Gaia GPS vs Master Clock
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Gaia GPS
Discover trails, campsites, and routes with detailed topographic maps and GPS navigation. Plan your adventures with offline maps, weather updates, and distance tracking. Explore hiking, off-roading, camping, and skiing with this comprehensive outdoor companion.
- Topographic maps
- GPS navigation
- Offline maps
- Route planning
- Distance tracking
- Weather updates
- Camping site discovery
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Welcome the warm weather with the ultimate collection of hiking trails and camping sites around you – Gaia GPS. Find amazing adventures with topographic maps while spending less time looking at your phone. Explore with map layers, weather condition updates, GPS navigation, hill-shading and hiking maps. Discover local routes or map your own trail and share online. Whether you’re looking for hiking trails, off-roading routes, backpacking, or public land, discover with Gaia GPS. Find backpacker trails or offroad routes with the help of Gaia GPS. Make the wilderness your backyard with the best hiking, backpacking, and backcountry navigator – all in one. Navigate routes with offline navigation, weather reports, GPS coordinates, camping sites and distance tracking features to help you explore. Cruise through a popular backpacking route, hiking trail, or walking map with GPS navigation tools to guide you. Download the premier outdoor activity app featured in publications like the New York Times, Washington Post, and GearJunkie. BACKPACK OR HIKE • Hike the largest collection of trails and routes available on Gaia Topo, the ultimate backcountry navigator. • National parks or scenic hiking trails – Discover new outdoor routes waiting to be explored • Backpacking from base camp all along offroad hiking trails and back again is easy with breadcrumbs • Distance tracker with altitude and elevation monitoring for every activity • Travel easily to trailheads with connections to directions CAMPING COMPANION • Explore different camping sites and navigate to them conveniently using GPS coordinates • Discover campgrounds across national parks, forests, and scenic landscapes ROAD TRIP PLANNER MADE FOR YOU • Offline maps: RV travel is easy with offline maps that track your location, even when far from cell service • Discover camping sites, parks and route conditions seamlessly to help you prepare OFFROAD ACTIVITY PLANNING • 4x4 & overlanding adventures are easy to record on Gaia GPS • Activity tracker and route planner make trekking, hiking, and backpacking offroad trails simple • Maps, routes, and waypoints displayed on Apple CarPlay SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING • Discover ski slopes and cross country skiing trails around you with best-in-class topographic maps • Know weather conditions with ski resort information and Nordic trails from OnTheSnow EXPLORE THE WORLD LIKE A PROFESSIONAL • GPS coordinates help explore while creating routes and tracking progress • Share your data with clients to improve Gaia GPS • Access the full NatGeo map collection ELEVATE YOUR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES WITH GAIA GPS PREMIUM WITH OUTSIDE+ • Access 300+ maps including NatGeo Trails Illustrated, Private Lands, weather forecasts, and more • Offline maps to download anytime • Weather, terrain, and safety features • Access the Trailforks GPS biking app • Expert-led online courses on Outside Learn • Premium access to award-winning films, shows, and live TV on Outside Watch • Unlimited digital access to Outside Network's 15 iconic brands including Outside, Backpacker and National Park Trips Explore the world with Gaia GPS to guide all of your adventures. Enjoy GPS navigation, countless hike trails, and more with Gaia GPS – your perfect outdoor companion. SIGNUP • Gaia GPS is part of the Outside Network. Create an Outside account to access the app. TO MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION: • TURN OFF auto-renewal: https://support.apple.com/kb/ht4098 • Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. • Your Apple App Store Account will be charged at confirmation of purchase. • Privacy Policy: https://www.gaiagps.com/company/privacy • Terms of use: https://www.gaiagps.com/company/terms_of_use
Master Clock
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Master Clock is a GPS-disciplined navigation instrument for iPhone, designed for anyone who needs accurate time and position in the field — at sea, in the mountains, or anywhere off the beaten track. ACCURATE TIME The clock is disciplined by GPS satellite time and cross-checked against NTP network time, giving you UTC to within a fraction of a second. The analogue clock face runs at up to 120 Hz for perfectly smooth second-hand motion. NAVIGATION INSTRUMENTS Choose between a full analogue dashboard and a digital readout: • Compass — true heading from the magnetometer, or course over ground from GPS. Smooth, high-refresh needle motion. • Speedometer — speed over ground in knots, km/h, mph or m/s, with a green band marking your planned speed range. • Position — latitude and longitude in degrees/minutes or decimal, with altitude and GPS accuracy. • Sun times — sunrise and sunset for your current position, calculated offline from your coordinates. POSITION LOGGING Start a logging session and Master Clock records your position, speed, course and distance made good at your chosen interval. Sessions run in the background with the screen off, confirmed by an audio beep. Export your log as a CSV file for analysis, passage review, or field records. SPEED ALERTS Set a planned speed range and Master Clock will alert you — with a banner and an audio tone — when your speed falls outside it. Useful for sail trim, tidal planning, or pacing on a long passage. LIVE ACTIVITY A lock-screen Live Activity shows your speed, course and position at a glance while a logging session is active. NIGHT MODE A red-on-black night mode preserves your dark adaptation at sea or under a night sky. Auto mode switches at local sunrise and sunset for your position. GPS INTEGRITY MONITORING Master Clock watches for signs of GPS interference: NTP time drift, location freeze, and physically impossible position jumps. It distinguishes the common benign cases — indoors, tunnels, re-acquisition after a ridge — from genuine anomalies that warrant a position cross-check. PRIVACY Your location data never leaves your device. Log files are excluded from iCloud backup. No account, no subscription, no analytics.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Gaia GPS at Free against Master Clock's $2.99. Gaia GPS also leads on chart position (#7 vs unranked) and device support (3 vs 1). Master Clock's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6). On ads 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
Gaia GPS is free to download; Master Clock costs $2.99 up front. Gaia GPS sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per year. Master Clock asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Gaia GPS | Master Clock |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $2.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (32K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 37.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 32K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Monthly | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #7 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 16.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 137 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TrailBehind | DANIEL JOHN OWENS |
Bugs and requests
Gaia GPS
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes and freezes
- Unreliable offline map downloads
- GPS location inaccuracies
- Syncing issues between app and web portal
Requested features
4 requests- Improved route planning tools (e.g. distance/elevation between waypoints)
- Better organization and management of saved tracks/waypoints
- More map data coverage for international users
- Customizable map layers and display options
Master Clock
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Gaia GPS
- No longer available - Member$19.991 Year
- Gaia GPS Premium14 Days trial$59.901 Year
- No Longer Available - Outside+$71.901 Year
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- Gaia GPS Premium with Outside+14 Days trial$89.901 Year
- Outside Plus Test Intro Offers14 Days trial$89.991 Year
- Gaia GPS Test Intro Offers7 Days trial$999.991 Year
Master Clock
No in-app purchases





