remember when apple didn't have ads because they were premium?
i just wish OSM was more complete… it’s fine for big cities, but when you live in small rural areas it’s practically useless. my village only has its roads mapped, nothing else.
(and yes i know you can edit the map. and that it’s the entire point of OSM. i know that. but it takes a ton of effort, and it’s an ongoing effort because cities change!)
OSM contributors, you are amazing and cherished and your work does not go unappreciated. i just wish there was more of us…
The next headline will read, OpenStreetMaps gains users as Apple adds ads to maps.
After that, Apple would ban OSM apps from their store.
I could totally see this happen.
Not in a direct manner, but something about "OSM not living up to Apple's high standards of privacy" or similar strategy.
i recommend people get streetcomplete too so you can help build out osm! :)
I wish it were good enough to be a viable alternative but it really isn’t.
If it's missing data (such as locations) that is the issue, then you can update the map yourself and help others migrate at the same time. Every little bit helps, even if you don't plan on fully moving over. I've done over a thousand changes to my local area and it's actually more accurate than Google Maps in a lot of the commercial areas. You don't have to do a thousand things though, like I said, every little bit helps.
Of course, it doesn't help for outside of your area if you only do changes locally, but if enough people were willing to update the map, things could change.
It’s not. It’s that the apps that use it have bad UIs and/or don’t support CarPlay. I haven’t found an alternative yet that was usable day to day.
Adding onto that, the app StreetComplete makes contributing stupidly easy. You basically get a bunch of quests generatef around you with missing or potentially outdated data that you can fill in by answering simple questions. Basically Pokemon Go, but infinitely more useful.
Be realistic, not many people using apple devices (or any mobile devices tbh) are going to care or be intelligent enough to pull an open source alternative
“People using devices I don’t like are stupid” is among the dumbest of takes.
No, it's more that the average person will choose an iPhone or Android Phone and use whatever is built-in instead of looking for an alternative, and this describes the vast majority of people.
It's not the device they picked, it's that they're part of the majority.
The majority sucks if you're a snowflake.
No, the majority sucks at any particular area. It turns out that most people are good at a few things and bad at pretty much everything else. You don't want a doctor doing your taxes, or a lawyer checking your teeth for cavities, because that's not what they're good at.
Most people only care about tech if it's not working. They use whatever comes with the devices they buy and leave it at that, because why should they care further?
Apple deliberately markets to those who willing to trade their virtual freedoms for a pseudo-luxury brand (with enough QC defects to kickstart Louis Rossmann's career), a UI filled with (buggy) eye candy, "social status" (Blue bubbles) and "convenience" in the form of never having the option of installing software outside their walled garden.
With the exception of those who work at the company and are mandated to have a device, and those who use iOS for certain apps exclusive to the platform required for their employment, they are the technologically inept. Manuals scare them, a terminal prompt would make them jump up and call IT over right away. Installing an application manually is "scary". If something went wrong with the hardware, they would throw away the device rather than fix it (thanks to Apple). Trying to explain to the the consequences of their choices is a fool's errand.
They are the marketable, eager cult members for Apple to puppet on virtual strings. The only thing that surprises me is that they haven't enshittified with ads sooner. I guess that impacts their "luxury" brand image.
The dumbest of takes indeed.
I am a software engineer with literally decades of experience, I was self hosting websites on personal Linux boxes via dynamic dns before it was cool, and I basically live in my terminal. I’m a proud NixOS user and I spend about as much time shelled in over SSH as I do not.
I use an iPhone because it’s a fucking phone, I use it to browse the web and make calls. I just need it to stay out of my way and not crash.
Maybe deciding that which phone someone uses needs to be a core part of their identity is the actual problem.
So you're saying you're fine with the required Apple account, advertising, and data collection? That's not getting in your way?
Being unable to use a browser that isn't webkit/safari isn't problematic?
won't care? yeah probably. aren't intelligent enough? that's an insane generalization, knowledgeable about technology ≠ smart
What the heck did I (an iOS user) do to hurt you?????
