Hiking Maps vs Backpackers Friend

Hiking Maps was developed with guidance from hardcore hiking clubs that require rich and detailed maps, offline functionality, as well as easy planning right from their phones. These hiking groups continue to guide us in our development of what we hope to one day be the best offline map app for the iPhone. INTUITIVE ROUTE PLANNING Intuitive planning is supported by three key features to make it a breeze to plan your journey entirely on your phone or prepare a route for sharing with larger groups. Finger Route Tracing - Simply drag your finger along the approximate path you want to take, Hiking Maps will adjust your trace to match the closest navigable path. You can then review the distance, the difficulty based on elevation gain and try different alternatives. Save the route once satisfied and you’ll be able to follow it once you hit the trail. Detailed Route Recording - When exploring new trails for group hikes or your own future returns, you can turn on recording and automatically track time, distance, altitude and elevation gain. You can also add a vast amount of helpful info such as images, videos, and audio notes along important waypoints. Import Popular Hikes - Hiking Maps supports all major navigation tracking files such as GPX, KML, and KMZ. CONFIDENT EXPLORING When it comes to exploring, helping you feel safe and confident was our biggest goal when designing Hiking Maps. We’ve added the following features to make that a reality: Detailed Offline Maps – download maps before your journey and explore wilderness without having to waste your battery or having to rely on internet connection. You can use your maps much longer while in airplane mode and you can reach trails where internet connectivity is not available. Off-Route Notification – adjustable text size lets you easily read the maps as you follow a pre-loaded track or explore new trails. Turn on off-route notifications and you’ll get an audio notification when you stray off the path. SOS Alerts – preset who you want to notify as your emergency contacts and quickly send them an update with your location and condition if you face a challenge where you need a helping hand. EASY ROUTE SHARING Whether it’s sending your previous hike to a select group of hikers or sharing your adventure to a wider public, we make it easy to help spread the joy of hiking: One Tap Sharing – after planning and creating a route in detail you can share it in any popular navigation file format with a friend or group of friends, or upload it to our public database of hikes enriched with all your waypoint information. Create Professional Relief Maps – our advanced features let you create advanced navigation tools such as digital elevation models (DEM) relief maps. Print-Ready Maps – create images of maps with waypoints and detailed topography information. Print the maps out or post them on your hiking group website or social media page and let fellow hikers get a good idea about your trail with a single glance. Please note: You have 90 days to try out all features and settings of Hiking Maps after first installation. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Backpackers Friend is built for multi-day and thru-hike trips — not adapted from a day-hike app. Plan your route with trail-snapped GPS navigation, auto-cached maps before you lose signal, and track every mile from trailhead to summit. Everything runs on-device. No account required. No cloud. Just you and the trail. PLAN YOUR TRIP ------------ Draw your route on the map and watch it snap to real trail networks. Add waypoints — campsites, water sources, summits, trailheads — and organize them by day, then filter the map to a single day to focus on today's miles. Hiking between resupplies? Split your gear and food into legs and know exactly what you're carrying on every stretch. Built on OpenStreetMap trail data, the routing engine finds the best path even where trail coverage is sparse. Backpackers Friend comes pre-loaded with 16 iconic multi-day routes including the John Muir Trail, sections of the PCT, and the Enchantments — fully planned with waypoints and elevation data, so you can explore on day one without building anything from scratch. NAVIGATE OFFLINE ------------ The most dangerous moment in backcountry navigation is realizing you forgot to download the map. In Backpackers Friend, that moment doesn't exist: plan a trip and the app automatically caches the maps and the trail network for your entire route — no download button to remember. Once your trip shows Offline Ready, the map, your route, and trail-snapped navigation keep working with zero bars — included with Premium. No cell service, no Wi-Fi, no problem. A dedicated hiking topo map with high-fidelity contour lines and USGS Topo are both available. TRACK EVERY MILE ------------ Hit GO at the trailhead and Backpackers Friend tracks your route, records GPS fixes, and measures distance, elevation gain, pace, and splits. Your activity history builds over time — every trip logged, every mile counted, every summit recorded. Achievements track what matters to backpackers: lifetime distance milestones, first summit, first completed thru-hike segment, multi-trip streaks, and more. Every trip you finish adds to a history worth keeping. FREE FEATURES ------------ ◆ Unlimited trip creation with waypoints ◆ Trail-snapped GPS route drawing ◆ Online maps — hiking topo and USGS Topo ◆ Live GPS tracking and activity recording ◆ Full activity history and lifetime stats ◆ 16 pre-built iconic routes to explore on day one BACKPACKERS FRIEND PREMIUM ------------ ◆ Offline maps and navigation — auto-downloaded for every trip ◆ Gear checklist with weight tracking by category ◆ Multi-leg food and gear planning between resupplies ◆ Off-trail alerts when you stray from your route ◆ Background GPS tracking when your screen is locked ◆ Elevation profiles for every route ◆ Weather forecasts for your trip dates ◆ Battery-saver GPS mode Premium is a monthly or annual subscription. Cancel anytime. WHO IT'S FOR ------------ PCT section hikers. JMT planners. First-time overnighters. Anyone who has ever tried to plan a multi-day trip in a day-hike app and felt the gap. Backpackers Friend is built specifically for the moment you leave the trailhead and don't come back for days. NO ACCOUNT. NO CLOUD. NO TRACKING. ------------ Every piece of data — trips, routes, gear lists, activity history, achievements — lives in a database on your phone. Nothing is sent to a server. No ads, no analytics. No account to create, no password to forget. The core app is free and fully functional without ever opening your wallet. Backpackers Friend was built on a simple principle: your data belongs to you, and your maps work when signal doesn't. Whether you're planning your first overnight or your fifth JMT attempt, Backpackers Friend gives you the tools serious backpackers actually need — without the bloat. Download free. No account needed. Just open the app and start planning. Privacy Policy: https://backpackersfriend.app/privacy Terms of Use (EULA): https://backpackersfriend.app/terms