Comparison

MeTrail vs Trace World

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

Head to head
About

MeTrail

Automatically logs your movements, stay durations, and daily sequence without manual check-ins. Enhance your travel history by adding photos and notes, creating a searchable life log. Offers various recording modes and detailed review options.

Highlights
  • Automatic location recording
  • Add photos and notes
  • Searchable visit history
  • Trip and daily reviews
  • Customizable alerts
  • Data export and import
Features
Read full description

MeTrail automatically records the places you go, how long you stay, and the order of your day. No check-ins. Can't recall where you went last month, or how long each stop on that trip lasted? Open it and see. Add photos and notes to turn your footprints into a life log you can search. Ad-free, and your history stays on your device first. 【Automatic Recording】: · Arrivals, departures, and stay durations, recorded for you · Power Saving, Balanced, and Precise modes, and pause any time · Add or fix a visit by hand · Drop a pin to mark a spot you pass without stopping, with the time and photos 【Look Back】: · Today shows the map and timeline, with paths between stops marked as walking, cycling, or by vehicle, plus steps from Apple Health if you turn it on · Jump to any day in Calendar · Weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reviews of your stats, top places, time by category, new countries, and best days; if you've moved, look back on each chapter by the cities you've lived in · On This Day, country, city, and City Moves stats, when you first reached each country, plus a world map of your cities by year · Two or more days away from home become a trip, with a photo cover and a shareable story image · Widgets for today; the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island show your current stay 【Places and Memories】: · Every place keeps its full visit history, grouped by month, sorted into categories like dining and shopping; favorite the ones you go often or set a visit or time goal, and add visits there to your calendar automatically · Guides for places you want to go, planned day by day and checked off automatically once you visit · Photos, notes, and tags, mark visits you liked or didn't, with library photos matched to a stay or a whole place, plus see on the map where photos were taken · Each visit can show arrival weather, calendar events, street view, and places visited together, and place analysis charts the weather across your visits · Search by place, pin, tag, or note, or open visits straight from Spotlight and Shortcuts, or ask Siri where you went today and how long you worked 【Alerts】: · Alerts when you arrive or leave, each with its own style and sound · Let family know when you arrive or leave, or forward alerts to Bark, Telegram, Discord, 14 more channels, or your own endpoint · Weekly and monthly review reminders, and milestone alerts for places you keep returning to and for countries you reach for the first time 【Share, Export, and Privacy】: · Share recent visits by link, add a password, and pause or end sharing anytime · Share cards in Postcard, Poster, and Photo templates for places, trips, and every review, with the option to hide the address · Export CSV / JSON / TXT / GPX / KML with photos and pins, with optional iCloud sync · Import MeTrail exports, GPX files and Google Timeline to fill in places you visited before · App Lock with passcode and Face ID / Touch ID; no third-party trackers · Smart Summaries are optional, off by default, and use your own AI service; usually only place names and times are sent, never coordinates or photos; a note is sent only when you tap Proofread or Rewrite on it 【Battery Saving】: MeTrail does not keep GPS running like a navigation app. Precise, the default, only locates you while you are moving, uses slightly more battery than Power Saving with little effect on a full day's charge, and pauses when the battery runs low. To use the least power, switch to Power Saving, which relies on the system's own visit records; Balanced sits in between. All three modes record stays, not continuous routes. 【Contact Us】: Questions? Email hi@metrail.app 【Terms of Use】: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ 【Privacy Policy】: https://metrail.app/privacy-policy/

About

Trace World

This app creates a personal exploration map that reveals areas as you travel through the real world. Your visited locations are saved locally, and you can customize your recent path. It offers different map styles and prioritizes user privacy with no account or data uploads.

Highlights
  • Exploration map reveals visited areas
  • Recent track customization
  • Auto-recording for travel
  • Exploration level progression
  • Multiple map styles
  • Privacy-first design, no account needed
Features
Read full description

TraceWorld turns every walk, ride, and trip into a personal map of where you have really been. Reveal the world as fog lifts, see density as a heatmap or dots, place your photos on the map, and look back through travel stories — privately, on your iPhone. ONE MAP, THREE VIEWS • All — your full journey at a glance: Fog, Heatmap, or Dots • 7 Days — a closer look at the past week • Today — focus on what you are doing right now RECORD AS YOU GO • Start recording when you head out; keep going in the background when you allow Always location • Choose how hard GPS works: Standard, Power Saver, or Ultra Saver (premium options for longer battery life) PHOTOS ON THE MAP • Show geotagged photos where you took them • Browse an aggregated all-photos view when you want the big picture • Photos stay on your device; TraceWorld does not upload your library FOOTPRINT MAP • See countries, regions, and cities you have lit up • Spot airports and other explored places • Open the real map and list for details, visit dates, and a clearer browse TRAVEL STORIES & IDENTITIES • Travel Stories — a timeline of trips and moves (premium) • Identities — keep commute, travel, and other lives on separate maps (extra identities are premium; your main identity stays free) BACKUP & PRIVACY • Optional iCloud backup of your exploration data to your own Apple ID • No TraceWorld account, no ads, no analytics SDK, no upload to our servers LANGUAGES Follow the system, or pick English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese (Brazil), or Italian. TraceWorld Pro is an optional one-time unlock for premium features such as Travel Stories, extra identities, and Footprint Map details. Mapping overview, recording, and the main identity stay free.

Screenshots

MeTrail4 screens
Trace World4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Trace World at free against MeTrail's freemium. Trace World also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 75%) and ratings volume (6 vs 2). MeTrail's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. MeTrail sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Trace World sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

MeTrail holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 6 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of MeTrail's written reviews are positive against 87% of Trace World's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MeTrail ships an update every 2 days, Trace World weekly. Both last shipped on November 7, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
MeTrail versus Trace World: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeTrailTrace World
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better4.7 (6 ratings)
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews87.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings26 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB70 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer佩佩 杨高锋 李

Customer experience

MeTrail

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

Trace World

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive87.0%
Neutral4.3%
Negative8.7%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

MeTrail

Subscriptions2
  • MeTrail Pro Monthly$1.991 Month
  • MeTrail Pro Annual7 Days trial$7.991 Year
One-time1
  • MeTrail Pro Lifetime$24.99
1 purchases

Trace World

One-time1
  • TraceWorld Pro$3.99

Questions

Is MeTrail free?
MeTrail is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Trace World free?
Trace World is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MeTrail or Trace World?
MeTrail is rated higher. MeTrail averages 5.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Trace World averages 4.7 from 6 ratings.
Do MeTrail or Trace World have ads?
Neither MeTrail nor Trace World shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MeTrail or Trace World?
MeTrail ships an update every 2 days, and Trace World weekly. Most recently, MeTrail was updated on November 7, 2026 and Trace World on November 7, 2026.

Other comparisons