Comparison

GPS Tracks vs Ascend Maps

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

Head to head
About

GPS Tracks

This app allows users to track outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and running. It enables navigation to waypoints, storage of favorite destinations, and offers advanced features for route planning and data export with a subscription.

Highlights
  • Track hiking, biking, running, and walking routes
  • Navigate to saved waypoints
  • Store and manage favorite destinations
  • Offline map downloads
  • Export tracks and waypoints (GPX, KML, CSV)
  • Real-time track sharing
  • Apple Watch app for direct activity tracking
Features
Read full description

"One of the better GPS apps for sporting enthusiasts for the iPhone..." - Bryan Wolfe, AppAdvice.com Do you want to track your hiking, biking, walking, running? Do you want to track your outdoor activities? Do you need to navigate to waypoints? Do you want to store your favorite destinations? Explore anywhere, without limits with GPS Tracks. It is an ideal app for offline hiking, running, walking, cycling, and any other route tracking activity. It is a perfect companion for traveling, hunting, fishing, and other navigational activities where you need to store specific waypoints. Use Applications - • Great for hiking offline, running, walking, and biking to track your route! • Great for photographers who need to track location data for their pictures! • Great for hunters and fishermen who need to store specific locations! • Great for golfing to find the distance to the pin! • Great for military navigational applications! Features Upgrade to GPS Tracks Pro & Premium (requires subscription) • Download maps for offline use • Use Street, Terrain, Topo, Satellite, USGS, NOAA nautical charts, FAA charts, and many other alternate map sources • Add map overlays of local trails or area boundaries from images, files, or directly from your camera • Use custom Map Tile Server URLs • Export tracks and waypoints to GPX, KML, KMZ, or CSV • Print Maps in PDF • GPS Tracks Live - real-time track sharing with friends which allows you to see your friends tracks live on the map • Use the Range Finder • Create a track pacesetter or goal to improve your time on a given track • Weather at waypoints • Elevation profiles for tracks • Create routes manually by tracing the map or dropping pins • GPS Tracks uses WGS84 datum, over 220 datums available with the subscription • Subscription syncs via iCloud to other devices Track • Record your track for any activity • Save your favorite waypoints • Take GPS static observations to average current location for more accurate waypoints • Easily navigate to waypoints with the waypoint guide on the compass • Add a vector as a waypoint with angle and distance • Convert between four sets of coordinates (Decimal, DMS, MGRS, UTM) anytime Measure (requires subscription) • The Range Finder allows you to measure distance, elevation and angle between any two points on the map • Map measuring tools allow you to measure area and distance on the map • Draw or drop pins to measure Apple Watch App • Track your activity directly with your Apple Watch without your iPhone • Will save your workouts to the Health app from the watch (only the watch app uses HealthKit) Connect • iCloud syncing (will sync between Mac, iPad, and iPhone version) • Import from Dropbox, iCloud Drive, or the local device storage • Send a waypoint to the Apple, Google, or Waze app for driving directions • Import tracks and coordinates in a GPX, KML, BIN, CSV, or NMEA format Live Activities & Widgets • Live Activity for tracking and navigating waypoints • Lock Screen & Home Screen widget for distance today and current location • Home Screen widget for last track and add new waypoint There are many other great features. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use - http://www.dmsoftwaresolutions.com/privacyPolicyTermsOfUse.html Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.

About

Ascend Maps

This app provides customizable outdoor maps with offline capabilities. It features 3D terrain, track recording, saved places management, and the ability to save map tiles for offline use. Explore the outdoors with detailed, personalized navigation tools.

Highlights
  • Offline search
  • 3D terrain
  • Track recording and editing
  • Saved places management
  • Customizable map styles
  • Offline map tile saving
Features
Read full description

Ascend is an open source app for vector and raster maps. Features include 3D terrain, offline search, track recording and editing, managing saved places, saving map tiles for offline use, and more. CUSTOMIZABLE * Includes a simple, customizable style for OpenStreetMap vector tiles with modes for hiking, biking, and transit. * Overlay customizable hillshading, shaded relief, contour lines, and slope angle shading calculated in real-time over any base map. * Supports plugins for search, routing, map sources and more. * Add new online map sources and combine layers to create new maps. * Generate and import your own vector tiles. COMPREHENSIVE * Offline search * Wikipedia search * Manage saved places * Show geotagged photos from your Photo Library. * Create and edit routes * Record and edit tracks for hiking, fitness, and more * Save map tiles for offline use Learn more at https://github.com/styluslabs/maps

Screenshots

GPS Tracks4 screens
Ascend Maps4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Ascend Maps at none against GPS Tracks's 3. Ascend Maps also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). GPS Tracks's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (18K vs 1). On price 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. GPS Tracks sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $29.99 per year. Ascend Maps asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Ascend Maps holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GPS Tracks has 18K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GPS Tracks ships an update fortnightly, Ascend Maps every 6 months. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
GPS Tracks versus Ascend Maps: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGPS TracksAscend Maps
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (18K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews88.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings18K — better1
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#76 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size107 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDavid MorneaultMatthew White

Customer experience

GPS Tracks

All ratings17,616 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral3.4%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews1,119 reviews
Positive88.1%
Neutral3.3%
Negative8.6%

Ascend Maps

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

GPS Tracks

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Tracks disappearing after updates
  • GPS coordinates not always accurate
  • Difficulty deleting unwanted waypoints

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to edit waypoint names
  • Improved map synchronization across devices
  • Integration with popular fitness apps
  • Landscape map view option
  • Automatic activity tracking without user interaction

Ascend Maps

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

GPS Tracks

Subscriptions2
  • GPS Tracks Pro7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • GPS Tracks Premium$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • Datum Add-On Pack$2.99
None

Ascend Maps

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is GPS Tracks free?
GPS Tracks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Ascend Maps free?
Ascend Maps is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, GPS Tracks or Ascend Maps?
Ascend Maps is rated higher. GPS Tracks averages 4.7 out of 5 from 18K ratings, while Ascend Maps averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do GPS Tracks or Ascend Maps have ads?
Neither GPS Tracks nor Ascend Maps shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GPS Tracks or Ascend Maps?
GPS Tracks ships an update fortnightly, and Ascend Maps every 6 months. Most recently, GPS Tracks was updated on September 25, 2026 and Ascend Maps on August 26, 2026.

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