Comparison

River Reports vs RiverTrax

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Real-time river flows
  • Historical river flow data
  • Weather conditions
  • Consolidated data sources
  • Coverage across American West states
  • Easily digestible view
Features
Read full description

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

About

RiverTrax

This app provides real-time and forecasted water conditions for rivers and streams, including flow, discharge, and flood stages. It covers official gauges, live-only sensors, and modeled estimates for un-gauged waterways, offering detailed charts and alerts for anglers and paddlers.

Highlights
  • Real-time river level and discharge data
  • Official NWS forecasts and modeled estimates
  • Flood stage thresholds marked on charts
  • Water clarity and temperature reporting
  • Customizable alerts for ideal flow ranges
  • River camera access and timelapses
Read full description

Rivers and streams can change by the hour. RiverTrax tells you what yours is doing right now — and what it's about to do. EVERY RIVER, NOT JUST THE FAMOUS ONES About 12,700 U.S. gauges get an official National Weather Service forecast. Another 4,300 report live data without one. Most moving water has no sensor at all. RiverTrax covers all three — and always tells you which one you're looking at. Gauged and forecast. Live level, discharge, flood stage and trend, plotted alongside the official NWS forecast. Gauged, live only. Thousands of smaller creeks outside the forecast inventory get live readings, history, trend, water temperature where it's reported, and alerts — no forecast line or flood stage, because there isn't one. No gauge at all. The creek behind your house, the section below the dam, the gorge run. An estimate modeled by NOAA, updated hourly. RIVER STRETCHES Tap any river or creek on the map. Name it your way: "Below the dam," "The gorge section." See its estimated flow right now, which way it's trending, and a 10-day outlook. Save it next to your favorite gauges and watch it the same way. Stretch conditions come from NOAA's National Water Model. Estimates are always labeled Estimated, attributed to NOAA, and marked with ≈. WE TELL YOU WHEN WE'RE LESS SURE A big river running steadily gets a number. A small creek, or water a storm is pushing around, gets a range — what the model can honestly support there. And when the model's output can't be trusted, RiverTrax says "estimate unavailable" instead of showing you a confident wrong number. FOR ANGLERS When steelhead push in on a fall rain, the question is always the same: has it dropped back into shape yet? Watch discharge, water temperature, clarity and trend on your tributaries, set your fishable range, and let Sweet Spot Alerts tell you the day it comes back down, instead of driving out to look. FOR KAYAKERS & RAFTERS See current discharge and whether it's rising or falling. Set your ideal flow range and let Sweet Spot Alerts tell you when conditions are lining up, before you drive to the put-in. Set your range on any gauge or stretch and see it shaded right on the chart. FEATURES Find Your Water Search any gauge or creek by name or USGS site number. Save it and it pins on your map — every favorite, always, wherever the map is pointed. Charts You Can Actually Read Observed discharge plotted alongside official NWS forecasts on a clean timeline. Flood stage thresholds — Major, Moderate, Minor, Action — are marked right on the chart. Tap once for the 10-day outlook. Water Clarity, in Words On gauges with a turbidity sensor, see what the water looks like now (Clear, Stained, Muddy, Blown out) and get alerted when it settles into your window. Measured, never forecast. River Cameras The latest photo and a timelapse from USGS river cameras at 700+ gauges, on the gauge page. Alerts That Look Ahead Set your ideal flow or gauge height range and RiverTrax watches the forecast, telling you when your window is coming days ahead — not the morning of. Set hard thresholds for flood stage, CFS, gauge height, or rate of rise, and it watches those too. Your Rivers on Your Home Screen Pin favorite gauges to your iPhone home screen. Live discharge, gauge height, and trend at a glance — no app open required. Follow the River Jump straight to the next gauge upstream or downstream, and see every stretch in between. River Journal — Only on RiverTrax Write a note on any gauge or stretch and RiverTrax stamps it with the conditions at that moment — discharge, gauge height, rate of change. Add a photo, rate the day, and share it as a card. Build a record of what flows fished or paddled well. NO ADS. NO ACCOUNT. NO SETUP. Open it, find your water, go. River data provided by USGS and NOAA. Estimates and extended outlooks are model output, not official forecasts. Not intended for navigation or safety-of-life decisions. Always consult official sources and use good judgment.

Screenshots

River Reports4 screens
RiverTrax4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: RiverTrax at 100% against River Reports's 50%. RiverTrax also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 25 months) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). River Reports's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

RiverTrax holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 7 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of River Reports's written reviews are positive against 100% of RiverTrax's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

River Reports ships an update every 25 months, RiverTrax every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
River Reports versus RiverTrax: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRiver ReportsRiverTrax
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (13 ratings)4.7 (7 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13 — better7
Update frequencyEvery 25 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB195 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGreg LampTraxLabs LLC

Customer experience

River Reports

All ratings13 ratings
Positive84.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative15.4%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

RiverTrax

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

River Reports

No in-app purchases

None

RiverTrax

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is River Reports free?
River Reports is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is RiverTrax free?
RiverTrax is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, River Reports or RiverTrax?
RiverTrax is rated higher. River Reports averages 4.4 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while RiverTrax averages 4.7 from 7 ratings.
Do River Reports or RiverTrax have ads?
Neither River Reports nor RiverTrax shows ads.
Which is updated more often, River Reports or RiverTrax?
River Reports ships an update every 25 months, and RiverTrax every 2 weeks. Most recently, River Reports was updated on November 3, 2026 and RiverTrax on November 12, 2026.

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