CycleMaps vs Footpath Route Planner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CycleMaps
This app plans bicycle routes using multiple data sources, prioritizing cycle paths and quiet streets worldwide. It offers turn-by-turn navigation, offline maps, and Apple Watch integration for a seamless cycling experience. Track your rides, view elevation profiles, and import/export routes.
- Worldwide bicycle route planning
- Turn-by-turn navigation
- Offline maps
- Apple Watch integration
- Ride tracking & Apple Health sync
- GPX/KML import/export
- Cycle path overlays
Read full descriptionHide full description
BICYCLE ROUTES CycleMaps plans routes using data from multiple sources and prioritises cycle paths and quiet streets — everywhere. See your route’s elevation profile before you ride. TURN‑BY‑TURN INSTRUCTIONS Clear, glanceable guidance shows your next turn, street name, and distance — without getting in the way of the map. ASK SIRI Start navigation, add stops along the way, or share your ETA — hands-free with the new Siri in iOS 27. GARMIN VARIA Pair your Garmin Varia rear radar to see vehicles approaching from behind — direction and proximity shown both on the map as a lane overlay and in the cycling computer. Live alerts on iPhone and Apple Watch. FREECYCLE Track an unplanned ride and save it as a workout in Apple Health. OFFLINE MAPS Download maps to use later without data. APPLE WATCH Cutting‑edge routing and navigation on your wrist. Cycling computer with speed, distance, time, heart rate and a live elevation chart. Garmin Varia alerts. Use haptics for guidance and save rides as workouts. Works independently of iPhone. HANDOFF Start navigating on iPhone and pick up on Apple Watch — or the other way around. Hand off your map position or continue reviewing past rides on any nearby Apple device. LIVE ACTIVITY See your speed, distance and next turn right on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island — no need to unlock your phone mid-ride. BE HEALTHY Track distance and calories burned with CycleMaps and Apple Health. ONE APP, ALL COUNTRIES No need to download different apps for different places. CycleMaps includes routes and maps worldwide in one download. COMPLEX ROUTES Plan routes with any number of stops — reorder them, optimise the order, or return to your starting point. GPX & KML SUPPORT Import routes from your club or any source — turn cues included, on iPhone and Apple Watch. Export your rides as GPX. SEE CYCLE PATHS AROUND YOU — OR USE APPLE MAPS OR GOOGLE MAPS Choose Apple Maps, Google Maps, or OpenCycleMap overlays that highlight cycle paths. Riding becomes easy. FAVOURITE ROUTES Save your favourite routes. Create an account and sync across all your devices. CYCLE COMPUTER Mount your iPhone — or glance at your Apple Watch — for speed, distance cycled, distance remaining, elapsed time, heart rate, gradient, total ascent and ETA. A live elevation chart highlights your position along the route and alerts you when a climb is coming. Pause and resume your ride at any time — or let auto‑pause handle it when you stop. AMAZING SEARCH Find addresses, postcodes, landmarks, businesses and more. Want the nearest café? Just search for café. RIDE HOME Set your home and get there quickly — even faster with quick actions. BATTERY LIFE CycleMaps is highly efficient, responsive, and designed to minimise battery drain while cycling. NEVER LOSE A RIDE Your ride is continuously checkpointed. If your phone or watch dies mid‑ride, CycleMaps recovers the ride and your workout is saved. Found a problem or have a suggestion? Contact us at feedback@cyclema.ps CycleMaps is free to download. You can purchase CycleMaps Premium, a low‑cost yearly subscription that enables Apple Watch features, adds voice navigation and more. The subscription renews annually at the same price unless cancelled. Payment will be charged to your Apple Account, and renewal will be charged within 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto‑renewal can be turned off in your account settings after purchase. Privacy policy: https://cyclema.ps/privacy Terms and conditions: https://cyclema.ps/terms
Footpath Route Planner
Easily plan and navigate custom routes for any outdoor activity. Draw your path with a finger and the app snaps to roads and trails. Measure distances, elevations, and get turn-by-turn directions, even offline.
