Platform(s), such as mobile, website, API, other: mobile (Android)
URLs (aka web addresses) of any pages, if relevant: N/A
Description of need: In the iNaturalist app (at least its Android version) it is not possible to use OpenStreetMap as a background map; only Google Maps are available. In the desktop (website) version, OSM are available.
As OSM are quite often much more detailed, more correct and community-driven, it would be great to have to possibility to use OSM maps in the app as well.
I just tried because I thought it might be available in iNat next but you can only switch between Google’s Aerial and Basemap.
I’m not opposed but this won’t be happening for the current legacy mobile apps. Perhaps at some point after iNaturalist Next’s hard launch we can start considering it.
EDIT: also, keep in mind that it’s free for us to use Google Maps for Android devices and Apple Maps for Apple devices. OSM does have a limit for map tile usage and can cut us off at any time.
Thanks for opening the request. I agree it would be a great addition as I have frequently wished to be able to switch to OSM to be able to place an observation more precisely thanks to OSM often having more detailed and up to date data.
For reference, here is the GitHub issue for the legacy Android app.