Comparison

Outbound vs Return

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Outbound

This app encourages outdoor activity and time in nature to improve your overall health and well-being. It helps you track your movement, build consistency with customized goals, and earn rewards for your efforts. Discover new trails and enjoy the benefits of nature.

Highlights
  • Track active time outdoors
  • Discover 50,000+ hiking trails
  • Customized goals and challenges
  • Earn rewards for activity
  • Preview trails before you go
  • Track various outdoor activities
Features
Read full description

Welcome to the Outbound - the first outdoor app built for everyday health. OUR MISSION To help everyone build better health through daily outdoor activity and time in nature. WHY? Modern life is destroying our health & happiness. We’re moving less, spending more time indoors, and becoming more isolated than any generation before us. The average US adult now spends more than 90% of their life indoors and sits for 9.5 hours/day. Our health is paying a steep price. 48% of all US adults have heart disease, 18% are depressed, and 19% have anxiety. It's even worse for young adults. But research suggests a surprisingly simple (and affordable) truth: OUTDOOR ACTIVITY AND TIME IN NATURE ARE THE ANTIDOTE TO THE STRESS OF MODERN LIFE. Just 20 minutes of moderate outdoor activity is proven to decrease the risk of heart disease, reduce depression, and decrease anxiety. Just 120 minutes/week of time in nature reduces stress, boosts your mood, and increases your odds of good health - all for a tiny fraction of what you might spend on expensive gadgets, supplements, or a gym membership. Your health doesn't need to be hacked, it's right outside your door. That's why we built the Outbound. ► Our goal is to help you get outside, move, and feel better everyday. ► By keeping things simple, aligning incentives, and building a gentle support system, we help everyone get back to nature - moving, thriving, and reaching their full potential. No competition, no comparisons. Progress over perfection. HOW IT WORKS MEASURE YOUR MOVEMENT. We help users keep track of their active time outside - tracking neighborhood walks, navigating hiking trails, and keeping a history of their effort and progress over time. Perfect for every level of fitness - it’s designed to support you at your own pace. Tracked activities include walking, strolling, hiking, bird watching, backpacking, running, paddling, mountain biking and more... BUILD CONSISTENCY. With customized goals, challenges, and gentle nudges, we continually encourage your effort and transform the burden of accountability into an experience that's attainable and fun. EARN EXCLUSIVE REWARDS. We convert your outdoor activity into rewards points. Once you earn enough points, you'll unlock 50% off discounts for hundreds of your favorite outdoor and active lifestyle brands. But be warned, side effects of regular usage include: • Better sleep • Reduced stress and anxiety • Increased strength and energy • Enhanced focus and clarity Join our 1,000,000+ members who are getting outside everyday, moving, and exploring: • Discover incredible hiking trails & adventures - choose from our handcrafted collection of 50,000+ local trails, hikes, walking trails, breathtaking waterfalls, swimming holes, scenic lookouts, remote lakes, hot springs, fire towers, and more. Our community is always adding more of their favorite adventures. • Preview hiking trails before you go - learn everything you need to know from our detailed trail summaries and user reviews including: trail type, trail distance, elevation gain, elevation profile, dog-friendly trails, family-friendly trails, GPX trail photo waypoints, and more. • Navigate new trails with confidence - use our interactive GPX trail navigation and offline trail maps to get you out and back, safely. No bars? No problem. • Explore new cities like a local - quickly access our collection of the best outdoor spots to nature walk, hike, ride, stroll, and chill. Save and share them with friends. • And much more to come... -- If you’re enjoying the app, please consider leaving us a review! As a small team, it helps a lot and we really appreciate it. Have ideas on how to make the Outbound better? We’d love to hear from you! Please share here: https://outbound.nolt.io/. Questions or feedback? Shoot us a note at support@theoutbound.com. We read every email! Terms of Use: https://www.theoutbound.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.theoutbound.com/privacy

About

Return

This app offers guided exercises to help you pause and reset during difficult emotional moments. It provides tools for self-reflection, breathing, and choosing grounded actions to navigate anxiety, anger, and comparison.

Highlights
  • Guided reset flows
  • Breathing exercises
  • Reflection prompts
  • End-of-day review
  • Saved wisdom anchors
  • Virtue-focused progress
Features
Read full description

Return is a calm self-reflection app for moments when your mind gets pulled into comparison, anxiety, anger, validation seeking, distraction, or social feed spirals. Open Return when a hard thought shows up. Name the pattern, take a breath, clear the mind, choose one grounded action, and come back to what matters. Return helps you build small moments of awareness throughout the day without pressure, streak anxiety, or judgment. Features include: - Guided reset flows for common mental loops - Breathing and clear-the-mind exercises - Reflection prompts for social media and comparison triggers - End-of-day review history - Saved wisdom anchors - Virtue-focused progress across clarity, restraint, courage, discipline, compassion, and detachment - Local-first journaling in this version Return is designed for young adults, professionals, and spiritually curious people who want a grounded way to interrupt toxic thought loops and live with more presence. Return is not a medical device, therapy service, crisis service, or substitute for professional care.

Screenshots

Outbound4 screens
Return4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Return at none against Outbound's 2. Return also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 6 weeks) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Outbound's advantage is ratings volume (302 vs 4). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Outbound sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Return asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Return holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Outbound has 302 ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Outbound ships an update every 6 weeks, Return every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Outbound versus Return: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOutboundReturn
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (302 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews70.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings302 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS15.115.1
Further details — not scored
Size95 MB36 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperThe Outbound Collective, Inc.Juna Consulting Group Inc

Customer experience

Outbound

All ratings294 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral2.7%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews113 reviews
Positive70.8%
Neutral11.5%
Negative17.7%

Return

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Outbound

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes when trying to open
  • Can't remove activities from lists
  • Photos don't scroll properly in landscape mode
  • Search function not loading any results

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to upload photos and reviews from the app
  • Improve search and filtering functionality
  • Expand coverage to more regions, especially Canada
  • Integrate with other navigation apps like Google Maps
  • Add more options for users to contribute their own adventures

Return

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Outbound

Subscriptions2
  • Outbound Clube - Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Outbound Club - Annual7 Days trial$29.991 Year
None

Return

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Outbound free?
Outbound is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Return free?
Return is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Outbound or Return?
Return is rated higher. Outbound averages 4.8 out of 5 from 302 ratings, while Return averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do Outbound or Return have ads?
Neither Outbound nor Return shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Outbound or Return?
Outbound ships an update every 6 weeks, and Return every 6 days. Most recently, Outbound was updated on October 23, 2026 and Return on October 24, 2026.

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