Boondocking vs US Public Lands
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Boondocking
Discover over 2,100 free camping locations, primarily in the US, with detailed information available even offline. This crowdsourced app helps you find remote spots, check driving distances, view local weather, and filter options like water and toilet availability.
- 2,100+ free boondocking locations
- Offline access to location data
- Driving distance and time calculation
- Multiple map types (e.g., Open Street Map)
- Local weather information
- Filter locations by amenities
- Mark favorite locations
Read full descriptionHide full description
Boondocking usually refers to free camping in remote areas. This app shows over 2,100 free boondocking locations (and growing), most within the US. The boondocking locations are obtained from crowdsourcing and are therefore subjective in nature. What one person describes as beautiful another may describe as worthless. - No Internet needed as the boondocking locations are contained with the app. - Shows driving distance and time from your current location to the boondocking location. - View multiple map types such as Open Street Map. - Get info about each boondocking location, even when offline. - Mark locations as Favorite locations. - Get the local weather for the location. - Find nearby hiking and biking locations. - View Flickr photos for the location (when available). - Filter the locations (water, toilets, big rig friendly, etc) so you only view the locations you what to see. - Send location data directly to our Road Trip Planner app. - No login or subscription necessary. Just start the app and use it! Happy Camping!
US Public Lands
Discover and visualize federal land ownership across the US. This app provides offline map layers for various agencies, allowing you to identify land types, access agency information, and locate yourself on public lands. It's a valuable tool for outdoor enthusiasts and researchers.
- Offline federal land boundary maps
- Selectable agency map layers (BLM, NPS, FS, etc.)
- Identify land ownership and agency
- Links to agency land use rules
- Locate your position on public land
- Search for locations and points of interest
Read full descriptionHide full description
The US Federal Governments owns nearly 650 million acres of land - almost 30 percent of the land area of the United States. These are lands that are held for all Americans. US Public Lands allows you to quickly retrieve the boundaries of these properties without carrying physical maps, books, or digging deep online. Included in the app are on-device (fully works offline), individually selectable & beautifully colored map layers for most of the properties administered by the federal government: - Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - US Forest Service (FS) - National Park Service (NPS) - Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE) - US Fish & Wildlife Service - Bureau of Reclamation - Tennessee Valley Authority - Department of Defense (military bases & installations) - Other (National Laboratories, Test Sites, etc...) Key Benefits & Features - Know which US agency owns and operates the land you're on or are heading to. Use the "Layers" icon to select which agencies you want displayed to create your own custom map. (Hint, the toggles are color coded to the color each layer is displayed in.) - Links are provided to each agency's website within the app, so that you can further your research as to what land use rules apply for each public land type - such as permits, fees, activities allowed, and limits of stay. - Map layers are stored on device - no internet connection required. - Be sure to turn on the 'Basic' base map to see the US Public Land labels for each land area. This base map layer is also stored entirely on your device, and can be utilized if you do not have an internet connection or would like to conserve bandwidth. - If you have an internet connection (or have cached them before going out of signal), you can utilize the built in Apple Maps and satellite view maps as the base layer underneath the public land overlays. - A boondocker's assistant - While US Public Lands is not specifically a camp site locator and does not have a database of specific sites, by turning on the satellite view map, you can better scout out trails, roads and signs of dispersed camping locations within the boundaries of the public land resources. - Quickly toggle between 'Show' and 'Hide' via the "Map" icon to more clearly see satellite images below. - If you have GPS access on your device, click the 'Locate Me' icon to show your present location - know what type of land you're on right now! - Built in search tool locates anything on device maps supports (requires internet access) - including cities, states, zip codes, addresses and points of interest. A pin is dropped at the search location. Thank you to the Protected Area Database (PAD-US) of the U.S. Geological Survey for providing the public domain raw map data that we’ve been able to utilize to create this interactive overlayable mapping & navigation tool. We will update our maps in the future to stay in sync with improvements to this data set. Please note, the USGS PAD-US database contains the “most up-to-date aggregation of Federal lands and waters” available, but this database is still evolving and some locations may not be listed and others may not have precisely accurate boundaries. Resolution across the nation may vary. And always remember - there may be private unmapped inholdings within any public lands - so always pay attention to local signage, indications, and information. The US Public Lands app should only be used as an overview, and you should always confirm more precise details by consulting local field offices, administration websites, and other resources. Do not solely rely on this app for determining if you are on public or private land.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Boondocking at every 4 weeks against US Public Lands's every 20 months. Boondocking also leads on review sentiment (51% vs 36%) and ratings volume (9.5K vs 745). On rating, ads, 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
Boondocking costs $0.99 and US Public Lands $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Boondocking against 4.5 for US Public Lands. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Boondocking has 9.5K ratings behind it against 745, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 51% of Boondocking's written reviews are positive against 36% of US Public Lands's.
Boondocking ships an update every 4 weeks, US Public Lands every 20 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Boondocking | US Public Lands |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 — better | $3.99 |
| Rating | 4.6 (9.5K ratings) — better | 4.5 (745 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 51.5% of reviews — better | 36.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9.5K — better | 745 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 20 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #12 — better | #34 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 184 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | William Modesitt | Two Steps Beyond |
Customer experience
Boondocking
US Public Lands
User reviews
Boondocking
From 9.5K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Best kept secret
- 👍 Excellent app
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Accurate, updated, helpful
- 👍 Great travel tool
Room to improve
- 🐛 Needs anyone's ability to comment on sites
- 🐛 Nice concept but can't see the filters even when it says they are applied
- 🐛 User I/F needs great deal of work to make it more user friendly
- 🐛 Interrupts me to beg for a review
- 🐛 Not much here unless I'm missing something
US Public Lands
From 745 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ⭐ Great app
- 🗺️ Helpful for finding public lands
- 💻 Useful for boondocking
Room to improve
- 🗺️ Inaccurate maps and boundaries
- 🤔 Lacks important details and information
- 💰 Not worth the cost
Bugs and requests
Boondocking
Reported bugs
5 issues- Filters not working properly
- Outdated location information
- Inability to add new locations
- Incompatibility with older devices
- Crashes and freezes
Requested features
6 requests- Ability to save locations
- Ability to make and see comments and/or reviews of the spots from other people who have stayed
- More user entries for boondocks locations
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Good guide to public libraries
US Public Lands
Reported bugs
2 issues- Subscription issues
- Incorrect land ownership display
Requested features
3 requests- Ability to share/archive pin locations
- Integration with other mapping apps
- More detailed land type information
In-app purchases
Boondocking
No in-app purchases
US Public Lands
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Boondocking free?
Is US Public Lands free?
Which has better reviews, Boondocking or US Public Lands?
Do Boondocking or US Public Lands have ads?
Which is updated more often, Boondocking or US Public Lands?
Which is more popular, Boondocking or US Public Lands?
Other comparisons















