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Get it on Google PlayDriving in South Africa? Take local knowledge with you.
Tsamaya is a free navigation app built in Johannesburg. It plans your route around areas with a history of vehicle crime, using ratings that change after dark, and it gives you an SOS button and a live trip link for the people back home.
For a visitor
What it does on the road
Tsamaya is a full turn-by-turn navigator with voice guidance. On top of that, it does these things.
- Routes around risk
- Every trip is checked against the rated areas in the 14 metros we map and bent around the high-risk ones when a sensible detour exists. When none does, it says so and marks the risky stretches.
- Rated by the hour
- Daytime, evening and night each carry their own ratings, and the route card warns you when a trip will land after dark.
- SOS
- One button on the phone's drive screen calls 10111 or 112, or opens a text to your emergency contact, ready to send, with where you are and a live link. It is not shown while a drive is on CarPlay, so dial 112 from the phone there.
- Family can follow
- Send a trip link to anyone, anywhere. It opens in a browser, with no app to install: your route, where you are, your arrival time, then Arrived.
- Any car
- It is a phone app, so it works in a rental. If the car has Apple CarPlay, Tsamaya runs on the car's screen as well; Android Auto is in testing.
- No account
- Nothing to sign up for. Routing, SOS and trip sharing are free, and your trips are not kept on our servers unless you choose to share one.
- Offline maps
- Download the map around where you are staying for the places where the signal drops. Planning a new route needs a connection.
- Closures and notices
- Road closures and protests are picked up daily, and the Balanced and Lower-risk routes go around them. Police and roadblock notices from other drivers are spoken when they are ahead of you.
Before your first drive
Five minutes of setup
- 01
Install it
Free on Google Play for Android, and through Apple's TestFlight app for iPhone. Both links are on the get the app page.
- 02
Add an emergency contact
In Settings, under Sharing & privacy. The SOS button can then text them your location and a live link. If you drive with CarPlay, share your Guardian link with them once too; a tap on the car screen then lets them follow that drive.
- 03
Save a map for where you are staying
In Settings, under Places, then Offline maps. Frame the area and download it, on Wi-Fi if you can.
- 04
Look before you leave
Check the route card before you set off, especially late in the day. It shows each option with its grade and what it goes around, and warns when a trip will land after dark.
Emergency numbers
10111 for the police. 112 from any mobile phone. 10177 for an ambulance. The SOS button calls the first two for you.
Where it has ratings
14 places, including the ones visitors drive
The big cities, the Kruger National Park area, Pilanesberg and the start of the Garden Route. Everywhere else, including the long drives between them, Tsamaya is an ordinary navigator with no risk data, and a blank map means no data, not no risk.
- Johannesburg (Gauteng, 800 rated areas). Driving routes around the risky parts of Johannesburg: the CBD, the northern suburbs, and the M1 and M2.
- Cape Town (Western Cape, 909 rated areas). Driving routes around the risky parts of Cape Town: the N1, N2, R300 and the ways in and out of the city bowl.
- Pretoria (Gauteng, 486 rated areas). Driving routes around the risky parts of Pretoria and Tshwane: the N1, N4, the Ben Schoeman and the roads into the CBD.
- Ekurhuleni (Gauteng, 732 rated areas). Driving routes around the risky parts of Ekurhuleni and the East Rand, including OR Tambo, the N12, N17 and R21.
- West Rand (Gauteng, 130 rated areas). Driving routes around the West Rand: the N14, the R28, and the roads through Roodepoort, Krugersdorp and Randfontein.
- Secunda (Mpumalanga, 63 rated areas). Driving routes around Secunda, covering the N17 and the roads through the petrochemical belt.
- Stellenbosch (Western Cape, 32 rated areas). Driving routes around Stellenbosch, covering the R44, R304 and the roads between the town and Cape Town.
- Rustenburg (North West, 98 rated areas). Driving routes around Rustenburg, covering the N4 through town, the R24 and the R565 north toward Sun City.
