An ideal hiking app should provide GPS tracking and navigation, offline maps that can be downloadable, route recording functionality and the capability of sharing these routes with others.
iNaturalist and National Geographic collaborated on this app that helps identify plants and animals on trails, rewarding users with badges and achievements along the way.
PeakVisor
PeakVisor is an advanced hiking app with 3D maps and an augmented reality feature to identify peaks in real time. Users can plan and save routes, overlay photos for added perspective on outdoor adventures and track their progress with this offline system.
This app offers detailed hiking trail maps that enable users to search trails based on location, difficulty, length and point-of-interest data such as water sources, accommodations and restaurants. Furthermore, turn-by-turn navigation makes the experience all the easier when traversing long trails.
PeakVisor mobile app is an indispensable companion for those who enjoy hiking or the great outdoors. Featuring an accurate landscape model that is unsurpassed on the market and with lesser battery consumption compared to similar applications; PeakVisor makes for easy use across devices.
Guthook Guides
Guthook Guides is one of the most reliable hiking apps available and an essential companion on any trail trip. Offering GPS tracking and offline maps that don’t rely on cell service for navigation, Guthook Guides makes an excellent companion for thru-hikers looking for guidance as they make their journey across America’s Continental Divide Trail (PCT). In fact, any PCT hiker should definitely have this handy app on their smartphone to plan and navigate during their trek!
Users can upgrade to pro versions for additional functionality, with detailed maps for the entire trail as well as a database of waypoints (junctions, state/international borders, wilderness boundaries, road crossings, trails, cairns, campgrounds parking areas and towns), water sources such as creeks lakes rivers springs big tires filled with rainwater as well as water resupply locations reroutes hostels and other backpacking accommodations all listed within.
The app also allows hikers to comment on campsites, water sources, trail-town beta and other features – enabling hikers to share their knowledge with others and spread it further. This feature makes sharing knowledge much simpler!
Hiiker
Hiiker is an app with numerous features designed for hiking enthusiasts. Users can create and edit trails, download maps for offline use, track their hikes, as well as gain useful information regarding each trail such as ratings and reviews.
This app was initially developed to assist hikers planning multi-day adventures. Since then, however, its functionality has expanded significantly, catering for all types of hikers from short distance day hikers to hill walkers. A unique feature allows users to view their progress while on trail and share it with friends; real-time data such as speed and elevation is also displayed live.
Hiiker stands out from other hiking apps by enabling users to download and save trail maps for offline use – an essential feature for hikers as they often hike in areas without phone coverage. Furthermore, Hiiker allows them to customize their hiking experience with settings such as map styles, measurement units and projects.
AllTrails
AllTrails is an app that enables users to easily search trails based on various criteria, including popularity, difficulty, length and rating. This makes it easy for hikers to find trails that suit their interests and abilities as well as save favorite hikes or trail experiences into lists. Furthermore, AllTrails also features helpful overlays and information such as air quality levels, weather forecasts, pollen counts, satellite weather updates and hiking heat maps for user convenience.
AllTrails provides an impressive user interface and database, yet still has some drawbacks. Notably, its crowdsourcing system means not all trails are created equal, and some routes could potentially be poorly mapped, leading to subpar hiking experiences.
AllTrails provides live GPS tracking in its app for hikers and runners. With its Lifeline feature, hikers and runners can notify safety contacts if they become lost or injured while out hiking or running in nature. In addition, detailed trails maps with icons representing washrooms, mountain peaks, landmarks etc are provided on AllTrails as well.
Gaia GPS
Gaia is an outstanding hiking app offering topo maps, navigation tools, and outdoor activity guides. Gaia’s GPS map downloads are fast and small for use in remote areas with no cell service – perfect for 4×4 driving adventures, backpacking trips and overlanding adventures alike! Gaia also features a huge catalog of maps perfect for 4×4 driving expeditions as well as overlanding adventures!
The app’s maps are specifically created with outdoor adventurers in mind, offering wilderness, national park, and backcountry trail maps as well as campsites, public land boundaries, USFS maps, topographic details like slope angle shading and snow depth estimations. Plus its latest update adds wildfire prediction overlays for planning purposes!
Users can record a track and share it via social media, or display it as an Apple Watch overlay so other users can follow along their journeys. The app helps plan trip itineraries, track distance and elevation gain data, connect to Apple Health for tracking fitness tracking purposes, or be used as a hiking journal.
Maps 3D
Maps 3D offers a dynamic twist to traditional maps by showing cities and roads as flat features in 3D; its 3D views of hills, mountains, footpaths and footbridges allow hikers to easily plan out their hikes and trips.
This app lets you navigate high-resolution satellite 3D maps to locate backcountry skiing routes or terrain suitable for hiking trips, as well as create and drop Waypoints that record trail junctions, water sources, backcountry campsites or bail-out points.
This app also makes it easy to record trip tracks and share them via iTunes, URL or Dropbox – including showing friends and family the elevation profile of your recorded track! All onX’s Markup tools are accessible while in 3D mode including adding radius around glassing knobs or potential bedding animals so as to determine shooting range.
