Comparison

Scenic Map vs FetchMap

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

Head to head
About

Scenic Map

Explore the world with detailed 3D topographic maps, accessible even offline. Stream and cache global maps for use without cell service. Features include satellite overlays, customizable map styles, and GPS tracking for navigation and route replay.

Highlights
  • Global 3D topographic maps
  • Offline map caching
  • Satellite image overlays
  • Customizable map styles
  • GPS tracking and route replay
  • GPX track import/export
Features
Read full description

A 3D topo map with coverage of the entire world. The map is streamed directly from Apple's servers and cached on your device for use when there is no cell coverage. Use Scenic Map in a car, a boat, a plane or while hiking. It is like having the entire Earth in your pocket. Satellite image overlays add breathtaking detail and realism to the maps (tap preset 2 or 4). You can use them as you travel to see what is hidden from view at ground level. This takes moving maps to a whole new level. To get started, tap the arrow button in the toolbar to begin GPS tracking and center the map at your current location. The spinner in the status bar shows that the map is being loaded. The spinner stops when the map is fully cached at that location. You can scroll around the map or tilt the map with a two finger vertical swipe to see it in 3D. Use the two finger vertical swipe gesture to tilt the map for a 3D view. Scroll like a map or fly like a flight simulator. Enable Joystick Gestures in the Settings menu and then fly around the terrain using a virtual joystick. Prefer only 2D maps? Enable the 2D Map option in the Settings menu. Scenic Map is simply the best 3D topo map available for a mobile device. You will see incredible detail while scrolling, rotating and zooming perfectly smoothly. You will see every road even if you zoom out to the altitude of a satellite. As you zoom in, you will see every small bump and hollow of the Earth and terrain features as small as ten meters. Unlike old fashioned topo maps, Scenic Map’s roads and trails are up to date thanks to OpenStreetMap.org. It contains polygons for urban areas, shopping malls, an ever growing number of buildings and many other features, The best lake, pond, stream and rivers from the USGS and Canadian public databases are also included. Your tracks can be replayed with video like controls to speed up, slow down, pause, restart or skip to the end. You can display existing tracks while recording another if you want to retrace your route. When online, you can automatically create a route from your current GPS location to any other point on the map. Tracks can be received from or sent to other apps in GPX format. GPS recording stops automatically after you have remained stationary for some time or you can choose to manually stop tracking by tapping on the top track in the Tracks view. Never before have maps been this customizable. For example, you can turn on or off the roads. You can change the lighting direction or remove terrain shading entirely. You can display contour lines even over satellite images. There are five presets which let you quickly switch between map styles. Use Metric, English or Nautical units and choose one of four different coordinate displays including UTM. Want to learn more about a map feature? Tap the target icon and center the feature under the compass rose to display its name, type, urban area, county, state, elevation and coordinates. You will also see a bearing line back to your current GPS location or from your location to a selected waypoint. The status bar shows the bearing direction and distance along with the map and GPS elevation, the track length, and your current speed and direction of travel. In-app documentation is provided in the Help section at the top of the Settings menu. Links are provided in the documentation to detailed coverage maps, tutorial videos, installation guide and blog at ScenicMap.com Map data © OpenStreetMap and contributors under the Open Database License Scenic Map supports GPS tracking while the app is in the background. Caution: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.

About

FetchMap

Features
Read full description

If you are looking for something besides standard road maps, FetchMap is the App for you. With it you can access maps from a lot of different source, such as OpenStreet Maps and OpenTopo. You can get maps from the US Geological Survey (great topo-sheet) and the UK Ordnance Survey. You can also access satellite images from NASA, included daily snapshots of the Earth. Many groups have posted railroad layers, ski trails, hiking & biking paths as well as scanned historic maps. You can overlay maps and fade between them, which is especially useful when looking at historic maps. You can plot your GPS location, which is always useful when traveling. Finally you can cache maps so you can use them when you are offline. So when you are hiking in the mountains you can plot your location on a beautiful topographic map, and maybe overlay the map of 1900 to see how things have changed. New features include new maps and a list of maps which can updated over the internet. New location finder, measure distance, orientation and compass. The ability to overlay GeoTiff, KML, GPX and geo referenced jpeg files. And finally the ability to take note about location and share these note.

Screenshots

Scenic Map4 screens
FetchMap4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: FetchMap at none against Scenic Map's 1. FetchMap also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.1). On price, ads and device support 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

Both are free to download. Scenic Map sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. FetchMap asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Scenic Map ships an update every 3 months, FetchMap monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Scenic Map versus FetchMap: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScenic MapFetchMap
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (3 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.112.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size66 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGrangerFXTimothy Smith

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Scenic Map

One-time1
  • Scenic Map Features$4.99
None

FetchMap

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Scenic Map free?
Scenic Map is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is FetchMap free?
FetchMap is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Scenic Map or FetchMap have ads?
Neither Scenic Map nor FetchMap shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Scenic Map or FetchMap?
Scenic Map ships an update every 3 months, and FetchMap monthly. Most recently, Scenic Map was updated on October 19, 2026 and FetchMap on October 7, 2026.

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