BRMB Maps by Backroad Maps User Reviews

Customer Experience

Positive experience36.0% of reviews
Neutral4.0% of reviews
Negative experience60.0% of reviews

~ Based on 75 written reviews from the US App Store.

What users say

Is BRMB Maps by Backroad Maps Safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess BRMB Maps by Backroad Maps.

Is BRMB Maps by Backroad Maps Legit?

BRMB Maps by Backroad Maps appears to be a legitimate app. AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for BRMB Maps by Backroad Maps is 83/100.

Based on 83 of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.

Top reviews

Best guide

Best way to discover new places and how to reach them. When the regular map doesn’t have a road BRMB knows the way.

Response from developer

Thank you for your feedback! It's great to hear that our app helps you discover new places and find roads that aren't on standard maps.

Great, but……

3.8 still had a huge problem! The maps and data are great, with many amazing extras included.
But, there is still zero waypoint management. It’s like my personal data is not important at all. Sync of my data is hit and miss especially on long outings with no service, get home not all new data syncs to the web.
Waypoints are treated like an annoyance, just a jumble of names. No numbers, no folders, no filters, nothing but a list. That list is also different on the web.
So if you plan to add large amounts of your own data, this is not the app for you.
Probably should be 1 star really.
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Response from developer

Thank you for the detailed feedback. We understand how important reliable waypoint management and syncing are, especially for offline trips. Improving sync reliability is our next major focus, and we’re working to make this experience better. We appreciate your suggestions and feedback.

Payment taken, pro plan not received

Long time customer, they recently took my payment but I did not receive pro. Tech support not reachable by phone or email… app used to be good now is a scam….
Will re rate app once issue is rectified

Response from developer

Hi Pablo, could you please reach out to our tech support at app@backroadmapbooks.com? We will look into this and fix the issue. Thank you!

Do not purchase

I have had this app for years including when it was considerably less expensive. Despite then happily charging my subscription for many months and me emailing them to fix issues with it not recognizing that I am a paid subscriber, they have not fixed it. I cancelled my subscription. Should have done it months ago. I have no idea how they have such a high rating overall because if you look at most of the recent reviews most are 1-2 stars. Used to be a great product and one of the few that would show crown land vs private but they have ruined it trying to monetize the hell out of it.
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Response from developer

We're sorry to hear about your experience. Subscription issues like the one you described are frustrating, and we understand why you cancelled. The problem with paid subscriptions not being recognized has affected a small number of users, and we've been working to resolve those cases as quickly as possible. We're sorry that we didn't get yours sorted out in time. Over the past year we've made significant improvements to the app, including performance, offline maps, and new features, while continuing to expand our map data. Subscription revenue is what allows us to keep updating the maps and adding new content, but we know that only matters if the app works reliably. If you're willing to give us another chance, we'd be happy to investigate your account and make things right. Please contact us at app@backroadmapbooks.com with the email address associated with your account, and we'll look into it personally.

Sends unwanted push notifications

The app started sending me push notifications about “challenges”. I don’t want my maps gamified. There is no option to turn this off; I had to turn off all notifications from BRMB. I haven’t even had an opportunity to use the app yet so I don’t know if I like it other than that.

Mines/icons

I do a lot of exploring mines and mining and I’d love an icon to place pins for mines. I see they are available in other parts of the app but not to drop pins.
So far it’s been a great app, love it.
Been having some recent issues resetting my password- I got a new phone and can’t remember the old password and the server won’t connect when I try to reset it. All other websites are working on my end so I think it must be an issue on your end.
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Response from developer

Hello Azalliah! We appreciate your detailed feedback and are thrilled to hear you’re enjoying the app overall! UPDATE: Regarding the password reset issue, the app and web map were experiencing technical issues. Please try again now and let us know if this has been solved for you! Thanks for your patience!

Crown land for BC

The only thing that could make this app better for me is if it had crown land available for BC

Response from developer

Thank you for your feedback and for using the BRMB Maps app! We are definitely considering Crown Land for BC and hope to include it soon.

App is okay

I have the printed books and the maps and decided to try the app. It’s pretty poor overall. It’s hard to get the layers going in a useful way - but part of that might be the issues with private and crown land and crossing back and forth in my region. Sometimes it has conflicting names for the same road.
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Response from developer

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. We appreciate your feedback about the conflicting road names, as it helps us understand the areas needing improvement. Your experience is valuable to us, and we hope you continue exploring the app!

CarPlay useless

CarPlay offers no tracking or waypoint access totally useless contacted tech support and no response paid for Pro subscription and no 7 day free trial as advertised Totally false marketing product good for phone only

Response from developer

Thank you for sharing your experience. It's disappointing to hear that CarPlay isn't meeting your expectations and that you did not receive a response from tech support. We appreciate your feedback regarding the PRO subscription and are taking your comments seriously as we work to improve. Your insights are valuable to us, and we hope to enhance your experience moving forward.

Great, but……

Still a huge problem with this app! The maps and data are great, with many amazing extras included.
But, there is still zero waypoint management. It’s like my personal data is not important at all. Sync of my data is hit and miss especially on long outings with no service, get home not all new data syncs to the web.
Waypoints are treated like an annoyance, just a jumble of names. No numbers, no folders, no filters, nothing but a list. That list is also different on the web.
So if you plan to add large amounts of your own data, this is not the app for you.
Probably should be 1 star really.
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Response from developer

We appreciate your feedback and are glad you enjoy the maps and extras! Your concerns about waypoint management and data syncing are important, and we’re working on adding some ways to manage your data in the next two updates. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and helping us improve!

