Best Apps For Hikers

Hiking is a great form of exercise and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. However, there are important details to remember when planning such an adventure. There are even apps to help you enjoy the wonderful trails around us more safely. Here are some of the best maps and guides available in app form that belong in your phone before you take off for the next hike.

Whether you’re a seasoned hiker who just wants an easier navigation system, or a novice who enjoys the scenic route and needs help tracking their progress and coordinating with friends, these 10 apps are a trekking adventurer’s best friend. Let us help you determine which is right for you!

Best Apps For Hikers

1. AllTrails
   AllTrails is one of the best hiking apps in the appstore
   Screenshots from Apple App Store
   Subscribe for updates from this site
   Get your free national park ebook!
   This 28-page ebook includes the best things to do in all 63 national parks, plus exclusive trip planning tips. Just enter your email and I’ll send it over!

First Name
Your Email…
SEND THE GUIDE

By subscribing, I consent to receiving emails.

AllTrails is one of the most well-known hiking apps out there. With over 20 million users and 100,000 trails worldwide, it’s easy to see why. This is my go-to hike planning app.

Hikes are searchable based on difficulty, length, elevation gain, route type, and user rating. You can also search hikes based on tags, like trail running, dog-friendly, or wildflowers.

Once you find a hike, you can view specific details, like distance and an elevation profile map. All Trails also provides tips and information on getting to the trailhead, how long the hike should take, and reviews from users.

All Trails also allows its users to record their hikes, tracking the route using GPS and time to complete.

While the base version of All Trails is free, they also offer a Pro version for $29.99 per year. AllTrails Pro allows you to download maps offline and sends you notifications if you stray off-trail. The Pro version also comes with 3D maps!

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free & Paid Versions ($29.99/year)

2. Gaia GPS
   Gaia GPS Hiking App
   Screenshot from Apple App Store
   Gaia GPS is one of the most popular hiking apps for navigation. In this app, you can do everything: finding new trails, recording your route, and saving hike statistics and performance.

The app will even tell you the weather forecast and help you find camping near your hike!

There is both a free and paid version of the Gaia GPS hiking app. For most day hikers, the free version is enough. In the free version, you can view both topographic and satellite maps and track your hike with cell service.

For backpackers or advanced hikers, I recommend the paid version. For only $39.99 per year, the paid version of Gaia GPS unlocks offline maps, including backpacking, off-road driving, backcountry skiing, and mountain biking maps. The offline map feature is crucial for being able to navigate and stay on trail without cell service.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free & Paid Versions ($39.99/year)

3. PeakVisor
   PeakVisor hiking App
   Screenshot from Apple App Store
   Have you ever looked off in the distance and said, “what mountain is that?”. If so, I’ve got good news for you! It’s an app called PeakVisor. Here’s how it works: you open the app on your phone, point it at the peak, and it will tell you, using a combination of image recognition and GPS location.

You can even upload pictures of mountains from past hikes or when you’re without service and the app will identify those too! The catalog of mountain peaks is over 1 million. This app also offers a compass, great for navigation on hikes.

PeakVisor comes in both a free and pro version. The free version allows you to use most of the app’s features. The Pro version’s biggest advantage is offline peak identification and maps – no cell service required!

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free & Pro Versions ($29.99/year)

4. Google Maps
   Google Maps is one of the best hiking apps in the appstore
   Screenshots from Apple App Store
   There’s a very high likelihood you’re already using this app. But I’d be willing to bet you’re not using it to its full functionality. Google Maps‘ best feature for hikers is the ability to download maps offline.

Downloading maps ahead of time will ensure you’re able to navigate to the trailhead even if you lose service. Since GPS continues to work without cell phone service, you can use Google Maps to navigate with your downloaded map.

Many popular trails in busy parks are also shown on Google Maps, allowing you to track your progress on the trail and stay on track.

In the app, you can download a customized region. I recommend downloading the area from your home to your trailhead and the full trail area.

