Organic Maps

Organic Maps is a free, open-source offline maps application that has rapidly gained a devoted following among privacy-conscious users, hikers, cyclists, and travelers since its launch in 2021. Built as a fork of the Maps.me application after its original developers were concerned about the direction of that project under new ownership, Organic Maps represents a return to the core principles of what a mapping app should be: fast, private, and functional without an internet connection. By December 2025, the app had surpassed 6 million installs across Android and iOS, demonstrating significant demand for a maps application that respects user privacy.

What makes Organic Maps fundamentally different from Google Maps and Apple Maps is its uncompromising stance on privacy. The application collects absolutely no user data, contains no advertisements, requires no account creation, and does not track user locations or movement patterns. There are no analytics frameworks, no crash reporting services, and no third-party SDKs embedded in the application. The entire source code is publicly available on GitHub, allowing anyone to verify these privacy claims independently. In an era where mapping applications have become some of the most invasive data collection tools on our phones, Organic Maps stands as proof that a fully functional navigation app can exist without compromising user privacy.

Offline-First Architecture

Organic Maps is designed from the ground up to work without an internet connection. Users download map data for the regions they need, and all features including searching for addresses and places, viewing points of interest, calculating routes, and providing turn-by-turn voice navigation work entirely offline. This offline-first approach means the app is equally useful whether you are navigating a European city with excellent cellular coverage or hiking a remote mountain trail with no signal whatsoever. The downloaded maps are based on OpenStreetMap data, which is regularly updated and includes an extraordinary level of detail in many regions.

The offline maps are surprisingly compact compared to other mapping applications, thanks to efficient data compression and rendering algorithms inherited and improved from the Maps.me codebase. A typical European country can be downloaded in a few hundred megabytes, and the app's rendering engine is optimized for smooth performance even on older devices with limited processing power and memory. This efficiency makes Organic Maps practical even for travelers with limited device storage who need maps for multiple countries.

Hiking and Outdoor Navigation

One of Organic Maps' strongest use cases is outdoor navigation for hikers, trail runners, and cyclists. The application displays hiking trails, cycling paths, mountain routes, and outdoor recreation areas with detail that often exceeds what commercial mapping applications provide. Trail difficulty ratings, elevation data, and trail surface types are shown where available in the OpenStreetMap data. In 2025, the app added support for global hiking and cycling routes from OpenStreetMap, making it easier to follow long-distance trails and cycling networks across Europe and beyond.

The cycling routing engine understands different types of cycling infrastructure and can calculate routes that prefer dedicated bike lanes, cycle paths, or quiet residential streets depending on user preferences. For hikers, the elevation profile display helps with trip planning, showing the vertical gain and loss along a proposed route. The combination of reliable offline navigation and detailed outdoor trail data has made Organic Maps particularly popular in the European hiking and cycling communities, where it has become the go-to application for activities in areas with poor cellular coverage.

Navigation and Routing

Organic Maps provides turn-by-turn voice navigation for driving, cycling, and walking, all functioning entirely offline. The routing engine calculates optimal routes based on the transportation mode, and voice instructions guide users through turns, roundabouts, and highway exits. While the navigation experience is more utilitarian than Google Maps, lacking features like real-time traffic data, lane guidance, and speed camera warnings, it delivers reliable point-to-point navigation that works consistently regardless of connectivity. For many users, the trade-off of fewer bells and whistles in exchange for complete privacy and guaranteed offline functionality is well worth it.

The search functionality allows users to find addresses, businesses, landmarks, and points of interest entirely from the downloaded map data. Results are presented with distance and direction information, and selecting a result immediately centers the map and offers routing options. The search works across all downloaded regions, so users can search for a restaurant in a city they have not yet visited as long as they have downloaded that region's map data.

Map Quality and Data Sources

Organic Maps uses OpenStreetMap (OSM) data, which means its map quality directly reflects the state of the OSM database for each region. In most European countries, OSM data is exceptionally detailed, often including features that Google Maps omits such as hiking trail classifications, bicycle parking locations, drinking water fountains, and accessibility information. The app updates its map data regularly, incorporating the latest contributions from OSM's global community of volunteer mappers.

