Frequently asked questions

What is Fontavio?

A free map of water services for travellers and locals: drinking water, fill-up taps, toilets, showers, laundry, grey and black water dump stations, marine pump-outs and marina facilities. It covers 50 countries across Europe, US and Canada, and is built from open map data plus contributions from the people using it.

Is it free?

Yes. Finding water is free and always will be, without an account. The free version is supported by ads. Fontavio Pro is an optional subscription that removes ads and adds offline maps, a route planner, and folders and private notes for your saved places. Every filter and every place is available to everyone.

Do I need an account?

Not to browse or search. You only need one to contribute: confirm a place, report a problem, add a missing place, or fill in a missing detail.

Which countries does it cover?

Fifty countries and territories: Europe, from Iceland to Turkey and from Portugal to Ukraine, plus US and Canada. Coverage within a country varies: cities with strong open data start dense, rural areas start thin and improve as people add places.

How is it different from other water or toilet apps?

Most apps cover one category well. Refill apps map drinking water, toilet apps map toilets, vanlife apps map parking. Fontavio covers every water-related service on one map, for everyone from a runner refilling a bottle to a boat needing a pump-out.

Can I trust that the water is safe to drink?

Treat it as a good starting point, not a guarantee. A drinking water badge reflects what the source data or another user told us; it is not a laboratory test and we do not inspect places ourselves. Always use your own judgment before drinking. If something is wrong, report it in the app.

What do the status badges mean?

They say how recently a person confirmed a place. Verified means someone confirmed it recently, unverified means nobody has yet, might be outdated means it has been a long time, and reported means somebody flagged a problem that is being looked at.

Where does the data come from?

Mostly OpenStreetMap, which is open data maintained by a global community, plus national open datasets and places added directly by Fontavio users. Every place records its source, and OpenStreetMap content is credited under the ODbL licence.

What happens if I report a problem?

A report is reviewed by a person. Water-safety reports are prioritised over everything else. Depending on what is reported, a place can be corrected, marked as disputed, or removed. Reports about photos and reviews follow the same route.

Who can edit the map?

Anyone with an account. New accounts have their contributions reviewed before they appear; accounts with a track record of accurate edits publish immediately. Repeatedly inaccurate editing limits what an account can do.

How do I find the nearest drinking water quickly?

Use Closest: pick a category and the app points a compass needle at the nearest one with a distance and walking time. There is also a home-screen widget and an app shortcut that open straight into it, so it is one tap from a locked phone.

Does it work offline?

Partly, for free: anywhere you have already looked at stays cached for a few hours and keeps working during short outages. Fontavio Pro downloads an area you pick, base map included, so that area works with no signal at all. A downloaded area carries each place in full, opening hours and reviews included. Photos are not downloaded, since they would dominate the size of the download for the least-needed part of a place.

Can I see water along a route rather than near me?

Yes, with the Pro route planner. Pick the stops you want along the way and open them all in Google Maps as one trip. Choosing them runs on your phone against the offline map, so it works without a connection but the route opens in Google Maps, so downloading offline areas also from Google Maps is recommended if you intend to use route planner offline.

Can I see satellite imagery?

Yes. The map button switches between the standard map, satellite, and satellite with street labels, which often makes a specific building or entrance much easier to find.

What languages is the app in?

English and Finnish today. More will follow; the app is fully translated rather than partly, so a language ships when it is complete.

How does 'open now' work?

Opening hours can include a seasonal range, specific days or every day, and either set hours or 24/7. If a place has no hours on record, we show hours unknown but it may still be open. Note: times are compared using your phone’s clock, so open/closed status is calculated assuming places are in the same timezone.

How do I add a missing place?

Tap the add button on the map, drop a pin, choose a category and fill in what you know. Only the category and location are required; everything else is optional and can be added later by anyone.

Why should I bother contributing?

Because this kind of information does not exist anywhere else. A fountain confirmed as working today is worth a lot to whoever walks past it tomorrow, and confirming one takes a single tap. The map only stays accurate because people who are there keep it accurate.

Can I add photos?

Yes, on any place. Photos are screened automatically before they appear and location metadata is stripped from them on our servers. Do not photograph people or private property.

What happens to my contributions if I delete my account?

They stay on the map, anonymised and attributed to a deleted user. Removing them would break the map for everyone else, and this is stated in the Terms.

Does Fontavio track where I go?

No. Your location is used inside the app, in the foreground only, and is never stored on our servers. The map is fetched by tile area rather than by your exact position, and there is no background location access at all.

Where is my data stored?

On servers in the EU, in Germany. Photos and backups are stored with Cloudflare. The full list of processors is in the privacy policy.

What about ads and tracking?

The free version shows ads through Google AdMob. Before any personalised ads are shown you are asked for consent through the standard Google consent flow, and you can change that choice at any time in the app’s settings. Declining means non-personalised ads and an app that works identically. Pro subscribers see no ads at all.

Can I delete my account?

Yes, easiest in the app, in a couple of taps. It removes your sign-in and personal details immediately.

Still stuck?

Contact support and a person will answer. For anything about data handling, the privacy policy is the full version of the answers above, and the terms cover contributions, moderation and how to contest a removal.