As a FOSS maintainer myself, I recommend you to charge (a small amount of) money for the app. People could always compile and run the app themselves still, so paying for the app is a clear way to support the project. I see that you have donation on your page, but it rarely happens that people donate. Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for the suggestion. I do plan to publish the app on Google Play as well. While much of the audience is FOSS-oriented, there are also users who aren’t familiar with open source or compiling apps themselves, like here: https://github.com/CompassMB/MBCompass/issues/48.
For them, donations are a simple way to support the project, and they’re definitely appreciated.
Thanks! MBCompass will stay fully FOSS and free. Donations are extremely rare (tbh, I've not received a single one), especially from the Foss Android community, but they’re still very helpful for long-term sustainability (given Google's non-sense Play monthly policies) and greatly appreciated, especially for users new to open source.
Not true anymore! \o/ I don't use Android anymore, but I agree a lot with the principles you've shared here, so it's a thank you for sharing that. And I know how difficult it is to get the first donations, and after you get the first, it's much easier to get the later ones. So best of luck, and I hope you'll remain steadfast with your principles when it'll matter! :)
I found MB Compass a few weeks ago and it's been very helpful for everyday things. For example, I just moved to a new apartment and I used the app to identify which room would get the best sunlight for my office. Works great!
Neat. If you want to make it more practically useful you will need to include some kind of magnetic compensation map. That's one of the reason navigation apps usually are a bit larger, they require a lot of data to function well world wide. Best of luck with this, it looks very promising!
Thanks! Currently, MBCompass can show both magnetic north using Android’s sensor fusion and true north (based on WGS84 geodetic coordinates).
Adding a magnetic compensation map sounds like a great fit for improving global accuracy without changing the app’s core goals. Thanks for the suggestion.
TBH, that’s a great idea! It’s actually on my roadmap for MBCompass, something like waypoint tracking, where you can mark a location and get a directional arrow to it. Appreciate the suggestion!
Currently, the app shows the user’s live location with real-time tracking on an OpenStreetMap-based map. It does not calculate routes or provide turn-by-turn navigation instead, it focuses on orientation and situational awareness.
I’m actively working on features like waypoint tracking, offline maps, and a GPS speedometer. The goal is to keep MBCompass a useful navigation utility, not a full routing app.
Routing isn’t planned at the moment (maybe with plugins later), since adding it would shift the app away from its core purpose and increase complexity. The main priority is to remain fully functional offline-friendly and extremely lightweight (currently under 1.5 MB).
Good question! “Offline-friendly” mainly refers to the core compass and sensor features, which work fully offline.
For maps, it’s a bit different users initially see an online basemap (requires internet). Instead of forcing them to download an entire map upfront like some libraries (e.g., MapsForge), they can crop or select specific areas to download.
This makes it convenient to get only the map they need.
Of course, if they prefer online maps, the app will cache tiles automatically. In remote areas, offline maps can be used as planned.
It's incredible how small apps get when you throw away all the bullshit: useless frameworks, ads, third party libraries that require you to include a huge binary.
People are always amazed when i show them my apps are 2-5 megs, and that's because there's 2-5 megs of assets.
Exactly! That’s exactly the philosophy behind MBCompass keeping the core functionality focused and lightweight, without unnecessary frameworks or bloat.
People are often surprised by how much you can do in under 2 MB.
There are also frameworks that don't bring in anything unless required. I use B4X for most of my apps.
It has a fundamental issue, which is being single threaded (with exceptions), but it's truly lightweight and easy to extend, and the team behind it really know their business.
As a FOSS maintainer myself, I recommend you to charge (a small amount of) money for the app. People could always compile and run the app themselves still, so paying for the app is a clear way to support the project. I see that you have donation on your page, but it rarely happens that people donate. Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for the suggestion. I do plan to publish the app on Google Play as well. While much of the audience is FOSS-oriented, there are also users who aren’t familiar with open source or compiling apps themselves, like here: https://github.com/CompassMB/MBCompass/issues/48.
