PlaceTrack vs Direkto
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PlaceTrack
This app provides comprehensive location journaling and sharing for families. It tracks speed, altitude, and activity, with optional real-time sharing and directions to loved ones' locations. It also supports GPX track import and comparison.
- 24/7 location journaling
- Real-time family tracking
- Speed, altitude, and activity data
- GPX track import and overlay
- Street-level image viewing
- Optional safe location sharing
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PlaceTrack is a modern, cross-platform, full-featured location journaling and sharing app, available for iPhone, Apple Watch, and other platforms, and also offering compatibility with Car Play. It keeps a history of your locations 24/7 with almost no impact on battery life, capturing data on speed, course, altitude, and user activity. Additionally, its optional sharing features allow you to track your loved ones, monitor their travelling speed, get directions to their current location, and view street-level images of any place they are or they have been. You can also overlay and compare your location or your contacts' locations against a GPX track. This can be imported from files, Strava, or Apple Watch workout routes, as the app integrates seamlessly with HealthKit. In short: - personal location journaling h24 - Apple Watch and CarPlay compatibility - context data: location data can include location history, speed and course, altitude, whether you’re walking, running, moving in a vehicle or resting - Healthkit/Apple Watch and Strava integration for GPX import - optional safe location sharing with the people you trust, in real time - GPX merge, map overlay and export - POIs (Point of Interest) support and sharing - live data: force a contact’s device to immediately send a fresh location - passive and battery friendly: run in the background with no noticeable impact on battery life, location is periodically updated as the device moves - you are in control: set who sees your current location or who has access to your location history with fine-grained access controls Other features: - excellent battery usage: PlaceTrack uses SLC mode (Significant Location Change) and region monitoring, NOT continuous background. PlaceTrack is suspended in the background most of the time and is woken up only when you move significantly (detected using cell towers signal); most of the time it just sleeps and the GPS hardware is powered off to preserve battery. Install the app and forget about it - save your location history for later viewing - optionally share your recent location or location history with authorized PlaceTrack contacts - forced contact location updates: you can ask for a live location update from a contact and the backend platform will silently ask your contact device for a new location update - delayed sync: stores your locations when network is unreachable and pushes them to the PlaceTrack servers when you're back online - in-app streetview images - track overlays: import route data from Apple Watch, Strava and GPX files - location sharing works using address book phone numbers: your phone number is authenticated through an sms code on your first activation - your data, including your phone number and location, is always sent on a secure connection (ssl) and is never shared with any third party
Direkto
Navigate with a powerful compass that points to any saved location, displaying direction and distance. Record and follow routes for hikes or travels, with Live Activities support for constant visibility. Includes accessibility features for visually impaired users.
- Direction and distance to saved places
- Route recording and following
- Live Activities support
- Voice Over accessibility
- Watch app integration
- Traditional and map compass modes
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Direkto is a Compass App. It can not only show where the north pole is, but also show the direction and distance to any other place. It also allows to record routes (of your travels, hikes etc) so you can follow them later again, or to find your way back more easily. The App shows a big compass which includes arrows showing the direction to all of the places you have stored within the App. You can also get coordinates and distances to these locations. There are two modes available for the compass: A more traditional mode where the center of the compass shows current the direction as cardinal points and in degrees in big letters, the second mode shows a map in the background which can display or record a route, which helps to follow the route or find your way back on that route. Just keep the path in the center while following the route. The App supports Live Activities (iOS 16.1 and later on the iPhone), so the compass and all the directions and distances to the saved places are always visible within the dynamic island (iPhone 14 Pro) and on the lock screen. The App supports Voice Over on the iPhone for blind and visually impaired users. The Watch App also shows the compass and all directions and distances to all saved places, just like the iPhone App. The App respects your privacy. There's no tracking, no ads, no hidden costs, no subscription. It's just doing what you expect: showing the direction to north and other places, help to find your way.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PlaceTrack at every 4 weeks against Direkto's every 5 months. PlaceTrack also leads on chart position (#126 vs unranked). Direkto's advantage is price ($1.99 vs $5.99). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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
PlaceTrack costs $5.99 and Direkto $1.99 up front. 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 PlaceTrack against 5.0 for Direkto. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 55% of PlaceTrack's written reviews are positive against 50% of Direkto's.
PlaceTrack ships an update every 4 weeks, Direkto every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PlaceTrack | Direkto |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 55.2% of reviews — better | 50.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #126 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.1 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Nico Tranquilli | Alexander Clauss |
Customer experience
PlaceTrack
Direkto
Bugs and requests
PlaceTrack
Reported bugs
67 issues- Network status error
- Crashing issues
- App closes when accessing contacts
- AutoCheck-In Setup Failed error
- GPS always active
Show 62 moreShow fewer
- Background checkins not functional
- App crashes
- Background updates not working
- Cannot log in to Google with 2-step auth
- Application specific passwords do not work
- Known bug for weeks, no response to support emails
- App updated, but not fixed
- Updates only every 3-6 hours
- Background updates not working on 3G
- Background updates don't work
- App freezes and stops updating
- Location updates only when far away
- App self restarts a lot
- Map not showing
- Does not detect cell tower switching properly
- Location delayed
- Buttons are a tad small
- Crashes constantly
- Does not update location in background
- Updates location only when about 6 blocks away
- App updates location only when opening app
- Stops updating in iOS 4.1
- Map not showing
- Does not detect cell tower switching properly
- Location delayed
- Buttons are a tad small
- Crashes constantly
- Does not update location in background
- Updates location only when about 6 blocks away
- App updates location only when opening app
- Stops updating in iOS 4.1
- Background updates don't work
- App freezes and stops updating
- Location updates only when far away
- App self restarts a lot
- Map not showing
- Does not detect cell tower switching properly
- Location delayed
- Buttons are a tad small
- Crashes constantly
- Does not update location in background
- Updates location only when about 6 blocks away
- App updates location only when opening app
- Stops updating in iOS 4.1
- SMS code not received
- Account locked
- Network status error
- Crashing issues
- App closes when accessing contacts
- AutoCheck-In Setup Failed error
- GPS always active
- Background checkins not functional
- App crashes
- Background updates unreliable
- Login problems
- No refund
- UI has only 1 language
- Not working anymore
- Useless application
- Not secure
- Account locked
- SMS code not received
Requested features
17 requests- Introduce metric system option
- More website tracking options
- Update to work with Google+ location
- iPad version
- Send location when power status changes
Show 12 moreShow fewer
- Enable different set of options when plugged in
- Email locations in Google Earth format
- More settings parameters
- Add avatar functionality
- Larger map view
- Force manual sync intervals
- Scheduled updates (20-30 min)
- More battery life settings (customizable)
- Push notifications for nearby friends
- Manual check-in option
- Open in maps button
- Visualisation of the entire route
Direkto
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
PlaceTrack
No in-app purchases
Direkto
No in-app purchases







