Poison Maps vs CoMaps
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 thousands of miles of routes across North America, all available offline. Find hotels, attractions, transport, and more with intuitive navigation modes and an Apple Watch app.
- Offline access to millions of POIs and routes
- Comprehensive POI categories
- Color-coded route overlays
- Compass, radar, and scanner modes
- Unique panning gesture
- Apple Watch app integration
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Poison Maps (“POIs on Maps”) is the ultimate app for finding Points of Interest anywhere in North America. It includes millions of POIs and thousands of miles of routes, all stored on your device for use even when offline. The app contains every possible category of POI: hotels, banks, toilets, tourist attractions, hills, towns, transport, hospitals, churches, schools, libraries, civic buildings, rescue services, fuel stations, restaurants, bars, shops, leisure, parking and much much more. It also contains hundreds of thousands of 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 that this free version includes most of the categories, but the expansion pack is required for POIs and routes in the food & drink, shops, sport & leisure and driving categories.
CoMaps
Navigate your world with a free, open-source mapping application focused on privacy and offline functionality. Discover detailed maps, plan trips without cellular service, and enjoy essential navigation features. It's community-built and respects your data.
- Downloadable detailed maps
- Offline navigation
- Outdoor mode with trails
- Points of interest search
- Voice navigation
- Bookmark favorite places
- Track recording
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A community-led free & open source maps app based on OpenStreetMap data and reinforced with commitment to transparency, privacy and being not-for-profit. ‣ Simple and Polished: essential easy to use features that just work. ‣ Offline-focused: Plan and navigate your trip abroad without the need for cellular service, search waypoints while on a distant hike, etc. All app functions are designed to work offline. ‣ Respecting Privacy: The app is designed with privacy in mind - does not identify people, does not track, and does not collect personal information. Ads-free. ‣ Saves Your Battery and Space: Doesn’t drain your battery like other navigation apps. Compact maps save precious space on your phone. ‣ Free and Built by the Community: People like you helped build the app by adding places to OpenStreetMap, testing and giving feedback on features and contributing their development skills and money. ‣ Open and Transparent Decision-making and Financials, Not-for-profit and Fully Open Source. Main Features: • Downloadable detailed maps with places which are not available in many commercial maps • Outdoor mode with highlighted hiking trails, campsites, water sources, peaks, contour lines, etc • Walking paths and cycleways • Points of interest like restaurants, gas stations, hotels, shops, sightseeings and many more • Search by name or an address or by point of interest category • Navigation with voice announcements for walking, cycling, or driving • Bookmark your favorite places with a single tap • iCloud sync for your bookmarks and tracks • Offline Wikipedia articles • Subway transit layer and directions • Track recording • Export and import bookmarks and tracks in KML, KMZ, GPX formats • A dark mode to use during the night • Improve map data for everyone using a basic built-in editor • CarPlay support Freedom Is Here Discover your journey, navigate the world with privacy and community at the forefront!
Screenshots
Verdict
Poison Maps and CoMaps both sit at 4.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 81% of CoMaps's written reviews are positive against 40% of Poison Maps's. CoMaps also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 8 months). Poison Maps's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.6). On price, rating, ads and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Poison Maps sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. CoMaps asks for nothing beyond the download.
Poison Maps holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CoMaps has 147 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 40% of Poison Maps's written reviews are positive against 81% of CoMaps's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Poison Maps ships an update every 8 months, CoMaps fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Poison Maps | CoMaps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (6 ratings) — better | 4.7 (147 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 40.0% of reviews | 80.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 147 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 137 MB | 156 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | CCS Ltd | Anton Wenemoser |
Customer experience
Poison Maps
CoMaps
Bugs and requests
Poison Maps
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
CoMaps
Reported bugs
2 issues- Unable to find known locations and addresses
- Incorrect search results for distant locations
Requested features
3 requests- Add ability to read GPX files and compute distances
- Add option to display elevations in feet
- Improve search functionality to include parks and trails
In-app purchases
Poison Maps
- Full set of North American POIs$0.99
CoMaps
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Poison Maps free?
Is CoMaps free?
Which has better reviews, Poison Maps or CoMaps?
Do Poison Maps or CoMaps have ads?
Which is updated more often, Poison Maps or CoMaps?
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