NomadSwipeIs Maps.ME worth it? Yes for offline navigation, no as a trip planner
Is Maps.ME worth it? As an offline map with turn-by-turn directions, yes: it is free to download, has a 4.68 App Store rating from 78,825 ratings and was updated on 26 October 2026. As a trip planner, no. Watch the ads, the PRO subscription and the reported 10-region download limit.
The verdict by use case
| What you need | Worth it? | Why, from the sources |
|---|---|---|
| Offline maps and directions abroad, on a budget | Yes, test first | The listing promises offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation for driving, walking and cycling, and a free download. Reports of a 10-region free limit mean you should download your whole destination before you fly. |
| Several countries or big regions offline | Maybe | If the 10-region limit still applies, a PRO subscription is the way past it, and the listing shows several PRO prices. |
| Cycling routes you depend on | Check each route | A community wiki warns that its bicycle routing has given invalid routes. |
| Planning a trip: choosing places, order, days | No | The listing describes maps, guides, bookmarks and hotel booking. It does not describe itineraries. |
| An app with no ads | Not in the free tier | The App Store lists Advertising and sells ad removal. |
What Maps.ME is and who owns it
The official site describes it as an offline map app for iPhone, iPad and Android: "Download a map, choose your route, and get ready for a great journey." Its footer reads "© 2026 Convexity Holdings AG", and Apple lists Convexity Holdings AG as the seller.
The history matters if you remember the old, fully free version. Wikipedia says it began as MapsWithMe (Zurich, with a development office in Minsk) and that Mail.Ru Group acquired it in November 2014, after which it became free. It says Daegu Limited bought it on 2 November 2020, and that the sale led to interface and content changes and to the community fork Organic Maps in January 2021. The OpenStreetMap wiki agrees on the 2014 and 2020 sales and says all map data comes from OpenStreetMap. I found no page that links Daegu to Convexity, so I do not say how the two relate. Wikipedia carries maintenance tags about sourcing, so treat its dates as a guide.
Offline maps and routing
The U.S. App Store description opens with "Fast, detailed and entirely offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation" and says no internet is required. It lists navigation for driving, walking and cycling, offline search, category search (restaurants, ATMs, transit and similar), travel guides, hiking-trail data and OpenStreetMap updates. It also offers Booking.com hotel booking from inside the app, and warns that background GPS can drain the battery.
The OpenStreetMap wiki (a community page, partly dated) shows offline routing for car, foot and bike, and one warning I would take seriously if you cycle: "bicycle routing offers invalid routes, violating tagged turn restrictions." It also says the iOS 11.0.0 release in December 2020 removed key features. It gives no current figure for how often maps update; its only number is monthly updates in 2015, which I do not treat as current.
The same wiki says the free app is capped at 10 map regions: "In summer 2023 the developers limited the number of map regions that can be downloaded for free to 10", the limit was removed a few months later, and "in spring 2024 the limitation was back in place." Trustpilot reviews from 2024 and 2025 describe the same wall (for example, August 2025: "a limit of only 10 small maps not covering a full country"). Neither source is the vendor, so I could not confirm the limit from an official page today.
Price, ads and the PRO subscription
The U.S. App Store listing says "MAPS.ME is free to download and use", rates the app 4.7 (4.68 in Apple's lookup) from 78,825 ratings, and lists these in-app purchases. It does not say which price belongs to which plan, and prices differ by country, so use this as a map of what exists, not a price quote.
| Type | Prices listed |
|---|---|
| PRO Subscription, monthly | $4.49 and $5.99 |
| PRO Subscription (period not named) | $4.99 |
| PRO Subscription, yearly | $39.99, $46.99 and $54.99 |
| Ads Removal, weekly | $0.99 |
| Ads Removal, monthly | $1.49 |
| Ads Removal, yearly | $3.49 and $9.99 |
Three more details from the listing. The age-rating section lists "Advertising". The word "Premium" does not appear; the paid tier is called PRO. And the description does not say what PRO unlocks, which is why the 10-region report matters. The official site mentions no prices, ads or subscriptions.
What users say
Two public rating sources disagree sharply, and both are real.
- App Store (U.S.): 4.68 from 78,825 ratings. The rating alone does not say how many are recent.
- Trustpilot: 1.3 out of 5 from 108 reviews, 76% of them one star, but only 6 in the last 12 months. It shows no 2026 reviews; the newest, dated 9 December 2025, is a 3-star review saying "the amount of advertising has increased".
The Trustpilot complaints fall into four groups: PRO access (June and July 2025 reviews say a subscription bought through Apple did not carry to another phone, or that the app said another device was logged in), the free limit (February 2025: being charged £48 while stuck at 10 downloads), lost bookmarks (an April 2025 review says 152 bookmarks were lost) and support ("there is absolutely no customer support", April 2025). Routing was not a complaint topic on that page. A few reviewers on a few pages are not a measurement of the app, but the pattern is specific: if you pay, keep your own copy of anything you bookmark.
Maps.ME is still shipping: Apple's lookup shows version 18.1.0 released on 26 October 2026 with a map update and fixes. The version history shows 18.0.0 on 28 August and 17.12.0 on 21 July (no year shown, but the entries after 29 December 2025 run in sequence, so I read them as 2026). I found no shutdown or outage notice.
