ANC Explorer vs SmarTrip
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ANC Explorer
Discover gravesites and points of interest within a cemetery. Get directions, capture marker photos, and receive important notifications. Create custom walking tours by saving favorite locations.
- Locate gravesites and points of interest
- Generate marker and monument photos
- Step-by-step directions
- Emergency and event notifications
- Save favorite places
- Create custom walking tours
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Users can locate gravesites and other points of interest throughout the cemetery, generate front-and-back pictures of a marker or monument, and receive step-by-step directions to these locations. The app also provides emergency and event notifications and the ability to share on popular social media sites. Users can save favorite places in My Content to create their own custom walking tours.
SmarTrip
Manage your SmarTrip card and account with this optional tool. Register your card for balance protection, check benefits, set up auto-reload, or purchase transit passes. It can also be added to Apple Wallet for easy tap-to-pay.
- Manage SmarTrip card and account
- Add SmarTrip to Apple Wallet
- Register card for balance protection
- Check SmartBenefits
- Setup Auto-Reload
- Buy unlimited transit passes
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This app is an OPTIONAL tool that allows you to manage your SmarTrip® card and account. This app can NOT be used to pay your transit or parking fares. You do NOT need to setup a SmarTrip account to use SmarTrip in Apple Wallet. Add SmarTrip to Apple Wallet: - Open Apple Wallet on iPhone or Apple Watch - Tap “+”, choose “Transit Card”, select “SmarTrip” - In less than a minute you’ll have a new SmarTrip card in your Apple Wallet and be ready to tap to pay for rides or parking anywhere SmarTrip is accepted. If you need to do account management, then: - Install this optional SmarTrip app to register your card for account balance protection, check SmartBenefits, setup Auto-Reload, or buy money-saving unlimited transit passes. Chat with us at WMATA.COM/CHAT or call 888-SMARTRIP (888-762-7874)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ANC Explorer at 3.0 against SmarTrip's 2.5. ANC Explorer also leads on review sentiment (38% vs 11%) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). SmarTrip's advantage is chart position (#203 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
ANC Explorer holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 55 and 57 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 38% of ANC Explorer's written reviews are positive against 11% of SmarTrip's.
ANC Explorer ships an update every 2 months, SmarTrip every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ANC Explorer | SmarTrip |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (55 ratings) — better | 2.5 (57 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 38.5% of reviews — better | 10.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 55 | 57 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 5 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | — | #203 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 143 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Arlington National Cemetery | Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority |
Customer experience
ANC Explorer
SmarTrip
User reviews
ANC Explorer
From 55 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 📍 Accurate grave location finding
- 🗺️ Easy navigation to graves
- 📸 Photo of headstone available
- 👍 User-friendly interface
- ⏱️ Saves time searching
Room to improve
- 🐌 Very slow performance
- ❌ Search feature unreliable
- 🚫 No back button
- 📉 Inconsistent performance
- unresponsive app
SmarTrip
From 57 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient for commuting
- 🚀 Seamless integration with Apple Wallet
- 🚀 Straightforward account setup
Room to improve
- 🐛 Unreliable card reading at turnstiles
- 🐛 Delayed balance updates
- 🐛 Buggy app functionality
- 🔒 Excessive personal information required
- 🔒 Difficult to recover account
Bugs and requests
ANC Explorer
Reported bugs
40 issues- Unable to delete duplicate entries in My Content
- Start Tour function doesn't work
- Search yields zero results
- No back button
- Directions are horrible
Show 35 moreShow fewer
- App caused phone to freeze
- Errors with pictures (wrong names)
- Unable to see photos of headstones after update
- Constant error messages
- Fails to connect to grave site database
- App does not work
- Cannot look up people without error message
- Notable graves on app not current
- App shuts down when accessing MyContent
- App closes when clicking My Content
- Crashes on each open
- Latest update won't load, black screen
- Cannot view the map
- Search function is garbage
- Notable Women list incomplete
- Details section of search results has issues
- Network error message for grave pictures
- Search feature would not work (internet connection error)
- Frozen app, cannot get past help screen
- Black screen on open after uninstall
- App not loading or functioning after update
- Blank screen after update
- App delivers only a blank screen after update
- Pictures not shown after update, cannot download
- Black screen
- Map fails to load
- Battery drain
- App will no longer open after iOS upgrade
- Search feature will not work after update
- Start from here feature eliminated
- Server errors, nothing works
- App refuses to let me see results
- Inappropriate advertising pop-up
- Cannot find grave sites
- iPad version works, iPhone version useless
Requested features
8 requests- Add a back button
- Include a north arrow
- Improve reliability of directions
- Enhance customer service for tech support
- Update notable graves list
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Improve search functionality
- Add dark mode
- Increase text size and contrast for daylight readability
SmarTrip
Reported bugs
3 issues- Unable to activate account due to missing activation email
- Password reset process not working
- Inconsistent behavior when adding value to card
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to transfer balance between cards
- Real-time balance updates
- Improved trip planning tools
- Apple Watch support
In-app purchases
ANC Explorer
No in-app purchases
SmarTrip
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ANC Explorer free?
Is SmarTrip free?
Which has better reviews, ANC Explorer or SmarTrip?
Do ANC Explorer or SmarTrip have ads?
Which is updated more often, ANC Explorer or SmarTrip?
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