Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of concern around the future of OpenTopoMap. According to the OpenTopoMap team, their classic raster tile server is deprecated and will be shut down on 7 January 2026. After this date only the pre‑rendered tiles will remain, and the project is focusing on vector tiles. In a GitHub thread, users pointed out that the official tile server will soon go into survival mode and may not provide zoom levels beyond 13.
github.com
To ensure that OpenTopoMapViewer continues to offer high‑quality maps even after the original service winds down, we have added support for an alternative tile provider. In version v1.5.0 (released 1 January 2026), a new OpenTopoMap‑R tile source is available in the settings. This service is hosted at openmaps.fr, which offers two map styles – OpenHikingMap and OpenTopoMap‑R – based on OpenStreetMap data. The tiles are open‑source and free to use, but the operator notes that there are no guarantees; excessive requests may be throttled and you must comply with the tile usage policy. The server limits unrendered and total tile requests to protect resources, so please use it responsibly.
How to enable OpenTopoMap‑R
To switch to the new tile source:
- Update OpenTopoMapViewer to the latest version via F‑Droid or your preferred distribution channel. This version includes a new “OpenTopoMap tile source” preference.
- Open the app’s Settings.
- Scroll to OpenTopoMap tile source and select OpenTopoMap‑R. The screenshot below shows the new radio‑button picker.
When selected, the app will fetch tiles from tile.openmaps.fr/opentopomap instead of the legacy tile.opentopomap.org server. You should notice that high zoom levels – 16 and 17 – remain available, and map updates will continue even after the original server stops rendering.
Why this matters
The idea for this feature was raised by the community. In December 2025, @pierrepoulpe opened a ticket requesting a way to configure an alternative server because the original tiles were becoming slow and would soon go offlinee. They even tested openmaps.fr locally and reported that it worked well. A few days later, we implemented the option and confirmed that it functions as expected.
OpenTopoMap‑R is “an almost clone of OpenTopoMap” so the look and feel of the maps will remain familiar. Behind the scenes, the openmaps.fr maintainer runs a powerful server and updates the data periodically. The service is a volunteer effort, so please consider supporting them if you rely on these maps.
Final notes
We recommend switching to OpenTopoMap‑R now so that you are not affected when the official OpenTopoMap raster tiles stop rendering on 7 January 2026.
As always, feedback and contributions are welcome. See the discussion on GitHub for more details.