Maps.ME for trip planning: where it stops
A map answers where things are. A plan answers which things, in which order, on which day. The Maps.ME listing covers the first well and mentions travel guides, shareable bookmarks and hotel booking, but no day-by-day itinerary. If your trip needs a plan, pair it with a planner and keep the map for the moment you have no signal. Maps.ME alternatives covers other offline map apps, and offline trip planners for Android compares planners that keep trips on the phone. For the Google side of the same offline question, see Google Maps offline for a trip.
Where NomadSwipe fits, and where it does not
I built NomadSwipe (Android), so weigh this accordingly. NomadSwipe is not an offline map app and does not replace Maps.ME for navigation. It deals real places in a city as cards, you swipe right to save and left to skip, and your saved places appear in a trip and on a map. For offline use, its Google Play listing says up to 20 saved trips are available offline after you open them online, and offline copies expire. iPhone is coming soon. A reasonable pairing is NomadSwipe for choosing places and an offline map app for finding your way. How to save places for a trip covers the saving step.
Choose the places before you navigate to them
I built NomadSwipe (Android) to swipe real places in a city, save the ones you like and see them on a map. It is not an offline map app. iPhone is coming soon.
Summary: what to remember
As of 11 November 2026, Maps.ME is worth installing as a free offline map with turn-by-turn directions for driving, walking and cycling, if you download and test your destination's maps before travelling. It is not worth paying for until you have hit a limit you care about, since the free limit is reported only by non-vendor sources and PRO prices on the U.S. listing run from $4.49 to $54.99. It is not a trip planner. Expect ads in the free tier, mixed user feedback (4.68 on the App Store, 1.3 on Trustpilot) and an app that changed owners in 2014 and 2020.
Questions about whether Maps.ME is worth it
Is Maps.ME free?
Free to download and use, according to its U.S. App Store listing, which also lists a PRO subscription and ad-removal purchases and says the app contains advertising. A community wiki and 2025 Trustpilot reviews say downloading more than 10 map regions needs a subscription, so test your destination's maps before you rely on the free tier.
Who owns Maps.ME now?
Its official site shows a 2026 copyright to Convexity Holdings AG, and the App Store lists the same seller. Wikipedia says Mail.Ru Group bought the app in November 2014 and Daegu Limited bought it on 2 November 2020. I found no page linking Daegu to Convexity, so I do not say how the two relate.
Does Maps.ME work offline?
Yes, that is its core job. The App Store description says it has offline maps with turn-by-turn navigation for driving, walking and cycling, and that no internet is required. The community wiki warns that its bicycle routing has produced invalid routes, so check a cycling route before you depend on it.
Is Maps.ME still maintained?
It looks maintained. Apple's lookup shows version 18.1.0 released on 26 October 2026, with a map update and bug fixes, and the App Store version history shows a release roughly every few weeks to months since early 2025.
Is Maps.ME good for planning a trip?
It is a map first. Its listing mentions travel guides, shareable bookmarks and Booking.com hotel booking, but not day-by-day itineraries. For picking places and building a trip, a planner is a better fit, and NomadSwipe (Android) is one narrow option that I built. It is not an offline map app.
Findings, method and sample
Sample and method. On 11 November 2026 I read the Maps.ME home page, the U.S. App Store listing with its version history, Apple's public lookup record, its Trustpilot page, and two community pages (Wikipedia and the OpenStreetMap wiki). I did not install or test Maps.ME, so I make no claim about routing quality, map coverage or speed. The Google Play listing returned only its title to my fetch tool, support.maps.me failed to connect, and I found no official help article on PRO or the download limit, so I used none of them. I read no Reddit threads. I did not use the OpenStreetMap wiki's March 2024 price figure, since it is not an official source.
- Latest release found: version 18.1.0, 26 October 2026 (Apple lookup).
- U.S. App Store: 4.68 average from 78,825 ratings; ten in-app purchases, from $0.99 to $54.99; Advertising listed.
- Trustpilot: 1.3 out of 5 from 108 reviews, 6 in the last 12 months, none dated 2026.
- Ownership: Convexity Holdings AG (site footer and App Store seller); earlier sales in November 2014 and on 2 November 2020 (Wikipedia, OSM wiki).
- The 10-region free limit comes only from the OSM wiki and Trustpilot reviews, not from a vendor page.
Limits: ratings and review counts change daily, prices differ by storefront, the Trustpilot figures were summarized by a fetch tool, and the two community pages can be out of date. NomadSwipe statements come from its Google Play listing as checked on 2 November 2026 and match the sibling offline pages.
Sources
- Maps.ME official site: maps.me, read 11 November 2026.
- MAPS.ME U.S. App Store listing and version history: apps.apple.com, read 11 November 2026.
- Apple public lookup record: itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=510623322, read 11 November 2026.
- Maps.ME on Trustpilot: trustpilot.com/review/maps.me, read 11 November 2026.
- Wikipedia, Maps.me: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maps.me, read 11 November 2026.
- OpenStreetMap wiki, Maps.Me: wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Maps.Me, read 11 November 2026.
- NomadSwipe facts: the public Google Play listing of NomadSwipe: Trip Planner (swipe, save, map, offline saved trips), checked 2 November 2026.