- Pilanesberg (North West, 43 rated areas). Driving routes around Sun City and the Pilanesberg National Park, covering the R565, the R510 and the roads through Ledig, Mogwase and Moruleng.
- Mossel Bay (Western Cape, 58 rated areas). Driving routes around Mossel Bay, covering the N2 and the whole municipality from Gouritsmond to Great Brak River.
- Durban (KwaZulu-Natal, 791 rated areas). Driving routes around Durban and the whole of eThekwini, covering the N2, N3, M4 and M7 and the roads between the city, Pinetown, Umlazi and Umhlanga.
- Gqeberha (Eastern Cape, 254 rated areas). Driving routes around Gqeberha and the whole of Nelson Mandela Bay, covering the N2, the M4 Settlers Freeway, the R75 to Kariega and the beachfront roads.
- Kruger & Lowveld (Mpumalanga and Limpopo, 445 rated areas). Driving routes to all nine Kruger National Park gates, covering the N4, the R40, the R536 and R538, and the roads north to Punda Maria and Pafuri.
- Bloemfontein (Free State, 174 rated areas). Driving routes around Bloemfontein and the whole of Mangaung, covering the N1 western bypass, the N8 to Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu, the N6 and the R702 south-east.
Which app does what
Where Tsamaya fits
Most visitors end up with two or three apps. This is the job each one does.
| You want to | Tsamaya | Also worth having |
|---|---|---|
| Get from A to B | Turn-by-turn with voice, on the phone or Apple CarPlay. It can also hand its route to Google Maps with the detour points in place. | Any navigator: Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps. |
| Keep away from high-risk areas | Routes around rated areas, with separate ratings for day, evening and night, in 14 metros. | Ask where you are staying which roads locals avoid. |
| Get help in an emergency | The SOS button calls 10111 or 112, or opens a ready-to-send text to your emergency contact. It does not dispatch anyone itself. | A dedicated emergency app, such as the panic button your insurer, bank or security company offers. |
| Let people know where you are | A live trip link that opens in any browser, with your arrival time and an Arrived screen. | Live location in WhatsApp. |
Tsamaya is not an emergency response service. Its SOS button calls the public emergency numbers (10111 for the police, 112 from any mobile) and opens a text to your own contact; it does not dispatch armed response or an ambulance itself. It aims to lower your exposure to areas with a history of vehicle crime; it cannot guarantee safety.
Questions
Visitors ask
Yes. It is free, there is no account to create, and it works in any car, including a rental. Install it on Android from Google Play or on iPhone through TestFlight, add an emergency contact, and it is ready. It has ratings in 14 metros and works as an ordinary navigator everywhere else.
Yes. Share a trip from the app and send them the link. It opens in any browser, in any country, with no app to install, and shows your route, where you are now, your arrival time, and an Arrived screen when you get there.
10111 for the police, 112 from any mobile phone, and 10177 for an ambulance. The SOS button in Tsamaya calls 10111 or 112 for you, or opens a text to your emergency contact, ready to send, with your location and a live tracking link.
Partly. Download offline maps for your area and the map keeps drawing where the signal drops, and the risk ratings are kept on your phone once loaded. Planning a new route, sharing a trip and the live link in an SOS text need data. The SOS call needs only signal; the SOS text needs signal too, and carries the live link when there is data.
The Kruger National Park area is covered, with Mbombela and the Lowveld towns around the gates. On the Garden Route, Mossel Bay has ratings; the towns further east do not yet. Pilanesberg, Cape Town and Stellenbosch are covered too.
No. Tsamaya is not an emergency response service. Its SOS button calls the public emergency numbers (10111 for the police, 112 from any mobile) and opens a text to your own contact; it does not dispatch armed response or an ambulance itself. It aims to lower your exposure to areas with a history of vehicle crime; it cannot guarantee safety.
Get the app
Install it before your first drive.
Free, in open beta, on Android and iPhone. Tsamaya. Go well.
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