Would love a direction feature.

When ATVing on trails it would be very helpful for it to plan a route based on the trails and gave you the distance to the destination and turn directions.

Response from developer

We appreciate your feedback and are glad you're enjoying the app! Your suggestion for a direction feature while ATVing is noted, as we always value insights from our users. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

No crown lands for BC?

BC is a huge outdoor enthusiast province and yet there are no maps for crownlands. I paid $9.99 and couldn’t use it the entire time I was in B.C. Super disappointing. Also app is not intuitive to use, especially the “layers”?!

Response from developer

Hi there, thanks for your feedback! We understand how useful Crown Land information can be for trip planning. While Crown Land data is available in the BRMB Maps app for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia, it’s not currently available for BC. The app does include Private Land data and the ParcelMapBC fabric (both in the Layers menu), which can help you identify property boundaries in BC. We’ll continue looking into options for adding BC Crown Land in the future. In the meantime, if you’d like help making the most of the current layers, our team is happy to walk you through it. Just reach out to us at app@backroadmapbooks.com.

No refund for free trial

Heard some good things about the backroad maps physical copy so I was curious and bought the free trial for the app. Figured it wasn’t worth it and was planning to buy the physical book till I realized there was no option for me to cancel the free trial despite it saying it would. Checked in subscriptions and in the app itself and nothing. Basically scammed me and turned me off and I’ll be staying away from this company.
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Response from developer

Thank you for your feedback, and we apologize for your negative experience with the trial cancellation process. If you subscribed via the app, you can find your subscription and cancellation options in the App Store app by tapping your profile, then selecting Subscriptions. For subscriptions made on brmbmaps.com, cancellation options are available on the same website under your profile > Settings > Your Plan.

MacOS App is useless

Zoom doesn’t work, can zoom in double clicking but there is no way to easily zoom out. Scroll doesn’t work in settings. Window size is fixed, fullscreen mode is not working.

Absolute garbage

All I wanted this for was to plan a road trip. Can’t select a starting point. The ads are RELENTLESS. Six ads in the first 60 seconds - every time you press any button at all you get an ad first. Deleted within a minute of setting up my account.

Response from developer

Hello! We appreciate your input. We recommend trying the free trial of the PRO plan available on the App Store to explore the app's features without advertisements. Currently, the app offers navigation from your current location to a selected destination. However, there are many additional options on the web map at brmbmaps.com/map, accessible with the same username and password. The web map allows you to plan your trip by creating directions to and from any point of interest, drawing your own routes, and adding trails, tracks, waypoints, and points of interest, all on a larger screen. Once you've finished, you can sync your work with the app by using the "sync with web map" button found in the "Your Data" section of the app. Your saved trips can be located under Your Data > Trips.

Advertisement Glitch

This was a great app until the advertisements started. When I close an advertisement, the app takes me back to my location instead of leaving me on the screen I was at. Too bad, I’ll be researching a new online map book.

Response from developer

Hi there! Advertising is only included on FREE plans. You should not see any ads if you are a PRO user. We have released an app update (version 3.1.2) that resolves the advertising issue for PRO users. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. To update, please download the latest version from the app store by searching for "BRMB Maps" or by using this link: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/brmb-maps/id1528015531. Also, ensure you're logged into your account by going to Settings > Your Account. If this doesn't resolve the issue, please contact our tech support at app@backroadmapbooks.com.

Sync Doesn’t Always Work and Missing Features

Sync in both directions is hit or miss. Adding waypoints and tracks when out on a trip sometimes end up on the web and other times they don’t. Making changes to data on the web sometimes affects the mobile app and sometimes it doesn’t. This is crazy annoying as the service can’t be trusted. The feature of waypoint management would help this a bit, but poor sync is unacceptable.
Waypoint management is desperately need. You can’t even sort your waypoints in any way. There should be options for sort by closest, alphabetical, and recent at least. Also, there should be folders for waypoints to have the option to categorize them, rather than the current long list of hundreds of my waypoints that don’t even have a number associated with them.
Fix that and then we can talk about the CarPlay integration that doesn’t show my waypoints…. What?
And the CarPlay map only moves at one preset zoom level. Not useful at all!
Some great map layers are ruined by an app that runs like a BETA 1 version.
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Free sucks

Free version doesn’t make me want to use the pay version.

Response from developer

Hello! We appreciate your feedback. There's a free trial of the PRO plan on the App Store, which we recommend to fully explore the app's offerings.

Very poor first impressions

I installed the free version to evaluate if this is a product I wish to purchase but so far in the first 4 minutes I’ve had no less than 6 ads pop up full screen. This is annoying in of itself but when I close the advertisement it puts me back to my current location not where I had scrolled to. By the time I move the map back to the area of interest another advertisement is full screen in my face. Extremely annoying and off putting. Deleting the app at this point as in this day and age bombarding me with US based company advertising is certainly not welcome. Get it together people.
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Response from developer

Hello! We appreciate your feedback. There's a free trial of the PRO plan on the App Store, which we recommend to fully explore the app's offerings.

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This is a great app that my adventures live by.

I would be happy to update this review with 5 stars if the platform removes the random pop up adds for paying customers

Response from developer

Hi there! Advertising is only included on FREE plans. You should not see any ads if you are a PRO user. We have released an app update (version 3.1.2) that resolves the advertising issue for PRO users. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. To update, please download the latest version from the app store by searching for "BRMB Maps" or by using this link: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/brmb-maps/id1528015531. Also, ensure you're logged into your account by going to Settings > Your Account. If this doesn't resolve the issue, please contact our tech support at app@backroadmapbooks.com.