Lonely Planet vs Fallcast
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lonely Planet
Discover curated travel advice from local experts for over 400 destinations worldwide. Explore guides, walking tours, and interactive maps to find hidden gems, save points of interest, and build custom itineraries. An AI assistant provides quick answers to your travel questions.
- Expert-vetted destination guides
- Interactive maps with local recommendations
- Save points of interest to travel collections
- Build custom itineraries
- AI-powered travel assistant
- Exclusive member content
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Travel the world with the Lonely Planet app. Every recommendation, route and restaurant we share is vetted by our global community of 450+ local experts for different kinds of travelers. Explore their curated travel advice inside our trusted guides to 400+ places all across the globe: Italy, Vietnam, Ireland, Spain, Japan, Costa Rica, Portugal and Greece. More on the way, too. Not sure where to go, or what to do once you're there? Browse destination guides, explore walking tours and use our interactive maps to uncover locals’ favorite restaurants, places to stay, museums and hidden gems. Save whatever catches your eye to travel collections to use whenever you’re ready to plan your next trip. Then build an itinerary from everything you've saved, or just edit one of ours. Or just ask our AI Assistant your burning travel questions – such as, where to eat in Rio. Faster answers, always and only rooted in actual advice from real Lonely Planet experts. The Lonely Planet app is your travel app for discovering, saving and planning to make the most of every vacation. Unlock even more as a Lonely Planet member with exclusive access to premium itineraries, walking tours and experiences in our app plus more travel perks and Lonely Planet benefits. See our Terms&Conditions: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/legal/app-terms
Fallcast
Predicts fall foliage conditions nationwide, helping you find peak colors and plan trips. Identify any leaf with your camera and learn about different tree species. Offers trail maps and golden hour information for photographers.
- Fall foliage condition prediction
- Leaf species identification
- Trip planning for fall colors
- Interactive trail maps
- Golden hour forecasting
- Customizable home screen widgets
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KNOW WHEN THE LEAVES WILL CHANGE Fallcast predicts fall foliage conditions across the country, helping you find where the colors are changing now, where they're headed next, and when to plan your next leaf-peeping trip. The forecast is rebuilt every day from satellite observations and state foliage reports, so when a season runs early or late, the forecast changes with it. PLAN AHEAD See how foliage conditions are expected to change over the coming weeks. Compare locations and find the places most likely to have good color when you're ready to go. TRIPS Planning a fall trip? Follow foliage conditions at your destination before and during your trip. See what's changing and where to look for the best color along the way. Add a hike or a saved route as a stop. TRAILS More than 44,000 hiking, biking, horse, ATV and 4WD trails, each mapped with this season’s foliage. See the color and elevation along any trail, explore it in 3D, and export it to your favorite trail app. Link trails together to build your own custom foliage route. FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Find foliage conditions alongside golden hour to help plan your next autumn photo. IDENTIFY ANY LEAF Point your camera at a leaf and Fallcast names the species. Fallcast has 176 species identified right on your device. Save what you find and build a collection. LEARN THE LEAVES Which trees change first, how different species contribute to the fall landscape, and what each tree looks like as its color turns. Every species page covers its shape, its color, when to look for it, and why it changes colors the way it does. Regional tree and leaf guides help you understand what you're seeing. WIDGETS Keep foliage conditions for your favorite places on your Home Screen, so you can check the season at a glance. Fallcast is free to use: current and recent conditions, how this year compares with normal, every trail with free GPX export, the complete field guide, three photo identifications a season, and one saved place. Season Pass is an annual subscription that unlocks the full forecast, color intensity forecasts, trip planning, routes built from several trails, automatic Live Activities on travel days, unlimited identifications and saved places, and alerts when color at a saved place runs early or late. The leaves are changing. Know where to find them. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Fallcast Terms of Use: https://fallcast.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://fallcast.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Fallcast at 100% against Lonely Planet's 58%. Lonely Planet's advantage is ratings volume (218 vs 2) and rating (4.7 vs 4.5). On price, update cadence, 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. Lonely Planet sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $72.00 per year and Fallcast sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lonely Planet holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lonely Planet has 218 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 58% of Lonely Planet's written reviews are positive against 100% of Fallcast's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Lonely Planet ships an update every 2 weeks, Fallcast every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lonely Planet | Fallcast |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (218 ratings) — better | 4.5 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 58.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 218 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | #97 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 — better | 18.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 148 MB | 169 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lonely Planet Global, Inc. | Alex Starck |
Customer experience
Lonely Planet
Fallcast
In-app purchases
Lonely Planet
- Annual Membership$72.001 Year
- Trip Pass$30.00
Fallcast
- Season Pass$7.991 Year









