Comparison

Footpath Route Planner vs Garmin Explore™

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

Head to head
About

Footpath Route Planner

Easily plan and navigate custom routes for any outdoor activity. Draw your path with a finger and the app snaps to roads and trails. Measure distances, elevations, and get turn-by-turn directions, even offline.

Highlights
  • Snap to roads and trails
  • Measure distance and elevation
  • Turn-by-turn navigation
  • Offline map downloads
  • Route sharing
  • GPX/TCX/FIT export
Features
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Map routes with your finger and Footpath will snap to roads and trails. Measure distances and elevations in seconds, then navigate along with turn-by-turn directions. Footpath is the ultimate companion for planning and navigating custom routes. Join millions of adventurers and plan out your perfect route. SNAP TO MAP Quickly measure distances by tracing a map with your finger or Apple Pencil. Footpath will snap to roads and trails on the map. MEASURE DISTANCE AND ELEVATION Know exactly how far and how high you'll travel with elevation profiles. Plan routes that match your goals. SAVE ROUTES FOR LATER Plan out your week or trip. Keep up to 5 routes on hand for reference, or save unlimited routes with Footpath Elite. SHARE ROUTES Send your routes to friends or workout partners to open on their device. Footpath is designed to work for pretty much any activity or adventure, in any country: • Running • Cycling and mountain biking • Hiking and mountaineering • Walking • Motorcycling and driving • Backcountry skiing • Kayaking and standup paddleboarding • Sailing • And many more! FOOTPATH ELITE Ready to go the extra mile? Upgrading to Footpath Elite unlocks the following powerful features: TURN-BY-TURN NAVIGATION - Footpath will tell you when to turn with turn-by-turn audio cues on your iPhone and Apple Watch - Save your route and cues in advance for voice guidance that works completely offline - Double tap your AirPods or use the playback controls button on your headphones to replay your next cue PREMIUM OFFLINE MAPS - 3D and topographic maps including Footpath Outdoors (Worldwide), USGS Topo Maps (U.S. and Canada), OpenCycleMap (Worldwide), and many more - Cycling lanes, avalanche slope shading, and elevation contour lines - Download maps for use offline - Save places as favorites to customize your maps ORGANIZE - Create and edit unlimited saved routes - Duplicate, merge, and split routes - Organize and sort routes into custom lists ANALYZE - Record GPS tracks of your activities - Use HealthKit display and log extra health and fitness metrics such as heart rate during a GPS activity - View a calendar log and weekly summary of your activities - Analyze splits, speed, elevation, and heart rate - View a heatmap of your speed during your activity EXPORT - GPX import and export - TCX and FIT course export for turn-by-turn navigation on Garmin and Wahoo GPS devices - Export cue sheets to a spreadsheet app for customization and printing - Export your routes and workouts to Apple Health You can purchase a Footpath Elite monthly or yearly subscription through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Auto-renew can be turned off anytime by going to the Manage Subscriptions page in settings after purchase, and your features will remain active until the end of the subscription period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period at the same cost as your original purchase. TIPS FOR MAPPING ROUTES • For longer routes, try zooming in and mapping your route in multiple segments. • Tap and hold the map to quickly route between waypoints and POIs. • Did Footpath snap to the wrong roads? Trace over the incorrect segment to edit, or use the eraser tool. • Turn off snap to roads (magnet icon) and zoom in to manually trace the map. (Try switching to a satellite layer). • Displaying maps and continuously running GPS in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. Navigate without maps or with the screen off for all day battery life. CONTACT US We've got a lot planned for Footpath. If you have any suggestions or feedback, or if you run into any issues, please contact us at support@footpathapp.com Terms of Service: https://footpathapp.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://footpathapp.com/privacy

About

Garmin Explore™

Navigate off-grid with this app, which pairs with a compatible Garmin device for trip planning, mapping, and navigation even without Wi-Fi or cellular service. Plan routes, download maps for offline use, and sync data to the cloud.

Highlights
  • Off-grid navigation
  • Trip planning
  • Offline map downloads
  • Pair and sync with Garmin device
  • Activity library
  • Cloud storage
  • LiveTrack location sharing
Currently charting
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OFF-GRID NAVIGATION When paired with your compatible Garmin device(1), the Garmin Explore app lets you use your mobile device for outdoor navigation, trip planning, mapping and more — with or without Wi-Fi® connectivity or cellular service. SEARCH TOOL Easily locate geographic points — such as trailheads or mountain summits — associated with your adventure. STREAMING MAPS For pre-trip planning, you can use the Garmin Explore app to stream maps when you’re within cellular or Wi-Fi range — saving valuable time as well as storage space on your mobile device. Download maps for offline use when venturing outside cellular range. PAIR, SYNC AND SHARE With Garmin Explore, you can pair your smartphone or tablet with your compatible Garmin device to sync and share data for off-grid adventures. Use downloadable maps for navigation anywhere. EASY TRIP PLANNING Plan your next trip by downloading maps and creating courses. Specify your start and finish points, and automatically create a course you can sync with your compatible Garmin device. ACTIVITY LIBRARY Under the Saved tab, review and edit your organized data, including your saved waypoints, tracks, courses and activities. See map thumbnails to easily recognize your trips. SAVED COLLECTIONS The collections list allows you to quickly find all data related to any trip — making it easy to sort and locate the course or location you’re looking for. CLOUD STORAGE The waypoints, courses and activities you’ve created will automatically sync to your Garmin Explore web account when you’re within cellular or Wi-Fi range, preserving your activity data with cloud storage. A Garmin account is required for storing your data in the cloud. LIVETRACK™ With the use of the LiveTrack™ feature, loved ones can follow your location in real time(2) and see data such as distance, time and elevation. What You Get with Garmin Explore • Unlimited map downloads; access topographic maps, USGS quad sheets and more • Aerial imagery • Waypoints, tracking and route navigation • High-detail GPS trip logging and location sharing • Unlimited cloud storage of routes, waypoints, tracks, and activities • Online trip planning 1. https://explore.garmin.com/appcompatibility 2. When used with your compatible smartphone, the Garmin Explore® app and your compatible inReach® technology-enabled Garmin device. The Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Garmin is under license.

