Google Play · open test
Android
Join the open test on Google Play, then install it like any other app.
Get it on Google Play
All features
Tsamaya and Apple Maps: time, distance and risk.
The map built into the iPhone finds the way. Tsamaya adds whether that way passes high-risk areas at the hour you drive, and grades the options, on the iPhone and on CarPlay.
What each is for
The map on every iPhone, or risk as well
Apple Maps is the general-purpose map and navigator built into the iPhone, built around time and distance. Tsamaya adds the risk of the road at the hour you drive.
Tsamaya is a full turn-by-turn navigator with voice, on the iPhone and on Apple CarPlay, and on Android and Android Auto as well. For each trip it fetches the quickest route, tests it against the rated areas in 22 South African metros for the hour you are driving, and, if the route passes high-risk areas, looks for a way round that does not cost too much. It shows the options side by side with A to E grades. This page describes Tsamaya and the kind of app Apple Maps is; for what Apple Maps offers today, Apple's own site is the source.
One real trip
What the comparison looks like
A route card from the app, captured 2026/09/25 in daytime traffic. No place names are recorded here on purpose.
| Standard route | Lower-risk route | |
|---|---|---|
| Grade | E | B |
| Time | 49 min | 47 min |
| Distance | 42.4 km | 52.3 km |
| Areas passed | 4 high-risk | 1 medium-risk, for 0.1 km |
That morning the lower-risk route was 9.8 km further and 2 minutes quicker. It is one trip: another day, hour or trip will look different, and sometimes the lower-risk route is a few minutes slower. The card shows the times either way.
On an iPhone
Tsamaya and Apple Maps on the same phone
- Share a place from Apple Maps to Tsamaya and it opens there, ready to plan the trip.
- On Apple CarPlay, Tsamaya shows its own map with the route options and their grades, the coloured risk border, and its alerts.
- Outside the rated metros, Tsamaya is an ordinary map and navigator with no risk data, so for a trip with no rated ground either app will do.
Lower risk is not no risk. Tsamaya cuts your exposure to areas with a history of vehicle crime; it cannot make a drive safe.
Questions
Asked often
It does a different job. Apple Maps is the general-purpose map built into the iPhone; Tsamaya is a navigator built around risk in South African metros, rated for the hour you drive. It is a full turn-by-turn navigator with voice on the iPhone and Apple CarPlay, and a place shared from Apple Maps opens in it. You can keep both.
Yes. The same routes, voice guidance and alerts appear on the car screen: route options with their grades, the coloured risk border, speed camera and hotspot pins, closure notices and a Report button. The app runs on your phone and the car shows it, so keep the phone with you.
Usually a few minutes. A detour is only offered when it cuts your exposure, and one that adds too much distance is thrown out, even when it carries less risk. When there is no sensible way round, Tsamaya says so and marks the risky stretches.
22 metros: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria, Ekurhuleni, West Rand, Secunda, Stellenbosch, Rustenburg, Pilanesberg, Mossel Bay, Durban, Gqeberha, Kruger & Lowveld, Bloemfontein, eMalahleni & Middelburg, Pietermaritzburg, Polokwane, East London, George, Port Alfred, Mthatha, Beaufort West. Outside them Tsamaya is an ordinary map and turn-by-turn navigator with no risk data, and a blank map means no data, not no risk.
No, and we will never tell you otherwise. Tsamaya cuts your exposure to areas with a history of vehicle crime. Crime is not predictable, and no route is safe. Lower risk is not no risk: treat it as better information for the choice you were going to make anyway.
Get the app
Try it on your next drive.
Free, in open beta, on Android and iPhone. Lower risk is not no risk.
TestFlight · beta
iPhone
Apple's TestFlight app installs beta apps. Get it first, then open our invite.
Join on TestFlight