To download offline in Google Maps, just go to the app, select Offline Maps from the menu, select a custom map to highlight the area, and then click download.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

5. Guthook Guides
   Guthook Guides Hiking App
   Screenshot from Apple App Store

Guthook Guides is the most popular smartphone app for long-distance hiking and backpacking. With over 35,000 miles of trails in its database, it’s a go-to for thru-hikes like the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail. In fact, it was developed by former thru-hikers who understood the need for a reliable offline map.

In the app, you’ll find detailed trail information like distance, elevation, waypoints, water sources, and campsites, all viewable on topographic or satellite maps. The app actively tracks your location on the map, making sure you’re always on trail. All of this works offline without cell reception.

The app itself is free, but each trail is purchased individually. You can buy full trail guides for thru-hikes or buy smaller trail guides for national parks. The guides range from $4.99 to $59.99, depending on trail length. The app does offer some free demo trails to get you started too.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free, but requires in-app purchases of the guides ($4.99-$59.99 per guide)

6. Hiking Project
   Hiking Project is one of the best hiking apps in the appstore
   Screenshots from Apple App Store

This crowd-sourced hiking app is also great for inspiration. While a lot of the functionality is similar to AllTrails, Hiking Project provides points of interest (labeled as “Gems” in the app).

You can search for hikes by region, by point of interest, or by hike features. With hikes mainly in the US and Canada, Hiking Project allows you to see stats by state, including trails ranked by popularity.

For a specific hike, you can view detailed descriptions, wildlife and plants in the area, reviews by users, and trail conditions. Using the Hiking Project app, you can get a feel for the hike before you even step foot on the trail.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

7. Recreation.Gov
   Recreation.Gov is one of the best hiking apps in the appstore
   Screenshots from Apple App Store
   If you’re an avid national park camper, you’re probably already familiar with this app. But Recreation.Gov can be used for a lot more than booking campsites. This app is also a platform to book tours, tickets, and permits.

Many US national parks offer ticketed ranger-led tours, like Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park, bookable through the app. Permits to wilderness areas, like Mt. Whitney or the Lost Coast in California, are booked through this app too.

Recreation.Gov is the official place to enter lotteries for permits to places like The Wave in Arizona or Half Dome in Yosemite.

You can also buy interagency passes, like the America the Beautiful National Park Pass, through the Recreation.Gov app.

The moral of the story is that Recreation.Gov is one of the best hiking apps for government lands. If you’re trying to book permits or campgrounds, most sites open up around 6 months in advance.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

8. National Park Service App
   National Park Service App
   Screenshot from Apple App Store
   For national park lovers, the National Park Service app is a must! This app has everything you need to know about all 423 national park units, including the 63 US national parks. You’ll find information on the best things to do (including lots of hikes), where to stay, tours, park amenities, and more.

Not sure what park you want to visit? You can explore all the various national parks and create your own favorites, lists, and mark parks as visited.

The app also provides details on each park’s most popular hikes, including distance and time to complete the hike. You’ll also find directions to trailheads and maps available offline for when you’re without cell service.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

9. Seek by iNaturalist
   Seek by iNaturalist is one of the best hiking apps in the appstore
   Screenshots from Apple App Store
   Have you ever seen a plant on the trail and wondered, “what kind of plant is that?”. I used to do this all the time and I’d think to myself, wow wouldn’t it be really cool if there was an app that could tell you these things. Well, it turns out there is!

One of the coolest hiking apps is Seek by iNaturalist. It was developed by the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic. Seek uses your camera and GPS location to identify plants and animals you encounter on the trail.

To use, simply take a photo of your subject using the app. Seek uses your location to narrow down possible species and gives you more information about what you’ve found.

And because everything is more fun if it’s a game, you can earn badges and achievements based on the species you discover.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

10. SkyView Lite
    Skyview Lite is one of the best hiking apps in the appstore
    Screenshots from Apple App Store
    This free hiking app is the only tool you need to identify planets, stars, and constellations in the night sky. The app uses the phone’s built-in compass to locate astronomical objects.

The app overlays graphics of night sky objects based on where you point your phone. Plus, you can read more about the object of interest, such as the International Space Station.

You can even set notifications for upcoming stargazing events, like meteor showers or planet sightings. I’ve found this app to be great for stargazing before sunrise hikes or after sunset hikes.

