# Magic Earth (Maps & Navigation) **URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/magic-earth-maps-navigation/25752 **Category:** Tool Suggestions **Created:** 2025-03-13T11:41:04Z **Posts:** 55 ## Post 1 by @Regime6045 — 2025-03-13T11:41:04Z Pull request here: [update!: add Magic Earth recommendation by eylenburg · Pull Request #2947 · privacyguides/privacyguides.org · GitHub](https://github.com/privacyguides/privacyguides.org/pull/2947) **Magic Earth** is a proprietary app based on OpenStreetMap data. Its features include turn-by-turn navigation, live traffic information for route planning, speed camera warnings, public transport info, 3D and satellite maps, and the ability to download maps for offline use. The app may send position data to Magic Earth’s traffic provider to provide real-time traffic information, but the data is anonymized and only stored for 5 minutes. This app is useful for users who require real-time traffic info, which is available [in several countries](https://www.magicearth.com/feature-availablity/#hd_traffic). Magic Earth is free of cost for all end-users but the developer also has a paid SDK for business partners. Because of this business model, they have decided against open sourcing the app. --- ## Post 2 by @bitosi — 2025-03-13T12:46:15Z Their privacy policy is too vague to really know specifically what they collect. > …This data includes IP-addresses, date and time of your requests, operating system type. We may also use real-time geo-location information of your device, search reference geographic position, routing and search preferences, crash reports and app version installed. --- ## Post 3 by @KevPham — 2025-03-13T14:40:38Z Are there any tangible benefits from using Magic Earth over something like Organic Maps? If you have any personal experiences testing these apps out, please do share. (i.e. Like in this [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/CalyxOS/comments/15je7fy/a_different_comparison_of_google_maps_alternatives/) thread) --- ## Post 4 by @Regime6045 — 2025-03-13T14:50:19Z The main benefit is that the route planning takes traffic info into account --- ## Post 5 by @Showplace8087 — 2025-03-13T18:15:32Z IMO Magic Earth just flat out works better than Organic Maps or OsmAnd. If OM or OsmAnd is even able to find the exact address you’re looking for, it can be buried in the results. Or in a lot of cases when I type an address all I get is block numbers. For example I search 123 fake st Miami, Fl, my results are “Address/Block” numbers and it’ll highlight a stretch of a road. That’s useless and inconvenient. People want something that will guide them to the exact address which Magic Earth does. --- ## Post 6 by @Niek-de-Wilde — 2025-03-13T18:23:07Z This seems the differ from place to place, i can even search for company names in the netherlands. --- ## Post 7 by @bitosi — 2025-03-13T18:23:53Z Public transport works a bit better. --- ## Post 8 by @Toasty-Heaven — 2025-03-14T00:47:23Z From a usability standpoint, Magic Earth is leaps and bounds a more effective mapping app than OsmAnd. OsmAnd can be borderline unusable if you’re trying to navigate to a specific address, often requiring you to settle for a cross street. While I can’t speak to their actual privacy practices, they make some very strong statements about privacy. When enabling location permissions for instance, they claim to “never share your location. Ever.” Talk is obviously cheap, but the fact that they produce such a better product than their competition makes them the only OSM app that is worthwhile for me. --- ## Post 9 by @anon49494703 — 2025-07-06T08:06:46Z Magic Earth appears to be introducing an annual subscription of $0.99, which is fair enough. However, this change seems to have come with removing the ability to download the APK file directly from them. Their support originally provided me with a link to a download page for the APK upon request. However, this link is no longer working. Reaching out to their support once again to confirm if this is the case. --- ## Post 10 by @anon49494703 — 2025-07-07T06:34:02Z Support from Magic Earth has informed me that the APK version will only be unavailable for a short while due to app refurbishment. Seems like whatever upcoming changes they are making will not permanently effect the availability of the APK outside of the Google Play Store. Despite not being open source, being able to get the app directly from them is nice for those who wish to avoid the Play Store. Overall, my experience with Magic Earth has been very positive. The app has always worked well for me as a Google Maps alternative. No issues finding accurate addresses. --- ## Post 11 by @RevealedInWords — 2025-08-30T16:25:43Z When I have a need for real-time traffic on Android app I prefer Magic Earth, who has a decent privacy policy. But can they be trusted? No idea. However, if you want truly private, real-time traffic navigation, I suppose the only option is an old-school, dedicated device like a Garmin. But unless you disguise your vehicle, cover your