Screenshots

Footpath Route Planner4 screens
Garmin Explore™4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Footpath Route Planner at 4.8 against Garmin Explore™'s 4.1. Footpath Route Planner also leads on review sentiment (79% vs 45%) and ratings volume (22K vs 1K). Garmin Explore™'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, ads, chart position 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. Footpath Route Planner sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Garmin Explore™ asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Footpath Route Planner holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Footpath Route Planner has 22K ratings behind it against 1K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 79% of Footpath Route Planner's written reviews are positive against 45% of Garmin Explore™'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Footpath Route Planner ships an update every 2 weeks, Garmin Explore™ monthly. Both last shipped on September 24, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Footpath Route Planner versus Garmin Explore™: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFootpath Route PlannerGarmin Explore™
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (22K ratings) — better4.1 (1K ratings)
Positive reviews78.7% of reviews — better45.0% of reviews
Number of ratings22K — better1K
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#69 — better#98
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.0 — better18.4
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB449 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperHalf Mile Labs LLCGarmin

Customer experience

Footpath Route Planner

All ratings22,076 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral2.2%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews835 reviews
Positive78.7%
Neutral7.8%
Negative13.5%

Garmin Explore™

All ratings1,015 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral6.0%
Negative17.0%
Written reviews544 reviews
Positive45.0%
Neutral11.9%
Negative43.0%

User reviews

Footpath Route Planner

From 22K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Full-featured outdoors app
  • 👍 Nice app
  • 👍 Excellent for discovering routes
  • 👍 Useful for run planning
  • 👍 Great mapping and graphics

Room to improve

  • 🐛 No more free turn by turn
  • 🐛 Buggy and unreliable
  • 🐛 Seems to no longer recognize footpaths
  • 🐛 Offline maps fail
  • 🐛 Only selects roads

Garmin Explore™

From 1K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Excellent for planning routes and activities
  • 💡 Great for offline navigation with downloaded maps
  • 👍 Seamless integration with Garmin devices
  • 👍 Useful for tracking and sharing adventures

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Sync issues with Garmin devices
  • 🔍 Lacking detailed map options in some regions
  • 🔍 Confusing interface and terminology
  • 🐛 Crashes and performance issues
  • 🔒 Requires login and internet connection for full functionality

Bugs and requests

Footpath Route Planner

Reported bugs

14 issues
  • No more free turn by turn
  • Buggy and unreliable
  • Seems to no longer recognize footpaths
  • Offline maps fail
  • Only selects roads
Show 9 more
  • GPS not helpful at all
  • Confusing and difficult to use
  • Useless without paying
  • Degraded my paid for membership
  • Crashes and loses data
  • Doesn't map footpaths well
  • Inaccurate and not reliable
  • Difficult to edit routes
  • Double counting steps

Requested features

11 requests
  • Add ability to make notes on routes
  • Add ability to create folders within folders
  • Add ability to change alerts to be earlier
  • Add ability to display more run data
  • Add ability to store notes against a route
Show 6 more
  • Add ability to search/view good walks
  • Add ability to import existing GPX files
  • Add ability to easily move start/mid points
  • Add ability to automatically snap imported GPX
  • Add ability to share routes
  • Add ability to track steps

Garmin Explore™

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Sync failures between app and Garmin devices
  • Disappearing or corrupted user data
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS/Android versions
  • Unreliable offline map downloads

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to edit waypoint coordinates
  • More customization options for map layers and displays
  • Improved route planning and navigation features
  • Better syncing and data management between app and devices
  • Support for more Garmin device models

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Footpath Route Planner

Subscriptions2
  • Footpath Elite (Monthly)7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Footpath Elite (Yearly)7 Days trial$23.491 Year
One-time1
  • Single Route Pass$1.99
None

Garmin Explore™

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Footpath Route Planner free?
Footpath Route Planner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Garmin Explore™ free?
Garmin Explore™ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Footpath Route Planner or Garmin Explore™?
Footpath Route Planner is rated higher. Footpath Route Planner averages 4.8 out of 5 from 22K ratings, while Garmin Explore™ averages 4.1 from 1K ratings.
Do Footpath Route Planner or Garmin Explore™ have ads?
Neither Footpath Route Planner nor Garmin Explore™ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Footpath Route Planner or Garmin Explore™?
Footpath Route Planner ships an update every 2 weeks, and Garmin Explore™ monthly. Most recently, Footpath Route Planner was updated on September 24, 2026 and Garmin Explore™ on September 24, 2026.
Which is more popular, Footpath Route Planner or Garmin Explore™?
Footpath Route Planner currently peaks at #69 in the App Store charts, and Garmin Explore™ at #98. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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