Best hiking apps europe

What features did we consider as mandatory?
In our opinion every hiking app should provide GPS navigation and GPS tracking.

By GPS navigation we mean that the app can show your current location and direction on a map and supports import of GPS tracks. GPS tracks are very useful for hiking because it is easy to get them online and they make navigation during hikes easier. To learn more about GPS tracks check out our article What are GPS tracks and how to use them for hiking. When it comes to maps, we were not picky, but we did indeed consider offline maps and/or topographic maps as a benefit.

We also thought that a hiking app should provide you with some information about your hikes. For example, duration, total distance, total ascent, total descent, lowest point, highest point etc. Furthermore, it should also show where you hiked on a map.

Note: You might ask yourself why we are so focused on GPS tracks. It is simply because we use them all the time. For example, if we travel to France and want to climb some mountain, we check if there is any GPS track for that mountain available online – and there usually is. This drastically reduces the time we need to plan our trips.

What were we testing?
We were testing features, accuracy, ease of use and battery consumption. We tested the navigation functionality by creating a valid GPX route in Suunto Movescount and importing it to each app. For the testing a OnePlus One Android device was used to ensure that all apps also work on older devices. We tested each app on the same short trail and carefully noted down pros and cons. Note that we only tested free features – for example some apps offer offline maps, but you need to purchase them. In such case, we marked this feature as non-existent.

List of apps
The following eight apps made it into our initial selection: Map My Hike, AllTrails, Komoot, Hiking Project, Gaia GPS, Green Tracks, A-GPS Tracker and AlpineQuest GPS Hiking Lite.

The five best hiking apps were AllTrails, Komoot, Gaia GPS, A-GPS Tracker and Green tracks.

The Hiking Project app did not qualify because it does not support GPS tracks and therefore you cannot plan a route for your hike beforehand. The Map My Hike app didn’t make it either, because it only supports road maps and thus it seems more oriented towards those who like to walk within cities. Lastly, we dismissed the AlpineQuest GPS Hiking Lite because the free version does not support GPS tracking.

Important notice
You should never rely solely on your smartphone (regardless of hiking app) because its functionality is limited by battery life and availability of GPS signal. Instead, it is recommended that you always, when you are hiking in unfamiliar terrain, also bring a compass and an appropriate topographic map.

The Best Hiking Apps According to our Test
Green Tracks
Gaia GPS
AllTrails
Komoot
A-GPS Tracker
Feature/App Green tracks Gaia GPS AllTrails Komoot A-GPS Tracker
Available for Android Android, iOS Android, iOS Android, iOS Android
Requires Registration No Yes Yes Yes No
GPS Navigation (import of GPS routes) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Offline Maps Yes (many regions and countries – topo maps) No No Limited (one region) No
Topographic Maps Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Map Types 11 different maps, including topo and satellite Gaia Topo, Gaia Road, Satellite AllTrails Topo, AllTrails Road, Satellite Topo Road, Terrain, Satellite
Showing 1 to 6 of 11 entriesPreviousNext
Green Tracks Hiking App
Green Tracks Hiking App

1. Green Tracks
   Available for: Android

Website: Google Play

During the brief overview of the hiking apps that made it into our initial selection, we never thought that the Green Tracks app would rank on the first place – the app stood out by its graphic design and not in a positive way. However, after carefully testing the app we figured out that it is very easy to use. Furthermore, it is also the only hiking app that comes with an enormous amount of free offline topographic maps. Keep in mind that GSM signal is not always available in remote or mountainous regions and thus offline maps are indeed a very useful feature. The Green Tracks hiking app also offers no less than 11 types of online maps (road, satellite and topographic etc.) and shows a lot of live data about your hike (ascent, distance, elevation graph etc.). To use GPS tracks you need to transfer them to your smartphone storage (via cable, Google Drive, email etc.) and open them with the app. What we didn’t like about this app was that if you touch the map, it stops updating your location until you press the re-center button again. Hopefully, the developers will fix this bug soon.

Conclusion

Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Check out other publications to gain access to more digital resources if you are just starting out with Flux Resource.
Also contact us today to optimize your business(s)/Brand(s) for Search Engines