Last night Organic Maps was removed from the Play Store without any warnings or additional details due to “not meeting the requirements for the Family Program”. Compared to Google Maps and other maps apps rated for 3+ age, there are no ads or in-app purchases in Organic Maps. We have asked for an appeal.
As a temporary workaround for the Google Play issue, you can install the new upcoming Google Play update from this link: https://cdn.organicmaps.app/apk/OrganicMaps-24081605-GooglePlay.apk
The Announcement on various Networks:
Fosstodon Post
Twitter Post
Telegram Post
If you don’t know what Organic Maps is, it is an alternative to OsmAnd and google maps, more info on the official site (link) and GitHub.
Maybe an error? Honestly this is a weird one. I hope we will learn more in the coming hours.
You can still get it on the other channels, like F-Droid or Obtainium. Still, we all know that not being on the Play Store is an heavy sentence for any Android app.
EDITs
- Added F-Droid link.
- Fixed Typo in the obtainium link.
More people should know about F-droid.
You are right, and I forgot to add the link to it in the opening post. I’ll edit it in!
You can also install via Accrescent or Obtainium. It’s a shame none of these options were mentioned in the OP.
Actually Obtainium is mentioned (but thank you, checking back I saw I had a typo in the github link that I had missed, and I’ve now fixed it!), but this is the first time I hear about Accrescent: is it this App store?
Actually Obtainium is mentioned
I meant the post from OM.
this is the first time I hear about Accrescent: is it this App store?
yes, thats the one. It’s relatively new, and the new default app store in GrapheneOS.
this is the first time I hear about Accrescent: is it this App store?
yes, thats the one. It’s relatively new, and the new default app store in GrapheneOS.
Can it use github like Obtainium does?
I wish there was an “app app” that is just a curated list of app name, description, link to github / other git / fdroid rep / download link, ratings. Could be a formatted markdown fie. Have forks of this list that different people can extend and you can subscribe to different trusted curators with something like version control. Ideally P2P without a central server. Why is it so complicated?
curated list of app name, description, link to github / other git / fdroid rep / download link
so… F-droid?
Have forks of this list that different people can extend and you can subscribe to different trusted curators
so… third party F-droid repos?
F-Droid doesn’t have e.g. organic maps because it’s against their religion or something.
No.
big disadvantage: if installed via fdroid, it won’t work on android auto
Correction: yes it will. Source: that’s how I installed it
Organic maps don’t show up tho
You have to enable “Unwanted Features” in F-Droid settings before it shows up.
Link to the app: https://f-droid.org/packages/app.organicmaps/
It states the OpenStreetMap data is from May. Is it fully offline and needs to wait for the next app update?
from the changelog:
OSM data as of July 23
Where is that?
“Include Anti Feature Apps” in Settings > App compatibility:
There you have to add the anti-features you may accept included in Apps. For OM you have to enable these:
(But not 100% sure about this. Maybe the first circled is also enough?)
Very helpful contribution - thanks 🙏
Ah you mean this. Thank you
Streisand effect
Never heard of this app until now
It’s built on open street maps and is great for trail stuff: hiking, dirt biking, horse riding, etc.
Was using Osmand before and it’s a lot nicer to use for day to day navigation on the bike than the sluggy mess Osmand sometimes is
Same
Does anyone know why the only public transport option is “subway”? I don’t get why they would only index subways.
It’s kind of weird to give that instead of just a general PT option that routes multi-modally with a menu to disable each type manually.
because you need to pull the schedules for each country in order to do that. they’re working on public transport navigation, but it’s still not ready for use.
If it’s not ready for use, it either shouldn’t show up by default, or it should have a visible disclaimer. Otherwise it could be dangerous…
yes, that’s exactly why public transport other than the subway doesn’t show up by default and you have to go an extra mile in order to enable it.
the subway showing up without the rest is beta software compared to other choices. It might route you three tomes as far all because it doesn’t know buses exist.
Subways are great when hiking or boating
I’d first heard of it yesterday when I saw it recommended here somewhere.
However, I wouldn’t assume maliciousness over incompetence. It is Google after all… Anybody who has ever published anything on there has probably had it removed at some point. There’s so many malicious apps and spurious reports, it could honestly be anything. The smaller your app, the longer it takes for an actual human to get involved and sort it out.
Lol Google scared
They’ve just convinced me to try it. It looks surprisingly good. I’d only wish there was a satellite layer. Or is there a way to download it?
Nope, its desgined for offline use, which is just not compatible with huge image files. I dont know what source they would use for sat images, but that would probably complicate things a lot either way. Also if you load sat image tiles from a webserver, then that server/provider will also always know your location.
