Kagi Maps not working with WebGL off

Reuzehagel

I personally use Librewolf, and so a lot of fingerprinting vectors are disabled, WebGL being one of them.
Without WebGL Kagi Maps doesnt load, the console also says WebGL is disabled.

Steps to replicate:

Download Librewolf (or any browser for that matter)
Disable WebGL
Open Kagi Maps

While most users have no idea what WebGL is, I think it might still be valuable to have a popup or a piece of text say something along the lines of

'WebGL is disabled, please enable it to use Kagi Maps.'

pupperoni

...Offering [maps] without WebGL would require doubling our efforts, so we are not considering this option at the moment.

I think you missed part of @Reuzehagel (OP) had an initial suggestion which runs contrary to this comment. I think Reuzehagel post is stating that users should be notified if WebGL fails to load. Otherwise, they will be faced with a blank screen and are left wondering why the experience is broken. Specifically OP noted including a disclaimer about the failure would be sufficient. Something akin to:

WebGL is disabled, please enable it to use Kagi Maps.

This is not dissimilar to graceful degradation sites have when JS is required and is disabled.

grit086

Hello,

Ever since a week or two ago, maps don't load on Librewolf (133.0-1). When you click on maps, it redirects you to https://kagi.com/maps#null/null/null

Also, unable to enable geolocation or set the location manually

I should be able to set location manually and have the map load

grit086

I believe this is the same issue as https://kagifeedback.org/d/5446-kagi-maps-not-working-with-webgl-off
Once I enable WebGL it works. The whole point is to have a privacy conscious search engine, WebGL is a strong fingerprinting vector, and I believe kagi uses apple maps as default, which require WebGL to work. The way of preventing this would be to allow us to set a different default web map

Luis

We're currently undertaking a big effort to enhance our maps. Offering them without WebGL would require doubling our efforts, so we are not considering this option at the moment. I've marked this thread as under review to asssess community interest in this feature for the future.
Note: we'll do a better job highlighting why doesn't work when WebGL is disabled.

pupperoni

I should also note that this experience is still present in the latest version of Maps which was launched as of 2025-06-03.

weidenwiesel

I would like to add to this that this is more so a problem on mobile (i.e. Android) when using privacy hardened browsers such as Fennec or Mull (and probably much more).
On both of those browsers, there isn't even an easy option to enable WebGL (you'll have to skim through about:config) and on both, it's disabled by default.

Also, it took me some time to find this thread and finally realise what's causing the issue.

You should at least add a banner to maps that clearly tells the user what's wrong.
I.e.: "Maps failed to load because you're using a browser that either doesn't support WebGL or has WebGL disabled".

Currently, the UX is just a blank page. And that just sucks 😛

Thibaultmol

@dylansc22 since you're using mapbox, maybe as simple as implementing this to atleast let the user know they don't have webgl https://docs.mapbox.com/mapbox-gl-js/example/check-for-support/

I'm not sure how feasible it'l be to have a Kagi Maps Lite that doesn't use WebGL, but would be nice. But atleast with adding this, the user gets to know why it's not working vs just a blank screen

ff0000

Adding to this topic that a simple message: "Maps could not be loaded because WebGL is not supported or disabled in your browser" would be very helpful. Users with browsers that disable WebGL by default have the option to enable it. At least with a message a user can make that decision.

niklas22

Hi,
Kagi Maps is not loading/visible on LibreWolf 145 on Debian 13, just a plain white screen.

Same system with a recent Firefox: no problems > maps displaying just fine.
Any ideas, workarounds?

Thibaultmol

Hmmm, I think librewolf might have webgl disabled as a safety thing.
Could you check
https://browserleaks.com/webgl

(I think we might not have a error message to display for people who don't have webgl)

niklas22

Replying an fixing it myself: Make sure, WebGL is true in about:config on LibreWulf (false by default).

DeeKahy

The page https://kagi.com/maps/ sometimes just shows a white screen instead of actually loading.

I am using the orion browser.

Id expect the kagi maps page to actually load up instead of showing a white page.

DeeKahy

Admittedly, it might have something to do with the current outage.

https://status.kagi.com

RoxyRoxyRoxy

Marking as under review, once things have settled down we can review if this is still an issue :)

DeeKahy

Things should have settled down by now, and I am still getting the same issue.

Edit:
seems to be an issue with specifically my Orion profile. So it might be more Orion related.
I have no idea what I am doing wrong, this isn't the first time my Orion has broken on some websites. I only have 3 extensions (bitwarden, ublock, and sponsorblock) installed and am not touching any fancy settings. Maps worked perfectly fine earlier that very day.

laiz

This was ultimately solved by clearing cache and cookies on the Orion profile that was having trouble loading Kagi maps. The underlying cause remains a mystery.