Comparison

Pocket Earth PRO vs Planet Explorer

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

Head to head
About

Pocket Earth PRO

Access detailed worldwide maps and travel guides offline, saving on data charges. Features topographic maps, online routing with offline voice guidance, and extensive travel information. Ideal for travelers and outdoor adventurers.

Highlights
  • Detailed worldwide offline maps
  • Topographic contour maps
  • Offline voice guidance
  • Extensive travel guides
  • GPS track recording
  • GPX/CSV import/export
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

• Detailed worldwide maps and travel guides • Topographic contour maps for the outdoors • Works completely offline even with GPS • Great when abroad or in the wilderness, NO data roaming charges • Online routing with offline Voice Guidance and much more! « Reviews » “I love this technology” – Natali Morris, Tech Reporter, NBC’s Today Show Editor's Pick Best Offline Map App – thedigitaltrekker.com “The best travel app in the world… Don’t leave home without it!” – bonvoyageurs.com “Very impressive app with unmatched features.” – toptenreviews.com « Maps » • Beautiful Retina quality maps at a fraction of the size! The fastest and most beautiful offline maps on the App Store! • Detailed and interactive worldwide maps! More than 100,000 places & completely free! • Access your maps online and offline! Saves on data roaming costs! • Personalize the maps to show the info you want! • Online Routing with voice guided turn by turn directions. Save your multi-stop itineraries for offline navigation! • Online street address search and contacts integration! • Did we mention everything is offline? Works anywhere- cities, small towns, even in the middle of nowhere. Never any roaming charges. We dare you to try it! « For the Traveler » • Find out about thousands of interesting places - hotels, restaurants, bars, tourist sites, even get metro and public transit info! • Our super wide area Nearby search is also super fast! • Have all the travel info you need with more than 25,000 detailed Wikivoyage Travel Guides and more than 1 million Wikipedia articles in 7 languages! All offline of course! • Customizable Pins and favorites groups! Add notes and mark and share favorite spots! • Share maps links and your current location (SMS, Facebook, WhatsApp, Email, etc)! « For the Adventurer » • An in-app purchase option offers topographic maps. Get high performance, high accuracy 10m / 50ft contour display world-wide. The ONLY offline app that lets you download large areas, even entire countries! Contours are displayed on our existing maps for all Activities. • Hiking and Cycling maps! Great for geocaching and getting off the track! • GPS track recording lets you see what route you took! Great for hikes, cycling and off road! Never get lost again! • Import/Export support for GPX and CSV files! Share with friends using PE Archives. • Displays and lets you search for map coordinates (including DD, DDM, DMS, MGRS, UTM/UPS, GeoHash, and what3words)! • Numerous GPS settings for your preferred configuration including compass and heading arrow or rotation, look ahead mode, accuracy and recording settings. ...and much more - so try it out! « How's it Work? » Just select the cities, regions, or even whole countries you want to download, and it will be available for offline use, complete with information on thousands of POIs (Points of Interest), travel guides and Wikipedia articles. To do this we utilize community driven open data from a number of amazing projects. We use some magik to compress and package it in a format optimized for mobile devices. Pocket Earth then renders its beautiful vector maps on your device using our OpenGL ES based MagikMap technology. To learn more about Pocket Earth or the community driven open data sources that we use, please visit our website. Don’t forget this: 1. Using the GPS features of this app can significantly affect battery life. Only leave GPS enabled when you need to use it. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Pocket Earth only uses GPS in the background for route navigation and gps track recording features. 2. This app uses data from the amazing community driven open mapping project called openstreetmap.org! Coverage detail may vary by region, please visit our website to check the map detail for your regions of interest. 3. Does not currently support all asian texts on the map (Chinese, Japanese, etc).

About

Planet Explorer

Features
Read full description

Don't visit Planet Earth without this indispensable Tour Guide! Packed with information about every key tourist and historic site on the planet: • Every geolocated Wikipedia page • Every Wikijourney page • Local tourist sights from OpenStreetMaps Practical holiday information for wherever you want to go: • Accommodation • Food and Entertainment • Transportation (car and bike rental, fuel, e-Vehicle charging points) • Leisure Activities • Emergency contacts (police, medical) These practical locations are all sourced from the world-wide OpenStreetMap database. The 'Take Me There' feature allows turn-by-turn navigation to any location of interest, using Apple Maps. Contribute new locations! • Become an OpenStreetMap Contributor and you can create new locations or edit existing locations in the OpenStreetMap database, which provides world-wide coverage. • The OpenStreetMap Contributor capability is enabled through an in-App purchase (5,49 €, US$4.99 or local-currency equivalent). The companion App for Apple Watch allows you to search the nearest Wikipedia, Wikivoyage or OpenStreetMap locations.

Screenshots

Pocket Earth PRO4 screens
Planet Explorer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pocket Earth PRO at every 6 weeks against Planet Explorer's every 5 months. Pocket Earth PRO also leads on chart position (#179 vs unranked). Planet Explorer's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $6.99). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

Pocket Earth PRO costs $6.99 and Planet Explorer $4.99 up front. Pocket Earth PRO sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Planet Explorer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket Earth PRO ships an update every 6 weeks, Planet Explorer every 5 months. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Pocket Earth PRO versus Planet Explorer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket Earth PROPlanet Explorer
Price$6.99$4.99 — better
Rating4.8 (1.8K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews85.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings1.8K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#179 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better12.1
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGeoMagik LLCPaul Manson

Bugs and requests

Pocket Earth PRO

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Inability to restore purchased features
  • Sync issues between devices
  • Geolocation not working on some devices
  • Slow or failed map downloads

Requested features

6 requests
  • Offline route planning and navigation
  • Ability to import/sync GPX files
  • Improved user interface and discoverability
  • More frequent map data updates
  • Customizable map icons and labels
Show 1 more
  • Support for multiple user accounts

Planet Explorer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pocket Earth PRO

One-time1
  • Topographic Maps$4.99
1 purchases

Planet Explorer

One-time1
  • OpenStreetMap Contributor$4.99

Questions

Is Pocket Earth PRO free?
Pocket Earth PRO costs $6.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Planet Explorer free?
Planet Explorer costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Do Pocket Earth PRO or Planet Explorer have ads?
Neither Pocket Earth PRO nor Planet Explorer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pocket Earth PRO or Planet Explorer?
Pocket Earth PRO ships an update every 6 weeks, and Planet Explorer every 5 months. Most recently, Pocket Earth PRO was updated on October 26, 2026 and Planet Explorer on October 26, 2026.

Other comparisons