Rivers.run vs TextMeWeather
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
TextMeWeather
Send SMS requests to get weather forecasts from your satellite messenger. This app allows you to easily query weather conditions via text message, making it convenient for outdoor adventures.
- SMS weather forecast requests
- Satellite messenger integration
- Easy to use interface
- Convenient for outdoor activities
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Use the TextMeWeather app to easily create requests for weather forecasts via SMS message and your satellite messenger.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: TextMeWeather at 100% against Rivers.run's 55%. TextMeWeather also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.4) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 6 weeks). Rivers.run's advantage is ratings volume (28 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
TextMeWeather holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Rivers.run has 28 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 55% of Rivers.run's written reviews are positive against 100% of TextMeWeather's.
Rivers.run ships an update every 6 weeks, TextMeWeather every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and June 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rivers.run | TextMeWeather |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (28 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 54.5% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 28 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| 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 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tucker Willenborg | TextMe LLC |
Customer experience
Rivers.run
TextMeWeather
In-app purchases
Rivers.run
No in-app purchases
TextMeWeather
No in-app purchases
