What to Do with 3 Hours in Malé
by Ibrahim Faarih
Install These Apps If You Are in Malé
The Short Answer
A short list of apps covers a visit to Malé City: Avas app (the successor to Avas Ride and the most widely used taxi app), Quick Mv as a taxi backup (both run 24 hours), Foodies, Avas Food and eeezap for food delivery (expect up to an hour), RTL Travel for bus and ferry tickets and schedules, and Odiapp to book speedboats to other islands. Most verify by SMS, so a local SIM or eSIM makes everything smoother.
The Maldives has its own app ecosystem, and none of the international names you know operate here. No Uber, no Deliveroo, no Grab. The good news: the local replacements work, and you only need a handful of them for a visit. We checked every app on this list in July 2026 and left out the dead ones.
Who this guide is for
These apps are for visiting Malé City. If your whole trip is a resort stay, none of them will work at the resort and you will not need them; resorts arrange their own transfers and dining.
One disclaimer before you install anything: most of these apps verify you by SMS, and sign-ups only work smoothly with a local +960 number, so pick up a SIM or eSIM at the airport before you start downloading. Where to buy one and what it costs is covered in our Practical Information for Visiting Malé City guide.
At a Glance
| # | Name |
|---|---|
| 01 | Avas app |
| 02 | Quick Mv |
| 03 | Foodies |
| 04 | Avas Food |
| 05 | eeezap |
| 06 | RTL Travel |
| 07 | Odiapp |
01
Avas app
Best for: Taxis, the default choice
The successor to Avas Ride and the most widely used taxi app in Greater Malé. Book cars, vans or motorcycle rides in a few taps, pay cash or by card, and track the driver on the map. Fares follow the government flat rates, so within Malé you pay MVR 30 no matter what you drive off in.
During rush hours cars run scarce, so give yourself a buffer before airport runs.
02
Quick Mv
Best for: A taxi backup popular with drivers
Quick Mv runs on the same style of white-label platform that Avas Ride used in its earlier days, which is exactly why plenty of drivers keep it on their phones: the interface feels familiar to them. For passengers, that translates into a real pool of cars, which is what matters when the first app shows nothing nearby.
Same flat fares, same cash-or-card etiquette, and like the Avas app it runs 24 hours. Install it as your backup and you will use it at least once.
03
Foodies
Best for: Food delivery with the best delivery times
Foodies is the smoothest way to order food in Malé and Hulhumalé, with a wide restaurant lineup and consistently better delivery times than the alternatives. Browse, order, pay, done.
Set your expectations to island speed, though: delivery in the Maldives is not the 15-minute culture you may be used to. Up to an hour is the norm across every platform, so order ahead of your hunger, not at the peak of it. Pair the app with our restaurant listings to figure out what is actually worth ordering.
04
Avas Food
Best for: More restaurants to order from
A standalone food delivery app covering dozens of restaurants across Malé and Hulhumalé. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with the Avas taxi app: it is a separate app with its own account, and the shared name is a coincidence, avas simply means fast in Dhivehi. If a place you want is missing from Foodies, this is the second place to look.
05
eeezap
Best for: Groceries and everything-else delivery
The newest of the local super apps, eeezap bundles food delivery, grocery runs from local stores and on-demand home services into one app, paid through an in-app wallet or card. For a visitor the grocery delivery is the sleeper feature: water, snacks and sunscreen to your guesthouse door without a midday walk.
06
RTL Travel
Best for: Bus and ferry tickets and schedules
MTCC's official app for the public transport network. It sells bus and ferry tickets as QR e-tickets and carries the schedules, which barely exist on paper.
Honest caveat: the app is hit or miss, goes long stretches without updates and is not well maintained. Treat the schedule as a starting point and confirm times at the terminal.
07
Odiapp
Best for: Speedboats to other islands
Odiapp is the booking platform for sea transport: scheduled speedboat and launch tickets to a growing list of islands, plus private hires, with e-tickets and QR boarding passes in the app. It charges no markup on tickets, so you pay the operator's own rate.
For a Malé-based traveller this is the app that opens up the atolls without a tour desk.
What you can safely skip
Plenty of well-known Maldivian apps are aimed at residents, not visitors. Banking apps like BML Mobile Banking need a local account, eFaas is the national digital ID for people who live and work here, and the STELCO and MWSC apps pay utility bills you will not be receiving. Unless you are moving here with a work permit, none of them belong on your phone.
Before you even land
The one thing every traveller must do before arrival is not an app at all: submit the free IMUGA declaration at imuga.immigration.gov.mv within 96 hours before you land. The official portal is free; anything charging money for it is a reseller.
Everything above was checked in July 2026. Apps come and go quickly in a market this small, and when one of these changes or disappears, we update this guide.
Decided to order in?
With our restaurant directory you can call restaurants directly and ask for delivery, skipping the platform fees. Menus, prices and phone numbers included.
Browse Places to EatHeading to Malé? Send this to your travel group.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there Uber or Grab in Malé? +
No international ride-hailing operates here. The Avas app is the local equivalent and the most widely used, with Quick Mv as the backup. All taxis charge the same government flat fares, so apps are about convenience, not price.
How long does food delivery take in Malé? +
Slower than you are probably used to: up to an hour on average, even over short distances. That is normal here, not a glitch. Order before you are hungry and treat quoted times as optimistic.
Do these apps work with a foreign phone number? +
Most verify with an SMS code, and local +960 numbers are the smoothest path. Tourist SIMs and eSIMs are sold at the airport and all over town, and one solves every verification problem on this list at once.
How do I book boats to other islands? +
Odiapp sells speedboat tickets to a growing list of islands, with QR e-boarding, and can also arrange private hires. The RTL Travel app covers the public bus and ferry network. Guesthouses will happily book speedboat seats for you too.
Do I still need cash? +
Yes, some. Plenty of taxi rides and the airport ferry still run on rufiyaa cash. For the full breakdown of cash, cards and ATMs, see our guide Practical Information for Visiting Malé City.
