Explorer vs HSS Safe
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Explorer
Navigate a world-renowned museum with ease. This app provides interactive maps, turn-by-turn directions to exhibits and amenities, and personalized recommendations based on your interests. Enhance your visit with behind-the-scenes content and engaging quizzes.
- Interactive museum map
- Turn-by-turn directions
- Customized exhibit recommendations
- Exhibit information and quizzes
- Amenity finder (restrooms, shops)
- Multi-language support
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Download Explorer, the Museum’s free mobile app! Get a map, turn-by-turn directions to exhibits and amenities, customized recommendations for what to see, and more! “A great aid to anyone seeing the museum for the first or 40th time.” - The New York Times Available in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Explorer is automatically set to the language of your device. Map and Turn-by-Turn Directions Get directions to exhibits and amenities, including shortest and accessible routes. Get Recommendations for What to See Explorer recommends exhibits based on interests you select—and sorts them by how close they are to your location. Learn More About the Museum’s Exhibits Go behind the scenes and dive deeper with videos, fun quizzes, and more. Find the Nearest Restroom Explorer provides you the shortest route to restrooms, shops, exits, and more. How does Explorer know where you are? The Museum has placed more than 700 Bluetooth beacons throughout its 45 permanent halls. These tiny beacons give off signals that your phone can detect (when Bluetooth is enabled). Your phone calculates your position based on detecting three of these beacons simultaneously. This triangulation is not always perfect, especially in certain areas like large, multi-level halls, meandering walkways, or stairwells. Your phone should be able to detect the hall that you are in and provide turn-by-turn directions, but sometimes the “blue dot” is not exactly in the right place. In some rare cases it will even be missing. Moving to another area and waiting a few moments will usually fix the issue. The Museum’s free AMNH-GUEST Wi-Fi also varies in strength throughout the complex. Certain materials and large exhibits (i.e. the Blue Whale) either absorb or reflect the radio signals used by Wi-Fi, further complicating this technology. If you experience difficulty connecting to Wi-Fi in a particular part of the Museum, you can usually fix the issue by moving a short distance away. We’d Love to Hear From You! Your feedback is important and will help us improve your Museum experience. Email explorer@amnh.org. Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies
HSS Safe
This app provides safety and security resources for users of a specific hospital. It offers emergency contact options, location sharing for safety, campus emergency procedures, and ways to report concerns. Users can also access safety training and receive important alerts.
- Emergency contacts
- Friend Walk location sharing
- Offline emergency procedures
- Report safety concerns
- Evacuation maps
- Safety training access
- Safety toolbox
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HSS Safe is the official safety app of Hospital for Special Surgery. It is the only app that integrates with Hospital for Special Surgery's safety and security systems. Security has worked to develop a unique app that provides many safety features. The app will send you important safety alerts and provide instant access to hospital safety resources. HSS Safe features include: - Emergency Contacts: Contact the correct services for the Hospital for Special Surgery area in case of an emergency or a non-emergency concern - Friend Walk: Send your location to a friend through email or SMS on your device. Once the friend accepts the Friend Walk request, the user picks their destination and their friend tracks their location in real time; they can keep an eye on them to make sure they make it safely to their destination. - Emergency Procedures: Campus emergency documentation that can prepare you for disasters or emergencies. This can be accessed even when users aren’t connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data. - Report a Tip: Multiple ways to report a safety/security concern directly to Hospital for Special Surgery security. - Evacuation Map: Find gathering points after an evacuation alarm has been sounded. - Safety Training: Access safety training information - Safety Toolbox: Enhance your safety with the set of tools provided in one convenient app. - Notification History: Find previous Push Notifications for this app with the date and time. - Share Map with your Location: Send your location to a friend by sending them a map of your position. - I’m OK!: Send your location and a message indicating that “You’re OK” to a recipient of your choosing. - Support Resources: Access support resources in one convenient app to enjoy a successful experience at Hospital for Special Surgery. - Safety Notifications: Receive instant notifications and instructions from Hospital for Special Surgery safety when on-campus emergencies occur. Download today to ensure you’re prepared in the event of an emergency.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HSS Safe at 5.0 against Explorer's 3.8. HSS Safe also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 16.0). Explorer's advantage is ratings volume (115 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HSS Safe holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Explorer has 115 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Explorer ships an update every 2 months, HSS Safe every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Explorer | HSS Safe |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (115 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 58.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 115 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 88 MB | 42 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | American Museum of Natural History | Hospital for Special Surgery |
Customer experience
Explorer
HSS Safe
Bugs and requests
Explorer
Reported bugs
12 issues- App crashes when accessing membership/ticket linking
- Location services fail to detect user position
- Bluetooth continues tracking after app closes
- Payment confirmation button unresponsive
- Duplicate charges on payment attempts
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- App freezes on food page navigation
- Crashes when changing map levels
- Swiping on image galleries doesn't work
- App won't open or closes immediately
- GPS shows incorrect floor levels
- Directions loop back on themselves
- Maps don't match physical museum layout
Requested features
10 requests- Digital membership card storage
- Apple Pay support for payments
- Search function for exhibits
- Swipe functionality for image galleries
- To-do list based on interests and time
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Planetarium and show times integration
- Ability to highlight halls on map
- Improved battery optimization
- Current exhibition listings
- Ticket pricing and hours information
HSS Safe
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Explorer
No in-app purchases
HSS Safe
No in-app purchases








