Comparison

Explore Black Hills vs Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide

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

Head to head
About

Explore Black Hills

Discover dining, shopping, and activities in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This location-driven guide helps you find attractions, deals, and local information based on your current position. Explore historical sites and outdoor adventures with trusted local insights.

Highlights
  • Location-driven recommendations
  • Dining and shopping guides
  • Special deals and offers
  • Information on attractions
  • Local event listings
  • Historical site details
Features
Read full description

Your insider’s guide to exploring the beautiful Black Hills of Western South Dakota. Our FREE location-driven app helps visitors and locals alike, explore all the Black Hills has to offer for dining, shopping, playing, staying, special deals and more. Surrounded by the incredible natural beauty of the Black Hills National Forest, and steeped in history, you can walk in the footsteps of the likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Gen. George A. Custer and Sitting Bull. Our welcoming towns of Spearfish, Lead, Deadwood, Belle Fourche and Sturgis are all located just northwest of the major hub of Rapid City. Mt. Rushmore, Devil’s Tower National Monument, Badlands National Park and Spearfish Canyon scenic byway are just a few of the world-class attractions in our area along with outdoor mountain adventures and plenty of indoor fun as well. Hiking, biking, world-class rock climbing, caving, fishing, hunting, skiing, snowmobiling, driving tours, casino gaming, pro rodeo action, museums, historic opera houses and so much more are just waiting for you to explore. Based on your location, each page in our app contains search buttons to help you find what you’re looking for by town. We’ll help you locate where to eat, where to stay, special deals and what’s happening while you’re here. Compiled by the folks at the locally owned Black Hills Pioneer newspaper, you know you can trust the info we provide. After all, we’ve been pioneering news and information in the territory since 1876.

About

Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide

Explore Mount Rushmore National Memorial with a self-guided, narrated, and offline audio tour. Discover its history, creation, and surrounding controversies from various viewpoints. Make the most of your visit with flexible exploration and automatic audio playback.

Highlights
  • Self-guided narrated audio tour
  • Offline functionality
  • Automatic location-based audio playback
  • Multiple viewing angles
  • Historical and cultural insights
  • Flexible exploration
Read full description

Welcome to the self-guided, narrated, and fully offline driving tour of Mount Rushmore National Memorial! With this tour, you’ll see it from different angles, learn its history, and uncover little-known facts about its creation and the man behind it. Featuring riveting stories, a phenomenal narrator, and easy automatic audio, this app puts exploration in the palm of your hand! Mount Rushmore: See Mount Rushmore in a whole new way—both literally and figuratively! Seeing this incredible monument in person is nothing like the photographs, so get ready to be blown away. And to make your viewing even better, this tour leads you around the whole memorial site, featuring tons of different angles on these iconic faces. Plus, as you walk, you’ll learn everything there is to know about the story behind this memorial, including some things most folks never discover! Get to know the complicated sculptor behind it all, see a model of his original vision for the mountain, and find out why he wasn’t quite able to make good on his grand designs. Plus, get insight into the Lakota history of this mountain and the controversy that surrounds the monument to this day. Two million people visit Mount Rushmore every year. But you don’t just want to snap a picture or two and then leave, do you? Turn your trip into a rich historical expedition with this easy, totally flexible audio tour and make the most of your visit! TOUR STORIES: ■ Welcome ■ Gutzon Borglum ■ Avenue of Flags ■ Why These Four Faces? ■ Launching the Project ■ How Did They Carve It? ■ Trouble Brewing ■ The Hall of Records ■ Sculptor’s Studio ■ Presidential Trail ■ The Six Grandfathers ■ Ongoing Controversy ■ North by Northwest ■ Preservation ■ Adding New Faces? HOW IT WORKS: As you travel, audio stories play automatically based on your location. Simply go to the starting point of the tour and begin following the given route. Each story begins playing on its own, usually just before you reach a point of interest. TOUR FEATURES: ▶ Freedom of travel No scheduled tour times, no crowded buses, and no rush to keep moving past stops that interest you. You have total freedom to skip ahead, linger, and take as many photos as you’d like. ▶ Automatic play No muss, no fuss. Just follow the app’s built-in route to all the must-visit spots — the audio stories about everything you see will play automatically! ▶ Works offline Download the tour in advance and then use it seamlessly, even in areas with no service! ▶ Lifetime purchase No monthly subscription. No time limits. No usage limits. Enjoy this tour as many times as you like. ▶ Incredible stories Immerse yourself in the history, culture, and secrets of this famous site with the help of a top-tier narrator and fascinating stories written by experts. ▶ Award-winning app Featured on Thrillist and WBZ, this easy-to-use app won the Laurel Award for Technology from the Newport Mansions, who use the app for over a million tours per year. FREE DEMO vs FULL ACCESS: Check out the totally free demo to get an idea of what this tour is all about. If you like it, purchase the tour to get full access to all of the stories. IMPORTANT NOTES: Download the tour ahead of time over data or WiFi for full offline use. Be sure your phone battery is fully charged or take an external battery pack. Continued use of the GPS can drain your battery. Allow the tour to access location services and GPS tracking features to play stories automatically during the tour. NEARBY TOURS: ■ Badlands National Park Make your trip a two-for-one by paying a visit to this strange, majestic landscape. Hear about the prehistoric beasts which once roamed this land, watch a sunset like no other, and even catch a glimpse of the local bison!

Screenshots

Explore Black Hills3 screens
Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide at 100% against Explore Black Hills's 0%. Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide also leads on rating (4.9 vs 2.3) and ratings volume (20 vs 6). Explore Black Hills's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 10) and update cadence (every 6 months vs every 16 months). On price, ads and device support 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. Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $99.99 per year. Explore Black Hills asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6 and 20 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Explore Black Hills's written reviews are positive against 100% of Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Explore Black Hills ships an update every 6 months, Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide every 16 months. The most recent releases landed on June 11, 2026 and August 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Explore Black Hills versus Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExplore Black HillsMount Rushmore Memorial Guide
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.3 (6 ratings)4.9 (20 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings620 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 16 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size103 MB158 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSeaton Publishing Company Inc17 Mile Drive Day Trips, LLC

Customer experience

Explore Black Hills

All ratings6 ratings
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide

All ratings20 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Explore Black Hills

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide

Subscriptions1
  • Mount Rushmore Action+$99.991 Year
One-time9
  • Mount Rushmore Driving Tour$16.99
  • Custer State Park Driving Tour$16.99
  • Arizona Bundle$29.99
Show 6 more
  • Dakota Bundle$34.99
  • Crown Jewels of West$39.99
  • US East National Park Bundle$59.99
  • American Southwest Bundle$64.99
  • USA National Park$69.99
  • US West National Park Bundle$199.99

Questions

Is Explore Black Hills free?
Explore Black Hills is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide free?
Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Explore Black Hills or Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide?
Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide is rated higher. Explore Black Hills averages 2.3 out of 5 from 6 ratings, while Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide averages 4.9 from 20 ratings.
Do Explore Black Hills or Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide have ads?
Neither Explore Black Hills nor Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Explore Black Hills or Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide?
Explore Black Hills ships an update every 6 months, and Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide every 16 months. Most recently, Explore Black Hills was updated on June 11, 2026 and Mount Rushmore Memorial Guide on August 23, 2026.

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