OsmAnd (another OSM-based app) allows you to set underlay maps from external sources which will be downloaded from those external sources as needed. I do not know if Organic Maps has this feature too but it can clearly be done.
Storage space is not an issue for me and it wouldn’t be for others if this was optional. I guess the only problem is, as you say, where to get satellite images for an app that doesn’t make money.
Just tried it. Compared to OsmAnd it’s very easy to use.
But only seems to have vector and offline maps.
Yeaaah I doubt they give a fuck about this. Just an automated system doing automated things.
Google should really think about being nicer to competitors right now. Yet another reason it needs to be broken up by Lina Khan and the FTC.
I’m such a major fan of the FTC and Chair Khan right now. This is spot on.
Chair Khan? Am I the only one that things it’s a bad look to have that evil tiger from The Jungle Book leading the FTC?
All my homies search for apps first in F-Droid and only use google play if there is no other option.
And that’s wonderful!
But normies, sadly, do not
Can you help a sister out and help me to start using fdroid? Do I just google it? Can I download the fdroid store from Google play store?
there are other apps than can access F-droid and everyone will soon start replying saying why they think their choice is the only reasonable one and everything else is the worst thing ever, but the official one under that link should be enough to get you started.
The official store is fine, but I personally stopped using it after it constantly made problems and wasn’t working properly.
When was that?
The official F-Droid app had an issue with not deleting downloads on systems that didn’t run it correctly in the background. That has been fixed some months ago.
I don’t know how long it has been, but it has been some months.
For me it got fixed in 1.20.0 from May 8, 2024.
I would recommend Droidify, which uses the fdroid store with a nicer UI.
All while the other antitrust case is still in progress
How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, Old Man?
Look up brothels in sex-work friendly countries in Google Maps, screenshot them, and mass-report Google Maps as a prostitution app.
Google Maps is exempt from moderation in Google Play Store.
I’m really curious about what kind of BS. Like you could search a sexy shop and have directions to go in person?
Ohh, that’s disgusting. Tell me which one so I can make sure to avoid it.
Why would you enlist a map app under the Families program in the first place though?
@gencha No reason at all. It was probably wrongfully flagged by Google’s AI based on some stupid wrongful training data. At least that’s what I think though, because folks at Pushbullet (remember the app?) seem to be having similar problems about “not mentioning that they upload user data to their servers” even though they clearly mention this when the app is opened for the first time.
Probably ensures that children can use it
That makes sense, but my understanding is, what Google considers Family content is not an add-on to regular content. Your content is not also for children, it is catered towards them. This implies using dedicated Google functionality, special SDKs, and so on, to comply with law. So your product needs to be designed in a very specific way to be eligible. I’m not aware of how Google Play restricts children from installing certain apps, but you can always install an app through a parental supervisor account.
To me, this story seems like a lot of crying over a situation that is not fully explained.
The screenshot had has the criteria included though. Relevant part: either be for children or for everyone.
Yeah I feel like this makes it harder to have this app used as an educational resource.
Seems to be still available on Apple’s store. And if Google intended to bury it, this is definitely Streisand Effect at work. Wish I’d known about this a few years ago when I was hiking more
This totally is accidental and coincidental and has nothing to do with Google being a dick, as per usual.
So sad to see google now being the same shit as Microsoft
I did not know of this app but you know I’m gonna install it now.
Thanks Google!
Amazing OSM-based maps app, totally recommend.
I also just learned of it.
Just installed the app.
I doubt this has much to do with Google maps and more to do with Google being cockwombles in general.
Organic maps in the US is fucking awful and quite literally unusable.
It’s too bad that it’s not available without anti-features in F-Droid. I disable all anti-features in Settings so intially I thought OrganicMaps is not in F-Droid until I checked the website.
Yeah… I wonder if it’s the same story here - devs trying to interpret the rules in their own special way and Google putting their foot down.
EDIT: as far as I can tell they kept referral links in the Google Play version and still claim to have no ads or tracking.
I guess they’re still lying.What are anti-features?
I would describe it as software that is not 100% open source, and/or connects to services that run is not purely open source software connecting through standard protcols. It can’t have a proprietary connection.
Basically, if both the software and the service do not run reprodible builds of the software, it is an anti-feature. For example, Proton, Telegram and NewPipe are open source apps, but the source code for their servers is not published so it’s a proprietary connection or servers run proprietary software, so those apps have anti-features.
F-Droid promotes free and open software, this also includes freedom from proprietary network services, ads etc. Look here for a list: https://f-droid.org/docs/Anti-Features/
