Comparison

Digital Compass GPS Navigator vs OnlyTrails

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

Head to head
About

Digital Compass GPS Navigator

Features
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Regular updates with new features, themes, and improvements based on user feedback. Download Smart Compass today and discover why it's the highest-rated compass app on the App Store! Questions? Contact us at support@smartcompass.app

About

OnlyTrails

Features
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Your hike is saved on your phone before anything else. Not in an account, not after a sync: the recording, the route and the map are on the device in your hand from the moment you press start. It works with no signal and no account. Download a trail’s topo tiles once and follow it with the radio off. Finish and save a hike with no session, no server and no bars. Apple Watch runs the same navigation, not a remote control for it — the route, the off-route alarm and the eyes-free cues are on the watch, and stay there when the phone is in your pack. OFFLINE TOPO MAPS • OpenTopoMap tiles with true contour lines and hillshade, plus USGS Topo and standard basemaps • Download the tile corridor along the whole route, not a rough box around it • Trail lines colored by steepness, with an elevation profile and grade chart NAVIGATION THAT SURVIVES THE DAY • Off-route alarm plus a saved breadcrumb log for retrace and where-am-I, offline • Eyes-free mode: spoken and haptic fork cues on a near-black glance screen • Adaptive GPS drops to coarse between forks and counts steps with the motion coprocessor, waking full GPS at the decision points • A battery-versus-ETA budget that tightens power saving as your charge drops BRING YOUR OWN ROUTE • Open any .gpx from Files, AirDrop or another app • Draw a route on the map, snap it to real paths, or fork someone else’s and edit it • Automatic distance, elevation gain and drop, grade and difficulty ALWAYS FREE, NEVER GATED • Starting, finishing and saving a recording • Opening an offline map you have already downloaded • Exporting your own routes and recordings as GPX • Following a route, the off-route alarm, retrace and where-am-I • Watch navigation of a route on the phone • The app itself, without an account, offline, indefinitely THE CATALOG, HONESTLY The community catalog is deepest in Chiang Mai and northern Thailand today — that is where the hikers and the verified routes are. Anywhere else, bring your own: import a GPX, draw a route, or just record as you walk. Recording, navigating and saving work the same everywhere on earth. COMMUNITY • Share and discover routes, with crowd difficulty voting and reviews • Junction markings (Bee · Thorn · Slippery · Fork) and “What-the-Fork” photos pinned to confusing forks • Group hikes and events, with a poster you can paste straight into a chat Map tiles © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA) and © OpenStreetMap contributors. USGS Topo tiles courtesy of The National Map.

Screenshots

Digital Compass GPS Navigator4 screens
OnlyTrails4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: OnlyTrails at none against Digital Compass GPS Navigator's shown. Digital Compass GPS Navigator's advantage is iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Digital Compass GPS Navigator ships an update every 3 days, OnlyTrails every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
Digital Compass GPS Navigator versus OnlyTrails: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDigital Compass GPS NavigatorOnlyTrails
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 daysEvery 2 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB62 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChandan GadhaviMEET SOFTWARE COMPANY LIMITED

In-app purchases

None

Digital Compass GPS Navigator

No in-app purchases

None

OnlyTrails

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Digital Compass GPS Navigator free?
Digital Compass GPS Navigator is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is OnlyTrails free?
OnlyTrails is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Digital Compass GPS Navigator or OnlyTrails have ads?
Digital Compass GPS Navigator shows ads; OnlyTrails does not.
Which is updated more often, Digital Compass GPS Navigator or OnlyTrails?
Digital Compass GPS Navigator ships an update every 3 days, and OnlyTrails every 2 days. Most recently, Digital Compass GPS Navigator was updated on October 20, 2026 and OnlyTrails on October 25, 2026.

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