Poison Maps vs OpenWind
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Poison Maps
Discover millions of points of interest and routes worldwide, accessible even offline. Explore diverse categories like food, attractions, and transport, with features like directional signs and radar modes for easy navigation.
- Offline POI and route access
- Extensive POI categories
- Directional signs to offscreen POIs
- Compass, radar, and scanner modes
- Unique gesture for rapid panning
- Apple Watch app integration
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Poison Maps (“POIs on Maps”) is the ultimate app for finding Points of Interest anywhere in the world. It includes millions of POIs and routes, all stored on your device for use even when offline. The app contains every possible category of POI: food, hotels, banks, toilets, fuel stations, tourist attractions, leisure, parking, shops, hills, towns, transport, hospitals, churches, schools, libraries, civic buildings, rescue services, and much much more. It also contains 4 million miles of colour-coded routes, such as railways, subway maps, bus routes, cycle routes, hiking trails and ski pistes. The POIs and routes are all taken from the fantastic OpenStreetMap project. The app includes many unique features: • a toolbar at the bottom of the screen that allows you to display what you want in just 2 or 3 taps; • signs pointing to offscreen POIs, so that you never miss a nearby POI; • compass, radar and scanner modes that display the nearest POIs in different ways; • a unique gesture that allows rapid panning by temporarily zooming out (using 3D Touch when available); • back and forward buttons that help you retrace what you have looked at (like on a browser); • an Apple Watch app that shows what you want in only a few taps (or just one tap of the complication); Compass mode simply shows signs to the POIs. This is particularly useful when you just want to know what is around you or which way to head, and you haven’t got time to inspect a map, such as when cycling or hiking. It also works offline and is perfect for people who hate maps: they just follow the sign to where they want to go. It is also great at viewpoints to identify what hills, towns and structures you can see. Radar mode and Scanner modes are similar but also include a map that rotates around the current position. They include radar “rings” to show the distances from the current position. Scanner mode uniquely positions the GPS dot at the bottom of the screen so that you can see much more information in the direction that you are pointing. The unique panning gesture requires just one touch of one finger instead of the multi-finger gymnastics required by the traditional “pinch to zoom” approach (although that is still available). It also provides a quick way of zooming out and back in again when you are not sure what area the map is showing. It is a brilliant and completely original use of 3D Touch but also works fine on iPhones without it (using a long touch). The Apple Watch app also allows you to select any category in just a few taps. When you have selected a category then the nearest POIs are shown on a mini-map with the details listed below. The watch app also provides navigation to a POI, and you can even phone a POI from the watch! These are just some of the unique aspects of the app. All the usual map features are also provided, such as super-fast searching, directions, bookmarks, POI information, favouriting of brands, and much more. You can even create your own POIs, such as where you parked your car. Note: This is the full global version – if you want to give the app a try first then please click on the 'Related' link above and install one of the regional versions. Not only can you try the app for free, but these versions only take up about the same space as 2 or 3 music albums.
OpenWind
This application connects to a specialized instrument to display real-time sailing data, including vessel pitch and roll, compass readings, and wind speed and direction. It also provides insights into the instrument's battery level and Bluetooth connection strength. The app requires a connection to the OW instrument to function.
- Real-time sailing data display
- Vessel pitch and roll monitoring
- True and apparent wind data
- Compass and course over ground
- Instrument battery level
- Bluetooth connection strength
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The OpenWind App is an extension for the OpenWind instrument, designed to receive all the Data measured during sail time, such as: - pitch/roll of the vessel - compass - true wind speed and direction - apparent wind speed and direction - course over ground - speed over ground The App also gives information about the battery level of the instrument and the strength of the bluetooth connection. The App only works after connecting to the OW instrument. UDP NMEA 0183 output sentences for AWA/AWS and TWA/TWS
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: OpenWind at Free against Poison Maps's $1.99. OpenWind also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.4) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months). Poison Maps's advantage is ratings volume (7 vs 2) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.1). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
OpenWind is free to download; Poison Maps costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
OpenWind holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of Poison Maps's written reviews are positive against 100% of OpenWind's.
Poison Maps ships an update every 5 months, OpenWind fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Poison Maps | OpenWind |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.4 (7 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 76.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 12.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1.3 GB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | CCS Ltd | Michael Liesenberg |
Customer experience
Poison Maps
OpenWind
In-app purchases
Poison Maps
No in-app purchases
OpenWind
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Poison Maps free?
Is OpenWind free?
Which has better reviews, Poison Maps or OpenWind?
Do Poison Maps or OpenWind have ads?
Which is updated more often, Poison Maps or OpenWind?
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