Comparison

Footpath Route Planner vs HikeTracker

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
Read full description

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

HikeTracker

This app provides accurate GPS tracking for outdoor activities like hiking, walking, and cycling. It focuses on simplicity, ensuring a smooth and error-free experience for recording your routes and distance traveled. All your data is saved in a standard GPX file format.

Highlights
  • Accurate GPS tracking
  • Simple user interface
  • Records distance and elevation
  • Saves data in GPX format
  • No social media integration
  • No ads or in-app purchases
Features
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Why another tracking app? ACCURACY - GPS receivers, including smartphones, can record locations every second but have inherent and unavoidable errors that are small compared to the distance traveled in that second by an automobile, airplane or cruise missile but are large enough to overwhelm the data when used in human-powered activities like • Hiking • Walking • Running and Cycling This is especially true In situations where the GPS satellite signals can be compromised by things that block or absorb microwaves: • Hills and mountains • Heavy tree cover • Rain and clouds SIMPLICITY - Most apps have a lot of features that may be very useful for some folks but they often make the user hunt for the simple stuff. Also I have occasionally lost all my data when I accidentally touched the wrong thing on a busy and complicated screen HikeTracker was designed with Accuracy and Simplicity in mind to support hiking in the mountains of the beautiful Pacific Northwest but it works just as well for less challenging activities like walking and biking around town. It uses several strategies to combine and curate the raw GPS data, filtering out some of the inherent errors and saving only enough points to get a smooth and accurate picture of the user’s track and accurate distance measurements. But all that fancy-schmancy stuff is kept out of sight - to use it you just: • Open HikeTracker • Press “Start” • Go What it does • Makes an accurate GPS-based track of your activity • Shows accurate distance traveled and elevation gained • Saves that info in a standard GPX (GPS file exchange format) file that can be saved and/or shared with other apps and programs What it lacks • No social media • No ads • No in-app purchases • No saving or sharing of personal data • iPhone only • Currently lacks support for languages other than English

Screenshots

Footpath Route Planner4 screens
HikeTracker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HikeTracker at none against Footpath Route Planner's 3. HikeTracker also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 79%) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). Footpath Route Planner's advantage is ratings volume (22K vs 5) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs monthly). 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. Footpath Route Planner sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. HikeTracker asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HikeTracker holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Footpath Route Planner has 22K ratings behind it against 5, 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 100% of HikeTracker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Footpath Route Planner ships an update every 2 weeks, HikeTracker monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and June 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Footpath Route Planner versus HikeTracker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFootpath Route PlannerHikeTracker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (22K ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews78.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings22K — better5
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#66 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size152 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHalf Mile Labs LLCAlan Heezen

Customer experience

Footpath Route Planner

All ratings22,076 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral2.2%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews836 reviews
Positive78.7%
Neutral7.8%
Negative13.5%

HikeTracker

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

HikeTracker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

HikeTracker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Footpath Route Planner free?
Footpath Route Planner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HikeTracker free?
HikeTracker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Footpath Route Planner or HikeTracker?
HikeTracker is rated higher. Footpath Route Planner averages 4.8 out of 5 from 22K ratings, while HikeTracker averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Footpath Route Planner or HikeTracker have ads?
Neither Footpath Route Planner nor HikeTracker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Footpath Route Planner or HikeTracker?
Footpath Route Planner ships an update every 2 weeks, and HikeTracker monthly. Most recently, Footpath Route Planner was updated on September 25, 2026 and HikeTracker on June 1, 2026.

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