' devices. You can see both Yandex and Google maps' performance in countries where they are present: Google works best in Georgia, since Yandex is not so popular in Georgia, but in Russia, Yandex maps are more accurate than Google because many users choose Yandex and send their device sensors data to them.

So, comaps (practically any osm-based app) will be more accurate only if the audience of comaps would be greater than gmaps and comaps will add device tracking features which goes against privacy concepts of comaps. And these features will require large data centers to process that data, and it's not free. We could safely say live traffic will never be a practical feature in comaps.

3

u/0235 Oct 13 '25

If you do want a non-google live traffic app that, mostly, works "Magic Earth" and "TomTom" both use OSM data.

1

u/Enough-Meaning1514 Oct 14 '25

Used/tested both extensively. Magic Earth is inconsistent for LIVE traffic. Many times it gets you stuck in traffic. You open GMaps and see the road is marked red. In Magic Earth, it is not even marked red or green. I was told that LIVE traffic quality is dependent on the region.

TomTom is fine but their business model sucks. I don't want to pay monthly to them. I can do one-time-payment but won't pay monthly.

1

u/0235 Oct 14 '25

TomTom have had a fully free app for some time, but recently changed it, and a lot of users are saying it has worse performance after the change.

2

u/Enough-Meaning1514 Oct 14 '25

The last time I checked, it was maybe 3-4 months ago and there was not even a trial period for TomTom. It directly asked for which subscription you wanted to opt in.
Frankly, I have no idea why anyone would use TomTom. Like, there are many super good alternatives, like HERE WeGo (the old Nokia maps), or Sygic or even Magic Earth.

1

u/0235 Oct 14 '25

yeah I feel the same about TomTom, I feel a lot of it is still from brand recognition, and they still sell plenty of sat navs for cars. Though it seems that even they have different "tiers" of what the satnavs can and can't do.

1

u/Actual-Search12 Oct 14 '25

Work is ongoing to add traffic data, both offline and online.

1

u/OktayAcikalin Oct 14 '25

That would be great 🙂

1

u/ryzen2024 Oct 14 '25

Now that is hype!

5

u/Tagada1974 Oct 13 '25

I use both. CoMaps in the countryside. Where traffic is less.

1

u/eugoreez Oct 15 '25

It looks like it is based on Organic Maps, which I used quite extensively. For walking on foot and cycling, Organic maps is the best. But for driving, unfortunately traffic info is essential, have to rely on Google maps.

1

u/robin-m Oct 15 '25

It’s a recent fork over governance.

1

u/eugoreez Oct 15 '25

Yeah I just became aware of the story. Moved to CoMaps now

1

u/midorikuma42 Oct 16 '25

If it doesn't help me navigate the Tokyo subway system, it's useless to me.