plates, put your toll transponder in a Faraday bag, disable your vehicle’s telematics, and are able to confirm you have not been tagged with a hidden GPS transponder, it is next to impossible to travel in your personal vehicle anywhere in the U.S. without being tracked in some way by the powers that be. --- ## Post 12 by @Pragmatic — 2025-08-30T16:54:39Z Similarly, when I need to navigate in real time I use Magic Earth, their privacy policy is very good and they claim not to sell or track users. And even in terms of real-time navigation, it’s the only application that accurately indicates the position of speed cameras, which is a plus. --- ## Post 13 by @haddock — 2025-09-06T09:06:24Z As far as I can see Magic Earth fits all minimum requirements + 2 of the best case ones. It is superior to Organic Maps imo in a couple of ways: - Public transport navigations works great in Germany, I am unsure if they are real time but it gives you great suggestions, tested in multiple german cities. Organic Map’s public transport is almost useless at the moment. It only provides one option instead of multiple ones to choose from. You can’t see the departure time nor any other detail besides travel time and walking distance. I can’t even express how useless this is. This might not be relevant for a car centric society like the US but it is highly relevant over here. - Real time traffic info - Has included voice navigation, does not require to install a seperate TTS on GrapheneOS - The route planning in Organic Maps is extremely bad in my opinion. I can’t change starting point or destination when tapping on _manage route._ I can’t even choose to not start the route from my location. There is no way to add more points along the route. This is seriously bad. Don’t get me wrong. I really wish Organic Maps (or CoMaps) was the best solution, as I would prefer using a fully FOSS app. And I really hope they keep improving to make it my go to maps application some say, but until now this is just not the case. The only thing Organic Maps does better imo is the looks, the smoothness of using the app and POI-search. This is why I would strongly argue for including Magic Earth in the list. --- ## Post 14 by @bsd — 2025-09-06T10:12:22Z I tried Organic Maps, but not a single address within a hundred-mile radius was supported by it. Magic Earth appears to be effective for that. I’ll demo it this week. --- ## Post 15 by @Cincinnatus — 2025-09-06T10:45:06Z I don’t know anything about this app specifically, but I do think there needs to be an alternative to Organic or CoMaps. I live in the US and Organic Maps can’t find my address or even my doctors address which basically just makes it unusable for me. --- ## Post 16 by @Pragmatic — 2025-09-06T10:54:41Z In Europe Magic Earth is incredible, it works really well and I think Magic Earth should really be added to the list of the best alternatives to Google Maps, it’s a must-have for me. --- ## Post 17 by @Encounter5729 — 2025-09-06T12:12:25Z > [@bsd](#): > > I tried Organic Maps, but not a single address within a hundred-mile radius was supported by it. Magic Earth appears to be effective for that. I’ll demo it this week. That’s very unlikely. Most likely you input it the wrong way. The parser can be a bit finicky. You shouldn’t put ZIP code or town name in the address. Just street name. Sometimes number also cause problem, so try without one first. > [@Cincinnatus](#): > > I don’t know anything about this app specifically, but I do think there needs to be an alternative to Organic or CoMaps. I live in the US and Organic Maps can’t find my address or even my doctors address which basically just makes it unusable for me. If your doctor place isn’t listed on Open Street Map, feel free to add it. This is how we improve the system. Now if you talk about inputing the adress and not finding it, this merits investigation. --- ## Post 18 by @bsd — 2025-09-06T21:55:27Z > [@Encounter5729](#): > > That’s very unlikely. Most likely you input it the wrong way. The parser can be a bit finicky. You shouldn’t put ZIP code or town name in the address. Just street name. Sometimes number also cause problem, so try without one first. I tried each way you could put an address in. It will only allow me to search the road, and nothing else. I cannot pick an address anywhere, for example, on a 20 mile long road, without manually scrolling to it and long-pressing on the location to navigate to it. --- ## Post 19 by @OldGuy — 2025-09-07T02:45:54Z > [@bsd](#): > > I tried Organic Maps, but not a single address within a hundred-mile radius was supported by it. Magic Earth appears to be effective for that. I’ll demo it this week. > [@Cincinnatus](#): > > I don’t know anything about this app specifically, but I do think there needs to be an alternative to Organic or CoMaps. I live in the US and Organic Maps can’t find my address or even my doctors address which basically just makes it unusable for me. In both these cases, this implies there are no volunteer mappers anywhere near your locations. Or, if in the