Bought from Apple. Voted with your wallet to support the walled garden infrastructure, gave up all of your software freedom for a shiny interface, blue bubbles, and some casual marketing.
And now that users like you realized how fucked you really are once Apple decides it's time to extract more value from you, now you come crawling to the OSS community for a path out of the walled garden.
I mean, the community will still help you. But I can't say I like Apple users after years upon years hearing them sing praises about the walled garden and worshipping the company's abuses at every step of the way. At least we warned you about when this would happen, I suppose. Maybe some of them will realize their mistakes. I doubt it.
I had four android phones from three different manufacturers die in less than a year, one of them wouldn't put out any updates after a year either. I went back to iPhone and it lasted for four years.
I’m not voting with my wallet, I’m picking the device that causes the least amount of headache and just fucking works when I need it to. I have to have one of these to keep my job.
Let me guess. You're one of the people who compared a full priced iPhone to an entry level android and were upset that the $150-200 device wasn't comparable? That's like buying a chromebook and expecting it to have the same specs as a top of the line Macbook (you have to find a device that has bang for buck, not be a cheapskate)
Also, you can shop around and find a device with a support lifetime shown on their website. Google does it. Samsung does it. Oneplus does it. Even fucking Motorola does it. If you install something like PostmarketOS, you can get a support lifetime after the manufacturer stops caring as well. Or install something like GrapheneOS on the Pixel line that's untethered from google. They have a support lifetime on their website too.
Oneplus
lol now we know you're full of shit.
2 of them were Galaxy Notes and others were flagships as well. Quit being a douche.
Not to defend the antagonistic guy above, but you're either extremely unlucky or not being fully truthful. I've had nothing but Samsung flagships for over a decade and have had literally zero issues besides minor annoyances, especially with the Note line the last 5-6 years. iPhones aren't built poorly, so I won't rag on them. But to use your purely anecdotal evidence to declare Apple as offering a superior quality phone to all Android vendors, it feels dishonest as fuck.
I thought if people pay for things, like extreamly expensive Apple hardware, no ads can exist there? Must be confused or hearing things.
Nice just what I always wanted.
Once you create a monetization team that puts ads in shit, they’re going to want to keep putting more ads in stuff. They’re all judged on how much better they do year over year.
Apple should’ve never created a team that sold ads on their platforms.
CoMaps is a nice offline alternitive. Not perfect,but it respects privacy
Might give it a spin, currently using Organic Maps.
It was forked off if Organic Maps because if a difference of philosophy. Organic Maps wanted to add more proprietary components to their app.
, just What I needed - another good reason never to touch Apple. (But hey, there's money to be made - Google advertising revenue 230+billion USD... remind me again of all the good that these companies are doing in the world with their wealth???).
Is CoMaps the only alternative besides google maps?
Magic Earth
They'll probably make "Maps+" soon after.
Only until they rename it the week later: Apple Maps Pro Max 4K (2026 gen 2)
It already has ads. Those businesses it highlights for no reason at all when you’re scrolling around.
I dont think they will to be honest.
/uninstall
then again google maps and waze already do this too
Issues that don't affect me
first I did not speak up because I was not an apple user.
then I did not speak up because I can use adb to install my apps anyway.
then I did not speak up because I have already switched to linux on the desktop.
at the end there was nobody to speak up against windows-only forced secure boot.
As long as they are tasteful, that’s fine. Like little Dunkin Donuts indicators or whatever if they’re in the normal driving view and take up a very small amount of visual space, great. Waze has done this for years. No bother, no forced waits, no delays in navigation.
If you put banner, UI-blocking, and/or full-screen ads in my maps app, go fuck yourselves.
How’s the boot taste? I paid out the ass for my devices, they already made their money off of me. Get the ads out of my face.
So you overpay them for crappy iPhone and have to pay them again by watching ads?
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