Best Hiking Apps Compared
In this video, I compare the five most popular hiking apps to find out which one is the best (Alltrails, Wikiloc, Gaia GPS, ViewRanger, and Kamoot.) I compared them in six different categories: free versions, paid versions, map quality, offline navigating, battery consumption, and trail availability.
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I like trail sense
thnx! unfortunately viewranger has stopped development and no longer works
Here in Germany, Komoot is very popular. They have constantly developed the app over the last few years and the web interface in the browser is great for planning your tours. Maybe you should try it again. And I don’t work for Komoot and have no other relationship with them. 🙂
Dude you are concise and to the point. Take a like and comment
Also this video might be due for an update! Would love to learn about new apps
Hi Oscar, I’ve tried Wikiloc which I thought was very user-friendly. I have a motorcycle tour company and I provide my routes through Wikiloc. But recently found out that even though my lists are set to Private, people can still see my routes and download them. So my routes are not private at all. So I’ve tried All Trails, but this app seems to work exactly the same as Wikiloc. My lists are Private, but my routes are still available to everyone. Obviously, I don’t want that as I’ve spent a lot of time making those routes and it’s my livelihood.
Do you know of any app that would actually make it possible to hide my routes? But still user-friendly for my clients and easy to organize for me?
Many thanks in advance!
You skipped Gaia!
I just lost hike on AllTrails it’s happened more that once, not sure what I did. Just give me a save button? Any Ideas?
Strange.. All these companies and a lot more "unnamed" apps and none of them accomplish it all…. Maybe one day..
Sería bueno ver uso de mapas offline pero en el modo satelital
i use alltrails tp create my personal path. in the officials trails
RIP ViewRanger
Thanks for the work.
this is amazing! thank you!
Useful and thorough report, awful music !
Thanks buddy. Very useful info sharing. I myself using both Wikiloc & Gaia. Awesome combination.
AllTrails doesn’t seem to be updated. Trails that are no longer passable show as good trails and other trails that have been added in a certain area are not listed. Even if the trails status has changed years ago, AllTrails doesn’t reflect this
View Ranger now outdoor active. And that is not free £50+
Often I need to plan a short route to know, how many km, where to go… so I prefer Komoot over Alltrails. Also like their map style.
ViewRanger was the best. Unfortunately, Outdooractive bought them and they switched off access to the app.. 🙁
Gaia is what I use
This is the best review.
Super, super useful thanks. I was wrapping myself in knots trying to figure out which was the better option for me. You have brought great clarity.
Without Locus Maps – irrelevant
I use Wikiloc to download maps and insert into my GPS.
I use Alltrails and never had a problem with it
I have to mention something Alltrails can do, if you have a trail open and click "navigate" it starts the trail and follows your path. But once you start it, your phone can follow you hiking in airplane mode. You can have the whole trail working in airplane mode all for free and it will show you live updates on where you are on the trail. I dont know if thats a mistake, but I can do a whole day hike in airplane mode and only use like 15% battery and it will follow my progress and show where I am on the trail. so while you cant technically download the map, if you start the navigation and then turn off your cell service it will stay active and is basically a live map of the trail. I do trails in Canada for reference.
Fantastic comparison overview! Thanks!
Great review.. how about google map..it also has abundant trail maps.. what’s your take ?
muy interesante el video, desafortunadamente por lo que ví en los comentarios de la playstore muchos usuarios se quejan de que hayan descontinuado la app de ViewRanger y que la hayan cambiado por la nueva
en definitiva toca seguir con Wikiloc y GAIA GPS y trabajarla de forma combinanda
Excellent presentation, thank you. We like to hike in the boondocks of our area and go ‘cross country’ through them… There is no cell coverage here. I need a simple app that works offline, allowing us to pin the position of our vehicle and track the path we took so we can return to our vehicle. What would you recommend?
Compared to what I saw in your video, best map to use, especially if you already have a GPX file with waypoints, is Locus Map. Check it out. Their maps are super clear.
