Rivers.run vs River Reports
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Rivers.run
Access real-time river data including water levels, temperature, and skill level estimates. Discover nearby rivers using GPS, search by various criteria, and utilize interactive maps for navigation. Includes weather overlays for rain tracking.
- Water levels and temperature
- Crowdsourced skill level estimates
- GPS river discovery
- Search by water level, skill, name
- Interactive river maps
- Weather overlays for rain
- Offline access to downloaded data
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Real-time river levels and crowdsourced paddling beta for whitewater paddlers. Rivers.run covers 10,000+ rivers and creeks across the US, Canada, and the UK & Ireland. Match live gauge data with hard-won local knowledge: flow color-coding, rapid-by-rapid descriptions, access points, and difficulty ratings, all in one place. Flow data comes straight from government gauges — USGS, Environment Canada, and the UK & Ireland — alongside NOAA forecasts. River descriptions, access points, and runnable levels are crowdsourced by the paddling community. KEY FEATURES Live Flows & Forecasts See current levels from USGS, Environment Canada, UK, and Ireland gauges, with simple low/runnable/high color coding. Dig into 28-day history graphs and NOAA forecasts to plan ahead. Switch freely between imperial and metric (CFS/CMS, ft/m, °F/°C). Interactive Map & Weather Radar Discover nearby rivers, view live weather radar (US), and tap any run for gauge readings, access points, and rapid descriptions. Offline Navigation (USA-only) Easy, free state-by-state map downloads keep you oriented when your signal disappears. Find put-ins and take-outs, get directions, and follow your live GPS location with no cell service at all — your favorites, lists, and saved flows come along too. Powerful Search & Filtering Find your next trip by water level, difficulty class, distance, region, custom tags, and more — then sort by what's running right now. Flow Alerts That Find Rare Runs Star the runs you care about and get an alert the moment they come into your preferred range — perfect for creeks that only run a few days a year. Prefer the big picture? Switch to a daily email digest of conditions, delivered at a time you choose. Custom Lists & Sync Build river lists by region, difficulty, or trip plan, and sync them across all your devices. Apple Watch Sync your lists to the companion Apple Watch app and check levels from the trailhead. Community-Driven Can't find your local creek? Disagree with a runnable level? The map is crowdsourced: anyone can suggest edits, new access points, or a fresh run write-up, and our moderators review every change to keep it accurate. Built for Everyone Dark mode and a colorblind-friendly palette come standard. Rivers.run is free, open-source, and built by paddlers for paddlers. River flows change and conditions can vary rapidly. Always exercise caution, wear appropriate safety gear, and verify local conditions before paddling. Need help or have feedback? Reach out to support@rivers.run Privacy Policy: https://rivers.run/privacy Terms of Service: https://rivers.run/terms
River Reports
Access real-time and historical river flow data for hundreds of locations in the American West. This app simplifies finding crucial information for outdoor activities like float trips or checking local creek conditions, consolidating data from various government sources.
- Real-time river flows
- Historical river flow data
- Weather conditions
- Consolidated data sources
- Coverage across American West states
- Easily digestible view
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River Reports provides real time and historical river flows and weather conditions for hundreds of locations across the American West. Whether you're planning your next float trip or you want to check the flows on your local creek, we've got you covered. We built River Reports after wasting hours searching through government sites trying to find relevant data. This is now a thing of the past. River Reports aggregates federal, state, and local data sources to bring you easily digestible, consolidated view of every river, creek, and stream. River Reports does not have ads. We built River Reports because we're fellow anglers who like checking flows! It's as simple as that. Coverage • Colorado • Idaho • Montana • Utah • Texas • Washington • Wyoming Data Sources • USGS • USBR • Division of Water Resources
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Rivers.run at every 6 weeks against River Reports's every 25 months. River Reports's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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 — 4.4 for Rivers.run against 4.4 for River Reports. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 28 and 13 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 55% of Rivers.run's written reviews are positive against 50% of River Reports's.
Rivers.run ships an update every 6 weeks, River Reports every 25 months. Both last shipped on September 21, 2026.
| Parameter | Rivers.run | River Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (28 ratings) — better | 4.4 (13 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 28 — better | 13 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 25 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 16 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tucker Willenborg | Greg Lamp |
Customer experience
Rivers.run
River Reports
In-app purchases
Rivers.run
No in-app purchases
River Reports
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Rivers.run free?
Is River Reports free?
Which has better reviews, Rivers.run or River Reports?
Do Rivers.run or River Reports have ads?
Which is updated more often, Rivers.run or River Reports?
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