# CoMaps 117 Hacker News commenters recommended CoMaps and 32 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** A free, open-source offline map app on OpenStreetMap data, liked for speed, simplicity, frequent map updates and easy OSM edits, though it lacks traffic, topo layers and power features. ## Why people recommend it - Fast, simple interface (5 comments): "My family members, especially the older ones, all use CoMaps because it is much more friendly to them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49455536)) "It lacks a lot of power features, but is extremely fast and all of the options are easily available" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48815018)) "the simplicity of CoMaps makes it much more pleasant to use for the thing I mostly use it for" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49462163)) - Offline maps that just work (5 comments): "Comaps also has offline wikipedia entries. So you can be on a hill, and read about the iron age fort that was once there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50207038)) "You download the map(s) you want and it just works, no forced updates or ads or anything in the way of upselling." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49449296)) "her Google Maps was not working, so we got to an albergue, asked for wi-fi and downloaded CoMaps on her phone" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47751782)) - Frequent map updates, active development (4 comments): "When you have an option like CoMaps that is opensource friendly and very active, I got 2 maps updates within like 2 weeks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47176928)) "From my perspective there were no negatives. If anything, coMaps looked to be under more active development." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48811690)) "They decoupled this, processing went from 10 days to about 3, now fresh data weekly for whole planet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49462515)) - Easy OpenStreetMap contributions (4 comments): "Apps like CoMaps and Organic Maps make it super easy to contribute data for businesses, landmarks, and such." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49150300)) "CoMaps would be a good map app, and it will also display when POIs and opening hours were last confirmed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46231640)) "It's pretty excellent! The improved integration with OpenStreetMaps to provide edits/additions is great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47052200)) ## What people warn about - Missing traffic, topo, power features (4 comments): "It lacks a lot of power features, but is extremely fast and all of the options are easily available" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48815018)) "the lack of accurate (or sometime any) topo or additional map layers in CoMaps is the most galling" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799749)) "CoMaps is tainted by being a reactionary fork, has less features and lags behind on bug fixes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47492905)) - Weak routing and address search (4 comments): "the routing for bikes is bad. The routes are avoiding lots of bike lanes and miss completely oarks and forests." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45999489)) "apparently its a split between the address data not being present, and OrganicMap / CoMap being bugged" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48810753)) "The problem I have most of all with the routing is that it seems to default to my location" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49455554)) - Flaky features and lingering bugs (3 comments): "CoMaps does have this exact UX flow actually. Unfortunately it is somewhat flaky and frequently falls back to not doing it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799159)) "Track recording in comaps is super finicky, at least for me. I've lost multiple recordings while checking the map mid hike." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799364)) "fix the long-standing bug: make it possible to use the navigation in "north is always up" mode" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49455857)) - Unpolished interface design (3 comments): "The very first UX experience this app gives is "I am primarily for people interested in maps and geography"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48797863)) "I thought the lower contrast and washed-out colors compared to Organic Maps were a poor choice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48811641)) "Unfortunately I have yet to find an OSM app that offers a properly usable modern interface." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48799607)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Organic Maps](https://hackerapproved.com/p/organic-maps.md): 111 recommend - [OsmAnd](https://hackerapproved.com/p/osmand.md): 97 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "CoMaps", https://hackerapproved.com/p/comaps/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).