Gia gps sucks. Offline maps doesn’t work. After downloading the maps and going up to the mountains, I tried to use offline maps but it told me to I needed to log in.
It’s also very hard to use. Its far from intuitive. They use their own terminology that is very confusing and symbols that take repeated attempts to figure out .
You have to know where a specific location is in order to find the directions to it. I think your supposed to use coordinates instead of an address.
Google is a lot better and it’s free.
Thanks for the great video!
I miss so much Viewranger 😢
After switching to outdoractive I cannot decide the new app cause nothing can really replace Viewranger
no mention of the dire consequences of the interface design.
7:10 Nope. Alltrails is not the best at any price… the phone app can’t edit a route or export a gpx.
So, if you have a gps/Garmin watch its completely useless except for researching popular (over used) trails.
Great video! Since I bought a Garmin Instinct watch I never used again my cellphone to navigate. Planning and creating my trails is what i am looking for. And btw, Garmin Connect app is also great for creating a trail.
Gaia is the best due to the quality of the maps. I wish Gaia had a more advanced compass feature though.
Why in God’s name you have used that mindless/hideous background N. O. I. S. E. I cannot understand. Other than that, the content is well presented. Thank you for not smoking! Stay safe always…
Take a shot every time he says ‘actually’ 😉
Thanks, useful review.
In 2018 I paid $99.99us for a lifetime #Alltrails subscription. Beginning of 2024 I received a request to pay for it once more. You don’t do such things.
Hey, tan you very much for this video, it is usefull really! If you ever some to south east Serbia, let me know, we”ll hike without those apps !
BTW ONX backcountry is complete shit
Its totally useless for planning anything and never should have been released in it’s unfinished condition Even though this video is 2 years old, Look at the date of my comment here because the problems I list below are from the current download of it.
This app has no glossary and no legend/key (Here is an example of what I’m talking about):
The map shows undefined red, black, blue, and green lines (The legend/key is specifically designed to define things that are on a map)
Aside from the many colored lines not being defined, there are multiple clusters of them on the map, no one would ever know what cluster to go to.
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In it’s current state, There is no way to plan a thru-hike using this because it doesn’t have any premapped routes for things such as the Appalachian Trail. Regardless of what version the app is (Free or paid), Typing in Appalachian Trail, should automatically show me the entire trail line from Georgia/Maine. What’s even more ridiculous, is how there is no suggestion that denotes the starting/end points within Georgia/Maine.
The reality for someone planning a thru-Hike of the AT with this is that a person would be able to finish the entire hike of the AT before they would ever be able to finish a thru-hike plan route for the AT.
Since a person is required to their own research in order to do any type of planning, that means the individual planning would be someone who would not only have to know the entire layout of the AT and everything on it and in between which would include all towns, names, camping spots, parks, hostels..etc..which is not only not feasible but it’s outright unacceptable.
OnX should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this unfinished app in the condition. The 7 day trial is literally a free 7 day use of what they claim is the premium version (So you are being shown what you get before you shell out money) the problem is that the 7 day free trial can barely do anything listed in what it shows the premium version is supposed to have/do. 3/4 of the features listed in the premium version either don’t work or aren’t in the 7 day trial which they should be. But right now $30 for an unfinished app that you cannot even check out the premium options, is silly. No one is going to fork over $30 when an individual cannot even test the premium options that are supposed to be in the trial in order to make a decision to invest $30
This is absolutely idiotic and Onx backcountry should be ashamed of themselves never should have been released in it’s unfinished condition
Have you tried Mapy?
have you tried locus?
thank you very much! I’m fine! 0:00
Excellent Presentation. This gave me a lot of ideas. I’m planning on going on trails that don’t exist and also multi-day multi-week treks, camping along the way. The conclusion I took away is that I need Kamoot. I do need to play with the tool because I want to upload my trails somehow so that others can benefit. If you have any thoughts on this please let me know
I heard the work actually more than 18,000 times in the first two minutes.
I liked the simplicity of exercise and I use a National Geography maps, and use my navigation skills for navigation.😁