- Snap to roads and trails
- Measure distance and elevation
- Turn-by-turn navigation
- Offline map downloads
- Route sharing
- GPX/TCX/FIT export
Read full descriptionHide full description
Map routes with your finger and Footpath will snap to roads and trails. Measure distances and elevations in seconds, then navigate along with turn-by-turn directions. Footpath is the ultimate companion for planning and navigating custom routes. Join millions of adventurers and plan out your perfect route. SNAP TO MAP Quickly measure distances by tracing a map with your finger or Apple Pencil. Footpath will snap to roads and trails on the map. MEASURE DISTANCE AND ELEVATION Know exactly how far and how high you'll travel with elevation profiles. Plan routes that match your goals. SAVE ROUTES FOR LATER Plan out your week or trip. Keep up to 5 routes on hand for reference, or save unlimited routes with Footpath Elite. SHARE ROUTES Send your routes to friends or workout partners to open on their device. Footpath is designed to work for pretty much any activity or adventure, in any country: • Running • Cycling and mountain biking • Hiking and mountaineering • Walking • Motorcycling and driving • Backcountry skiing • Kayaking and standup paddleboarding • Sailing • And many more! FOOTPATH ELITE Ready to go the extra mile? Upgrading to Footpath Elite unlocks the following powerful features: TURN-BY-TURN NAVIGATION - Footpath will tell you when to turn with turn-by-turn audio cues on your iPhone and Apple Watch - Save your route and cues in advance for voice guidance that works completely offline - Double tap your AirPods or use the playback controls button on your headphones to replay your next cue PREMIUM OFFLINE MAPS - 3D and topographic maps including Footpath Outdoors (Worldwide), USGS Topo Maps (U.S. and Canada), OpenCycleMap (Worldwide), and many more - Cycling lanes, avalanche slope shading, and elevation contour lines - Download maps for use offline - Save places as favorites to customize your maps ORGANIZE - Create and edit unlimited saved routes - Duplicate, merge, and split routes - Organize and sort routes into custom lists ANALYZE - Record GPS tracks of your activities - Use HealthKit display and log extra health and fitness metrics such as heart rate during a GPS activity - View a calendar log and weekly summary of your activities - Analyze splits, speed, elevation, and heart rate - View a heatmap of your speed during your activity EXPORT - GPX import and export - TCX and FIT course export for turn-by-turn navigation on Garmin and Wahoo GPS devices - Export cue sheets to a spreadsheet app for customization and printing - Export your routes and workouts to Apple Health You can purchase a Footpath Elite monthly or yearly subscription through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renew can be turned off anytime by going to the Manage Subscriptions page in settings after purchase, and your features will remain active until the end of the subscription period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period at the same cost as your original purchase. TIPS FOR MAPPING ROUTES • For longer routes, try zooming in and mapping your route in multiple segments. • Tap and hold the map to quickly route between waypoints and POIs. • Did Footpath snap to the wrong roads? Trace over the incorrect segment to edit, or use the eraser tool. • Turn off snap to roads (magnet icon) and zoom in to manually trace the map. (Try switching to a satellite layer). • Displaying maps and continuously running GPS in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Navigate without maps or with the screen off for all day battery life. CONTACT US We've got a lot planned for Footpath. If you have any suggestions or feedback, or if you run into any issues, please contact us at support@footpathapp.com Terms of Service: https://footpathapp.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://footpathapp.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Footpath Route Planner at 22K against CycleMaps's 3. Footpath Route Planner also leads on review sentiment (79% vs 61%) and chart position (#73 vs unranked). CycleMaps's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). 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. CycleMaps sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $24.99 per year and Footpath Route Planner sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
CycleMaps holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Footpath Route Planner has 22K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of CycleMaps's written reviews are positive against 79% of Footpath Route Planner's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
CycleMaps ships an update weekly, Footpath Route Planner every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CycleMaps | Footpath Route Planner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 4.8 (22K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 61.5% of reviews | 78.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 22K — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | — | #73 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 47 MB | 152 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | motocode ltd | Half Mile Labs LLC |
Customer experience
CycleMaps
Footpath Route Planner
User reviews
CycleMaps
From 3 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent route planning
- 👍 Quiet/safe route options
- 👍 Useful for exploring new areas
- 👍 Good for commuting and leisure rides
- 👍 Helpful for mobility scooter users
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional route suggestions on unsafe roads
- 🐛 Delayed or inaccurate voice instructions
- 🐛 Slow map redraw and loading issues
- 🔋 High battery consumption
- 👎 Confusing or unintuitive user interface
Footpath Route Planner
From 22K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Full-featured outdoors app
- 👍 Nice app
- 👍 Excellent for discovering routes
- 👍 Useful for run planning
- 👍 Great mapping and graphics
Room to improve
- 🐛 No more free turn by turn
- 🐛 Buggy and unreliable
- 🐛 Seems to no longer recognize footpaths
- 🐛 Offline maps fail
- 🐛 Only selects roads
Bugs and requests
CycleMaps
Reported bugs
3 issues- Incorrect GPS location detection
- Inability to sign up or reset password
- Crashes or freezes when using certain features
Requested features
5 requests- Option to avoid hills, stairs, or unpaved paths
- Ability to reverse or edit saved routes
- Automatic rerouting when going off course
- Display of bike share station locations and availability
- Voice navigation through connected Bluetooth headphones
Footpath Route Planner
Reported bugs
14 issues- No more free turn by turn
- Buggy and unreliable
- Seems to no longer recognize footpaths
- Offline maps fail
- Only selects roads
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- GPS not helpful at all
- Confusing and difficult to use
- Useless without paying
- Degraded my paid for membership
- Crashes and loses data
- Doesn't map footpaths well
- Inaccurate and not reliable
- Difficult to edit routes
- Double counting steps
Requested features
11 requests- Add ability to make notes on routes
- Add ability to create folders within folders
- Add ability to change alerts to be earlier
- Add ability to display more run data
- Add ability to store notes against a route
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- Add ability to search/view good walks
- Add ability to import existing GPX files
- Add ability to easily move start/mid points
- Add ability to automatically snap imported GPX
- Add ability to share routes
- Add ability to track steps
In-app purchases
CycleMaps
- CycleMaps Premium Yearly7 Days trial$24.991 Year
- CycleMaps Premium Yearly$24.991 Year
- CycleMaps Premium Family Year7 Days trial$29.991 Year
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- CycleMaps Premium Family Year$29.991 Year
- Watch TrialFree
- CycleMaps Premium Lifetime$69.99
- CycleMaps Premium Family$99.99
Footpath Route Planner
- Footpath Elite (Monthly)7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Footpath Elite (Yearly)7 Days trial$23.491 Year
- Single Route Pass$1.99
Questions
Is CycleMaps free?
Is Footpath Route Planner free?
Which has better reviews, CycleMaps or Footpath Route Planner?
Do CycleMaps or Footpath Route Planner have ads?
Which is updated more often, CycleMaps or Footpath Route Planner?
Other comparisons