US, your state hasn’t submitted its address database to the National Address Database (which has a compatible license so a remote OSM “arm chair” mapper could use it to add addresses). I don’t know where you live, how close you are to a village, town or city, etc. But I will note there is a bit of a network effect: The more data in OSM then the more people will use it and the more people will contribute changes and updates. Germany seems to be the poster child for this and is reported to be very well mapped. The US, not so much. When I moved to my current city (in the US) I made a point of walking around town mapping it. That did two things: It got me much more familiar with my new home. And it added a bunch of addresses and POIs (stores, offices, restaurants, etc.) to OSM for my area. A win-win. So people can use Organic Maps, CoMaps, OsmAnd, or whatever to get around my town. At the very least, when you go on your errands, use the “add place to OpenStreetMap” feature that is in both CoMaps and Organic Maps to add your local stores, doctor’s offices, etc. Or use a dedicated app like Go Map! for iPhone (there are others for Android). It only takes a couple of minutes and you are very much helping with an infrastructure that allows people to be more private as nearly all OSM based navigation apps work off line and at least a few do zero tracking. --- ## Post 20 by @Encounter5729 — 2025-09-07T09:24:54Z I thought you couldn’t even input road name. About the number, does it display on the map ? See if it’s Organic Maps issue or rather OpenStreetMap --- ## Post 21 by @Cincinnatus — 2025-09-14T04:44:20Z > [@Encounter5729](#): > > Now if you talk about inputing the adress and not finding it, this merits investigation When I input the address, it narrows it down to a city block, which is okay I guess, but not ideal. --- ## Post 22 by @Script1743 — 2025-11-07T16:56:14Z I came here to say I love Magic Earth. While I mainly use it for public transport navigation (which is simply excellent), I also tried using it for driving and it does the job well. Live traffic is also a nice touch. There are obviously some minor issues (the UI feels a little dated on Android as of 2025.11.07), but I don’t see a reason why this shouldn’t be included in the recommendations. --- ## Post 23 by @ImTooPhaT — 2025-11-09T00:12:25Z Hmm… I’ll have to give Magic Earth a go then because live traffic is the main reason I can’t let go of Google Maps. --- ## Post 24 by @lriesebos — 2025-12-02T13:28:50Z ![35ed9d41-e14f-4e6a-adce-b99bd39ceedf](https://forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/3X/4/a/4afbff1da7cb2fc0611371385d55602adb7680ae.jpeg) Well, seems offline maps and traffic aware navigation are behind a subscription now. That’s a major loss. Anyone else knows what happened here and how that changes the recommendation for this app? --- ## Post 25 by @TheDoc — 2025-12-02T13:44:28Z > [@lriesebos](#): > > Well, seems offline maps and traffic aware navigation are behind a subscription now. That’s a major loss. Sadly expected from a proprietary app. I get needing to make money but proprietary developers seem to put little to no thought on good ways to do that, instead resorting to adding artificial barriers or anti-features. --- ## Post 26 by @Pragmatic — 2025-12-02T13:54:37Z I hope Organic Maps/CoMaps will add real-time traffic to their apps, it’s the only thing missing. --- ## Post 27 by @ImTooPhaT — 2025-12-02T14:37:40Z Same. Still using Magic Earth for traffic (until that gets paywalled as well) and now I’ll have to use Organic Maps for offline. --- ## Post 28 by @shadowwwind — 2025-12-02T15:07:27Z Its 15€/year is not that expansive and they need to run the traffic data somehow --- ## Post 29 by @Encounter5729 — 2025-12-02T15:50:28Z For me, this make it a no go. The criteria is that you can use offline maps. While we haven´t said apps need to be free, there would at least need to be a way to pay privately (cash or XMR) which I doubt is the case. --- ## Post 30 by @spacecdt — 2025-12-02T16:10:03Z It’s $8 USD if you buy the license from their [website](https://www.magicearth.com/shop?section=buy-license) instead of Google/Apple. Sucks they only take card payment, but you can use a virtual card like [Privacy.com](https://www.privacy.com/) or probably a Visa gift card. --- ## Post 31 by @ImTooPhaT — 2025-12-02T16:20:08Z Yeah, it’s really cheap, so I’ll probably pay for it. --- ## Post 32 by @kissu — 2025-12-02T17:34:21Z Price is not an issue I think, it’s mostly the privacy aspect. Not sure how hard it is to have real time traffic but I guess it takes quite some resources and not easy to self-host. :slightly_frowning_face: --- ## Post 33 by @spacecdt — 2025-12-02T18:59:43Z I’d assume you could pay with a Visa gift card but I haven’t tried it. Either way you’re sharing location data with them. Haven’t heard of any self hosted solutions that include live traffic data. --- ## Post 34 by @TheDoc — 2025-12-02T19:36:34Z It seems to me that Magic Earth probably doesn’t meet [Privacy Guides’ criteria](https://www.privacyguides.org/en/maps/#criteria). > - Must retain core functionality when offline and allow users to download maps for offline use. If offline use and other critical features are paid, then… > - Must not collect PII per their privacy policy. [Section 6.3 of Magic Earth Terms of Service](https://www.magicearth.com/terms-and-conditions#terms-of-service) states: > Purchases of Paid Services are usually billed and managed by the third-party app store or payment provider through which you obtained the Service (for example, the Apple App Store or other authorised platforms). Your payments are subject to that provider’s own terms and conditions. If they only accept card/Apple/Google, I’m not sure it meets the “no PII” criteria. > - Must not require users to create an account with them. Also not sure if they meet this criteria either. They’d require an account with Google/Apple or you buy their license keys by providing them with a credit card and email address, which sounds like it has many of the same issues of “creating an account” with them. > [@spacecdt](#): > > but you can use a virtual card like [Privacy.com](https://www.privacy.com/) It’s not a replacement to private payment methods like XMR. - Requires PII - Only available in the U.S. - Still not anonymous > [@spacecdt](#): > > or probably a Visa gift card. I’ve heard mixed things about them. From requiring information to activate the card to being rejected as a payment method, it doesn’t sound great. Even so, having to go out and physically buy a card (which can be a lot more expensive than what you’re trying to buy) is really inconvenient and costly. Finally, Magic Earth also doesn’t meet the best-case criteria of being open source. It’s not a hard requirement but it’s a cherry on top these other issues. These issues are fixable but I’m not sure if or when Magic Earth will address them. --- ## Post 35 by @magicallymappin — 2025-12-02T19:40:59Z If it were just traffic aware navigation, which of course would have a cost with server overhead… then sure. It’s not there are any alternatives other than the big privacy violating companies. But Magic Earth is also putting OFFLINE MAPS behind the Paywall requiring a premium subscription. That’s a red flag for the future. Organic Maps, CoMaps, OSM and others, all do offline maps, so this being now a premium feature, is absurd. And if they are making offline maps premium, then it’s very likely that other features will go behind the Paywall eventually. It’s a dilemma for those willing to pay a small price for this right now. Because it’s likely not enough to actually pay their costs and satisfactory profit. Which means they will raise that cost or lock out more features to squeeze more revenue. It’s probably better that users just refuse this cash grab entirely, and they can learn from the backlash that this isn’t the right strategy. --- ## Post 36 by @spacecdt — 2025-12-02T19:45:13Z > [@TheDoc](#): > > Even so, having to go out and physically buy a card (which can be a lot more expensive than what you’re trying to buy) is really inconvenient and costly. Can’t you buy virtual gift cards with XMR on Cake Wallet? Genuinely asking as I have no experience with XMR yet. --- ## Post 37 by @TheDoc — 2025-12-02T20:25:04Z I haven’t used it either but by the looks of it, it seems like it might be an option in some cases but with a lot of caveats. That’ll be the case with basically anything involving fiat. --- ## Post 38 by @crossroads — 2025-12-02T20:41:02Z > [@magicallymappin](#): > > then it’s very likely that other features will go behind the Paywall eventually. What other features :slight_smile: --- ## Post 39 by @anon39279085 — 2025-12-04T08:08:18Z Can’t even do slight navigation Can’t exactly find places you will get “Content Expired” This app is going to the enshittification cave with the others --- ## Post 45 by @magicallymappin — 2025-12-06T05:52:08Z It’s got some cool AI dashcam and driver assist features I’ve never actually used. But I did use the HUD feature at night a few times and liked it. --- ## Post 46 by @magicallymappin — 2025-12-06T05:54:52Z > [@anon39279085](#): > > Can’t even do slight navigation > Can’t exactly find places you will get “Content Expired So you updated? And it’s no longer useful on the free version? I haven’t updated the app yet. But worried that map updates will stop working on versions older than the new monetized version some day. --- ## Post 47 by @anon12918199 — 2025-12-07T02:58:01Z Can someone explain how magic earth (or really other non-google affiliated app) can possibly have accurate traffic data for navigation? As I understand it, traffic data must be crowd sourced and the $8/year is going to turn most people away. Their download count is also quite low. Without a huge user base it seems impossible to have accurate traffic data. What am I missing here? --- ## Post 48 by @crossroads — 2025-12-07T08:04:27Z I suppose some companies with larger user base (maybe even google) are selling that data, so that’s the reason why it needs to be paid feature. Though from my