For them, donations are a simple way to support the project, and they’re definitely appreciated.
Some projects offer the app for free on Fdroid and charge a small fee on Play. Might be an option as well.
Thanks! MBCompass will stay fully FOSS and free. Donations are extremely rare (tbh, I've not received a single one), especially from the Foss Android community, but they’re still very helpful for long-term sustainability (given Google's non-sense Play monthly policies) and greatly appreciated, especially for users new to open source.
> (tbh, I've not received a single one),
Not true anymore! \o/ I don't use Android anymore, but I agree a lot with the principles you've shared here, so it's a thank you for sharing that. And I know how difficult it is to get the first donations, and after you get the first, it's much easier to get the later ones. So best of luck, and I hope you'll remain steadfast with your principles when it'll matter! :)
I found MB Compass a few weeks ago and it's been very helpful for everyday things. For example, I just moved to a new apartment and I used the app to identify which room would get the best sunlight for my office. Works great!
That’s great to hear! Glad it’s helping with everyday use cases like that.
As part of the MBCompass v2 proposal, I’m working on:
- Waypoint tracking (with GPX import/export support)
- GPS speedometer
- Offline maps with offline POI search using GeoPackage (an OGC-compliant standard supporting spatial queries)
I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions your feedback is really appreciated!
Neat. If you want to make it more practically useful you will need to include some kind of magnetic compensation map. That's one of the reason navigation apps usually are a bit larger, they require a lot of data to function well world wide. Best of luck with this, it looks very promising!
Thanks! Currently, MBCompass can show both magnetic north using Android’s sensor fusion and true north (based on WGS84 geodetic coordinates).
Adding a magnetic compensation map sounds like a great fit for improving global accuracy without changing the app’s core goals. Thanks for the suggestion.
A feature I have been looking for:
Let me indicate a location and point an arrow at it!
TBH, that’s a great idea! It’s actually on my roadmap for MBCompass, something like waypoint tracking, where you can mark a location and get a directional arrow to it. Appreciate the suggestion!
Nice. Without trying it, just by looking at screenshots, I wonder how your navigation works.
Are you calculating the route or just pointing the user in the general direction?
Currently, the app shows the user’s live location with real-time tracking on an OpenStreetMap-based map. It does not calculate routes or provide turn-by-turn navigation instead, it focuses on orientation and situational awareness.
I’m actively working on features like waypoint tracking, offline maps, and a GPS speedometer. The goal is to keep MBCompass a useful navigation utility, not a full routing app.
Routing isn’t planned at the moment (maybe with plugins later), since adding it would shift the app away from its core purpose and increase complexity. The main priority is to remain fully functional offline-friendly and extremely lightweight (currently under 1.5 MB).
> The main priority is to remain fully functional offline-friendly and extremely lightweight (currently under 1.5 MB).
By offline-friendly you're referring to the compass part only, right?
Otherwise users would have to download the map in advance which would take more that 2MB. Am I reading this right?
Good question! “Offline-friendly” mainly refers to the core compass and sensor features, which work fully offline.
For maps, it’s a bit different users initially see an online basemap (requires internet). Instead of forcing them to download an entire map upfront like some libraries (e.g., MapsForge), they can crop or select specific areas to download.
This makes it convenient to get only the map they need. Of course, if they prefer online maps, the app will cache tiles automatically. In remote areas, offline maps can be used as planned.
It's incredible how small apps get when you throw away all the bullshit: useless frameworks, ads, third party libraries that require you to include a huge binary.
People are always amazed when i show them my apps are 2-5 megs, and that's because there's 2-5 megs of assets.
Exactly! That’s exactly the philosophy behind MBCompass keeping the core functionality focused and lightweight, without unnecessary frameworks or bloat.
People are often surprised by how much you can do in under 2 MB.
There are also frameworks that don't bring in anything unless required. I use B4X for most of my apps.
It has a fundamental issue, which is being single threaded (with exceptions), but it's truly lightweight and easy to extend, and the team behind it really know their business.