The map rendering in Organic Maps is clean and functional, with a design that prioritizes readability over visual flourish. Different map themes are available for various conditions, including a night mode for driving and high-contrast modes for outdoor use in bright sunlight. Points of interest are displayed with clear icons, and tapping any feature reveals detailed information from the OSM database including opening hours, contact information, wheelchair accessibility, and other attributes that contributors have mapped.

Privacy and Security

The privacy architecture of Organic Maps goes beyond simply not collecting data. The app makes no network requests whatsoever once maps are downloaded, meaning there is no possibility of inadvertent data leakage through background connections. There are no analytics frameworks, no advertising identifiers, no push notification services, and no social media SDKs. The app does not request unnecessary permissions, and location data is processed entirely on the device without being transmitted anywhere. This level of privacy is independently verifiable because the complete source code is available on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license.

For users who are particularly privacy-conscious, Organic Maps is available on F-Droid, the open-source Android app repository, which independently verifies that the app contains no proprietary components or tracking code. The app's developers have been transparent about their funding model, relying on voluntary donations and community support rather than advertising or data monetization, which eliminates the financial incentive to compromise on privacy in the future.

Cross-Platform Availability

Organic Maps is available on both Android and iOS, with feature parity across platforms. The Android version is available through Google Play Store and F-Droid, while the iOS version is available on the Apple App Store. Both versions share the same rendering engine and routing algorithms, ensuring a consistent experience regardless of platform. The app is also available on the Huawei AppGallery, providing access for users with Huawei devices that lack Google Play Services.

Public Transport Information

While Organic Maps was primarily designed for driving, cycling, and hiking navigation, the development team has been gradually adding public transport features. In 2025, the app introduced the display of bus numbers at bus stops, marking the first step toward public transport navigation. While this feature is still in its early stages compared to dedicated transit apps, it demonstrates the project's commitment to expanding functionality while maintaining its core principles of privacy and offline capability.

Community and Development

As an open-source project developed with community involvement, Organic Maps benefits from contributions by developers worldwide who share the project's vision of privacy-respecting navigation. The development pace is active, with regular releases that add new features, improve routing algorithms, update map rendering, and fix bugs reported by users. The community communicates through GitHub issues, social media, and the project's website, and user feedback directly influences development priorities. The project accepts donations to fund ongoing development, and the transparent financial model ensures that the app's interests remain aligned with its users rather than advertisers or data brokers.

Bookmarks and Trip Planning

Organic Maps includes a bookmarking system that allows users to save favorite locations, organize them into lists, and share them with others via KML/KMZ file export. This feature is useful for trip planning, where users can research destinations in advance, bookmark points of interest, and have everything available offline during their trip. Bookmarks can be imported from other mapping applications and GPS tools, making it easy to migrate from other platforms. The bookmark management interface supports color coding, descriptions, and categorization for organizing large collections of saved places.

Comparison with Google Maps

When comparing Organic Maps to Google Maps, the key differences center on privacy, offline capability, and feature depth. Google Maps provides a richer feature set including real-time traffic, public transit directions, indoor maps, Street View, business reviews, and reservation integrations, but collects extensive location history, search patterns, and movement data that is used for advertising. Organic Maps provides reliable offline navigation with complete privacy but lacks real-time data features. For users who prioritize privacy and offline reliability over real-time information, Organic Maps is the clear winner. For users who depend on live transit updates and traffic-aware routing, Google Maps remains more capable.

Potential Limitations

Organic Maps has some limitations that users should be aware of. There is no real-time traffic data, which means route times may not account for current congestion. Public transport routing is still in early development. The app lacks business reviews, photos, and the rich point-of-interest information that Google Maps aggregates. Map data quality depends on OpenStreetMap coverage, which can be sparse in some regions. Voice navigation is functional but less polished than commercial alternatives, and the app does not support CarPlay or Android Auto integration at this time. Despite these limitations, for its core use cases of offline navigation, hiking, cycling, and privacy-respecting daily use, Organic Maps delivers an experience that no commercial mapping app can match.

Who Should Use Organic Maps?

Organic Maps is ideal for privacy-conscious users who want a maps application that does not track them, hikers and cyclists who need reliable offline navigation on trails and paths, travelers who need maps in areas with poor cellular coverage, users who want a fast and lightweight maps app without bloat, and anyone who values open-source software and community-driven development. It is available completely free of charge with no premium tier or in-app purchases, funded entirely by community donations.