MAPS.ME is gone. We must bring it back.

TL;DR: MAPS.ME got bought by a payments company and completely rewritten, I want it back. I will rebuild the original app and bring it back. Sign up for this email list to get the original version back. Or subscribe to this Telegram channel.

On December 20th, 2020, version 2.0 of the MAPS.ME app got pushed to the Apple App Store. It is expected to land on Android in the coming days.

This is due to the app being sold off to a South Korean payments company.

What changed?

Compare these two images.

They made another Google Maps.

Gone: bookmarks, park benches, water fountains, post boxes, garbage cans

I loved this app because it showed me every detail, every little space I can walk through, every water fountain, I even used it to find trashcans in foreign cities. The ability to edit the map and contribute back to the lovely OpenStreetMap community is also nowhere to be found.

Why did they do this? The new Wallet tab shows that they want to exploit the acquired MAPS.ME user base to push their future payments product. Clearly, a map that highlights businesses makes more money than a map that is useful.

What now?

Thankfully, the original Belarusian engineers made the source code free. It is up to the community to pick up development of this app. Let's make sure that the MAPS.ME we know and love stays alive.

Telegram community

I made a Telegram channel and group to coordinate the development.

If you like MAPS.ME, then please sign up. I will post updates on how it's going and will send instructions on how to get back the original app.

Get email updates

It will take some time, but the plan is to get MAPS.ME back this year.

I made a newsletter, I'll send you an email once it's ready.

Let's make sure that the MAPS.ME we know and love stays alive.

Note: I'm aware that a fork already exists, but it hasn't seen any updates for a year and the app doesn't seem to work at this time. The plan is to eventually integrate axel's work back into the app.