Pathify vs Ascend Maps
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pathify
This navigation app prioritizes user privacy by keeping all location history secure on the device. It offers a real-time map with customizable views and a unique timeline feature to visualize past activities chronologically.
- On-device location history storage
- Real-time map with customizable views
- Chronological activity timeline
- Power-efficient activity tracking
- Minimalist, translucent controls
- Satellite, topographic, and trail maps
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Pathify reinvents the running app, and takes off running in a new direction. First, privacy: Everything you do in Pathify stays in Pathify. Your location history stays secure on your device, not entrusted to a shared remote server. There are no subscriptions, accounts, signups, or ads to distract you. Pathify lets you focus on navigating the real world, not the app. The map is always visible, overlaid with minimal, translucent controls. Two taps and you are tracking your own activity, in a power-efficient way, without being tracked by anyone else. View your path, see your pace, and find your way in real time using beautiful, customizable maps from Mapbox. Move fluidly between satellite, topographic and trail maps that help you discover new places to get away from the crowds close to home. The magic is the way Pathify lets you navigate through the domains of time, space, and data all at once. Visualize your activities as a chronological sequence on a continuously scrollable, zoomable timeline. Spin an analog clock back and forth, like an old-fashioned time machine, to review your location history on the map. Watch the numbers spin as a marker follows your former track. Choose your own adventure UI at any time by sliding a bar down to see more activities and more details. Or slide the bar up to maximize the map. Visualize a sequence of activities on the map and the timeline simultaneously, as a continuous spectrum of paths. We hope this app is as much fun to use as it was to build, and helps you get greater value from your own data, without sacrificing your privacy in any way. This is only the start of a journey we're excited to be taking with you!
Ascend Maps
This app provides customizable outdoor maps with offline capabilities. It features 3D terrain, track recording, saved places management, and the ability to save map tiles for offline use. Explore the outdoors with detailed, personalized navigation tools.
- Offline search
- 3D terrain
- Track recording and editing
- Saved places management
- Customizable map styles
- Offline map tile saving
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Ascend is an open source app for vector and raster maps. Features include 3D terrain, offline search, track recording and editing, managing saved places, saving map tiles for offline use, and more. CUSTOMIZABLE * Includes a simple, customizable style for OpenStreetMap vector tiles with modes for hiking, biking, and transit. * Overlay customizable hillshading, shaded relief, contour lines, and slope angle shading calculated in real-time over any base map. * Supports plugins for search, routing, map sources and more. * Add new online map sources and combine layers to create new maps. * Generate and import your own vector tiles. COMPREHENSIVE * Offline search * Wikipedia search * Manage saved places * Show geotagged photos from your Photo Library. * Create and edit routes * Record and edit tracks for hiking, fitness, and more * Save map tiles for offline use Learn more at https://github.com/styluslabs/maps
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Ascend Maps at 12.0 against Pathify's 14.1. On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Pathify against 5.0 for Ascend Maps. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
Pathify ships an update every 9 months, Ascend Maps every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on June 1, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pathify | Ascend Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 6 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.1 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 45 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jonathan Dubman | Matthew White |
Customer experience
Pathify
Ascend Maps
In-app purchases
Pathify
No in-app purchases
Ascend Maps
No in-app purchases









