rakkup vs Vertical
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
rakkup
Access a vast library of climbing and backcountry skiing guidebooks on your mobile device, even without an internet connection. Navigate trails to your destination with turn-by-turn directions and detailed maps. Explore climbs and descents with rich visuals and discover new routes.
- Offline guidebook access
- Turn-by-turn trail navigation
- GPS-enabled route finding
- Map and list browsing
- Search and filter capabilities
- Color photos and topo drawings
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rakkup allows you to access an entire bookshelf of climbing and backcountry skiing guidebooks on your iPhone, even beyond the reach of cell phone coverage. Once downloaded, guidebooks work offline with no Internet connection! It is also the first and only mobile climbing app that navigates you through the trail system to your climb, turn by turn. Produced in partnership with Outdoor Research, rakkup reinvents the guidebook for the smartphone era. We've partnered with Beacon Guidebooks, Wolverine Publishing ,and other publishers to bring you rich guidebooks complete with color photos and topo drawings. Free sample climbs and ski descents are included. Browse climbs and descents on a map or in the list format of your choice, filter and search in seconds, then navigate using your phone's GPS with a single tap. In climbing guidebooks, the app continuously calculates the easiest route through the trail system from your current location. Simply follow the arrow and moving map. Note: When actively navigating to a climb, rakkup uses GPS in background. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Vertical
This app serves as a comprehensive guide for both outdoor and indoor climbing. Log your ascents, discover new routes and crags worldwide, and access gym topos. It also offers personalized training plans and community features to connect with other climbers.
- Outdoor and indoor climbing route discovery
- Digital climbing guidebooks
- Logbook for climbs and memories
- Personalized training plans
- Gym and global climbing challenges
- Community features and friend connections
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Built by Climbers for Climbers: Vertical-Life is Your Climbing Guide for Outdoor and Indoor Climbing. Keep a log of your climbs and favorite memories, access local beta, and dream about your next adventure. Start exploring new climbing spots and get inspired! CLIMB OUTDOOR: Find sport climbing, bouldering and multi-pitch routes. Hundreds of digital climbing guidebooks available online and offline. Discover routes and boulders, featured on a worldwide map. Authored by local experts, our crags and climbing topos are continuously updated. We support local developers with a portion of our revenue. CLIMB INDOOR: Follow your home gym. Enjoy free access to gym topos and view rankings. Get updates on new routes, log your ascents and connect with climbers in your area. GET PERSONALIZED TRAINING: Enjoy customized training plans by professional coaches. Tailored to your level, our plans align with your gym's routes and boulders. Also, explore our free, single-day workouts to spice up your gym sessions. JOIN CHALLENGES & COMPETITIONS: Gym and global challenges are the perfect motivation boost. Move up the ranking ladder, reach new goals, unlock achievements, and win exciting prizes! FIND FRIENDS & COMMUNITY: Join a global network of climbers. Follow friends, share your successes, encourage your peers, and climb as a team for your local gym. ACCESS FROM THE WEB: Find your synced logbook and profile on https://www.vertical-life.info. Discover daily climbing news and a community-built route database with millions of ascents and insightful comments on Vertical-Life Web. GET MORE WITH PREMIUM: Premium unlocks all outdoor content in the app and gives you the digital convenience of having topos, additional beta, training plans, parking navigation and digital maps, in your pocket, online and offline. - All guidebooks available on your phone - Millions of ascents and comments for the best beta - GPS navigation to crags - Detailed map, with precise topos and route information Learn more: https://www.vertical-life.info/premium Terms of Use: https://www.vertical-life.info/en/pages/legal
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: rakkup at none against Vertical's shown. rakkup also leads on review sentiment (54% vs 23%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). Vertical's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 months) and rating (2.7 vs 2.3). On price, ratings volume, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. rakkup sells 16 one-off in-app purchases and Vertical sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Vertical holds the better App Store score, 2.7 against 2.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 46 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of rakkup's written reviews are positive against 23% of Vertical's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
rakkup ships an update every 2 months, Vertical every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | rakkup | Vertical |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.3 (24 ratings) | 2.7 (46 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.9% of reviews — better | 23.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 24 | 46 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 86 MB | 150 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Outdoor Geeks, LLC | Vertical-Life srl |
Customer experience
rakkup
Vertical
Bugs and requests
rakkup
Reported bugs
13 issues- App crashes on login
- App freezes when opening routes
- Crashes every 30 seconds to few minutes
- Splash screen appears repeatedly despite cached data
- Collapse/expand toggles stop working
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- Route selection auto-selects wrong area
- Maps fail to load without internet connectivity
- Bookshelf is buggy and inaccessible
- Password field incompatible with password managers
- Specific routes cause crashes (e.g., Sun Kissed)
- iOS 15 compatibility issues
- Frozen screens requiring app reinstall
- GPS functionality unreliable (20% success rate)
Requested features
12 requests- Simplified and more intuitive UI redesign
- Gear and rack information for routes
- Pitch length specifications
- User ratings and comments system
- Personalization settings (filter preferences)
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- PDF guidebook downloads
- YouTube tutorial videos for app navigation
- Climbing log with progress tracking
- Route notes and personal annotations
- Better offline map handling
- Access codes for physical guidebook purchases
- Improved map clustering for nearby crags
Vertical
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
rakkup
- Elizabeth Furnace$2.99
- Long Branch and Guide Walls$3.99
- Reed's Creek$4.99
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- Exit 38 Rock Climbs$9.99
- Staunton State Park Climbing$9.99
- Silverton$9.99
- Bridger Ridge$9.99
- Powerlinez$11.99
- Teton Pass Descents$14.99
- Snoqualmie Pass$14.99
- Index Town Walls$15.99
- Red Rocks Climbs by SuperTopo$19.99
- Mt. Erie$19.99
- Potrero Chico$19.99
- Backcountry Skiing California's Eastern Sierra$19.99
- Vermont Tough Schist$19.99
Vertical
- Outdoor (1 Month)$4.991 Month
- Training (1 Month)$4.991 Month
- Premium (1 Month)$8.991 Month
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- Friends (1 Month)$14.991 Month