experience, none of those I tried (google, here, magicearth) have good traffic data. At least I don’t take it as accurate as they are showing it. The main reason is - when bunch of drivers see traffic jam, they all take alternative routes, so alternative routs get slower as well. The difference is usually 5-10 minutes or so. --- ## Post 49 by @anon12918199 — 2025-12-12T21:33:48Z I bought the “premium” version of Magic Earth yesterday to fully test it out and holy crap this is such a trashy, poorly built app. I think the Magic Earth data itself is good for a non-big tech company; however, at least on Android, the app was clearly written by bottom of the barrel developers that have obviously never tested their own app. I was driving somewhere today for the first time with magic earth navigation on my pixel 8 + GOS: - the app crashed mid navigation - lane position guide isn’t always correct. Once it told me to stay in the right lane, but I needed to turn left. - outside of navigation, this is the single laggiest app I’ve ever used. It feels like it’s running 10fps when I try to scroll around or perform actions that trigger map panel animations. - I think the driving view is way too zoomed in on the car. Given that I can’t fully trust the app’s lane guides, I really needed it to be further zoomed out to see where I was going. Just absolutely terrible. --- ## Post 50 by @Pragmatic — 2025-12-13T01:51:14Z The new update has completely ruined Magic Earth. It has gone from being an incredible app that I have used for years to something mediocre. I am disgusted. --- ## Post 51 by @ImTooPhaT — 2025-12-13T16:58:50Z I paid for the premium license as well (it was cheap I guess) and I haven’t tried their premium features yet, but the last time I used Magic Earth, it crashed mid navigation for me as well. Though I don’t know if it’s a one-time issue or if it’s reoccurring. --- ## Post 52 by @anon12918199 — 2025-12-14T19:56:19Z They do offer a money back guarantee. It’s only $8 for 1 year for me. I’m undecided if I want to get a refund now. They may be small enough to not try to hurt them with refunds in the hopes that they improve the product soon. But at the same time it feels bad to fund obviously shitty developers. --- ## Post 53 by @bee — 2025-12-14T20:12:25Z > [@Pragmatic](#): > > I hope Organic Maps/CoMaps will add real-time traffic to their apps Already in progress in CoMaps, and I believe there is a working beta apk available as well. Should be finished and part of the main release in the coming months I imagine. You can track the progress on their Codeberg. > [@magicallymappin](#): > > cool AI dashcam and driver assist features If I’m imagining the dashcam feature correctly, that is, it allows you to use your phone as a sort of dashcam while driving, there is a FOSS app that turns your phone into a dashcam called Alibi. That is just to say other alternatives likely exist for these features if anyone wants them. --- ## Post 54 by @anon12918199 — 2025-12-14T22:28:36Z > [@bee](#): > > Already in progress in CoMaps, and I believe there is a working beta apk available as well. Should be finished and part of the main release in the coming months I imagine. You can track the progress on their Codeberg. I checked it out. I think the OSM underlying data is too crappy to be useful, at least in my city, but their overall apps quality is much better than Magic Earth. What Magic Earth data gets right vis OSM-based solutions: - knows about street addresses and how to route to a street address - is much better at recommending “popular” locations. ex. if I search for “ABC”, I’m much more likely to be looking for a popular “ABC community center” place rather than just some “ABC street” I did parse the CoMaps implementation on their traffic branch and their use of [https://traffxml.gitlab.io/](https://traffxml.gitlab.io/). It looks like pretty brilliant stuff, but CoMaps still requires a critical mass of users to contribute traffic data and/or for other apps to contribute their traffic data (they won’t) otherwise it won’t be very useful. --- ## Post 55 by @crossroads — 2025-12-15T04:37:22Z > [@anon12918199](#): > > But at the same time it feels bad to fund obviously shitty developers. Even in their replies to play store comments, they say they’ll forward requests to developers, but IMO this is mainly management issue, and they are the ones to blame. Developers can not make and release what they are not told and allowed. I will not ask for refund as it seems it’s still working well for the main things - navigation and real time traffic info. And I hope they’ll improve it during the year. But there is no dash cam function, at least not as it was before. If I understood it correctly, now I have to turn on recording manually for every drive. Also, I’m not sure it can detect actual traffic signs (mainly for speed limit), as it did before, I need to test it more (actually to pay attention) Alternatives are not great, and ME might still has the best privacy policy, after osmand and OM/CoMaps, but this now is really a downgrade