Rome: citymapper or google maps app

I use Google Maps. I download Rome offline and save places on the offline map that sounds good. Thaan when I’m in a neighborhood I can check the map on my phone to see if there is something that looked good nearby.

Paper map from your hotel desk will work and no thief will be interested in stealing it like a smartphone. We are becoming addicted to these devilish machines. Getting lost in Rome is glorious.

google maps is the single most useful app on my phone. that's how i navigate. walking and public transit, at home and overseas. haven't needed to try anything else, especially paper maps, in the last 15 years.

As far as which app to use for Tivoli, try to change the city in Citymapper to Tivoli and see how far you get. Then use Google Maps. There's nothing stopping you from using Google Maps to find bus routes, stops, etc. while you're at home - no need to be in Italy.

As for getting to Tivoli, it's been discussed here on the forum - start with this previous thread:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/tivoli-day-trip-from-rome-2024

Paper map from your hotel desk will work and no thief will be
interested in stealing it like a smartphone.

Roberto's choice has been ours as well. Keeping the phone under wraps until-or-unless it's really needed is preferable. A paper map is easily and cheaply (free!) replaceable. A phone? Not so much.

I definitely do not walk around with my phone out. Just like being able to check where specific places are when needed. I love a good paper map, but Rome is so hugh a hotel map won’t help you find many smaller streets.

We buy detailed maps of the cities we're visiting before we go, and star-sticker the locations of attractions that we're interested in. You're right; they show more streets than the maps at the hotel but still, any physical map keeps the phone out of my hands and so potentially out of someone else's too.

Thank you all for your replies. Yes, I pre-plot destinations in google maps at home before I go which has worked well. I like to get a sense of how long it will take to get from point A to B no matter what the type of transportation so that I’m more realistic about how much to do in one day…

I also appreciate and agree that it’s a pain and potential risk to have total reliance on phones—I tend to look at mine only as needed and have been known to print out some walking directions if they are especially tricky. (I figure it’s no more old school than using paper maps ).
As for Tivoli day trip—I went back into several threads on the topic which were helpful, and I am thinking the easiest thing and most expedient is to just do Villa d’Este. Previous to our time in Rome, we will have had a guide in Pompeii, and while the Hadrians Villa ruins sound interesting and unique, the transportation constraints and time it requires are not terribly appealing. Doing just Villa d’Este would make for a more leisurely day it seems, and the gardens and water features sound lovely. Sounds like taking the bus plus short walk to Este is the most straightforward. We could also do an easy day trip on another day to Ostica Antica for the ruins there unless that’s overkill/ redundant having done Pompeii already…. Thoughts?

I will give Roberto his due, Rome is a wonderful place to get a bit lost in, as are many places, but really it is more in how you use a tool, rather than the tool itself.

When I am exploring a city, I first do not try to be on a schedule (We have 14,35 minutes to get to this destination!), but I will enter my intended destination into Google Maps, get a bearing, then put it in my pocket. We walk in the general direction, wandering where we will, and once in a while I pull out the phone, regain my bearings, put it away, and off we go. Let's face it, whether a phone or a paper map, if you have it out and are using it for every turn, you are distracted, and that is a danger.

As for the OP's question, I think Google Maps is a bit more universal, but on a rare occasion I have had issues with Public Transport here and there. Citymapper seems to be pretty good, but only in the cities they cover, and more popular among Apple users than Android. Whether Citymapper has the same glitches as Google Maps, don't know, but likely.

Ostia Antica is easy, get to, all local transport, Tivoli, your adding trains, but from Termini, it is pretty much direct.