Comparison

Wayward GPS vs GridDown Maps

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

Head to head
About

Wayward GPS

This app provides detailed backcountry maps with terrain, land ownership, and weather data. It's designed for outdoor enthusiasts to plan routes, track activities, and navigate safely. Access offline maps, fishing information, and trail details.

Highlights
  • High-resolution 3D terrain maps
  • Private land ownership and parcel data
  • Offline map downloads
  • Fishing stream access and flow data
  • Trail and bikepacking route planning
  • NEXRAD radar and weather forecasts
  • Wildfire and lightning strike tracking
Features
Read full description

Wayward GPS is a free GPS map for the backcountry — one map that shows what the land is doing, who owns it, and what the sky is doing, so you can plan your own way out there. THE MAP • High-resolution terrain — some of the sharpest elevation data published, rendered in 3D with peaks that look like peaks • Private land ownership at the parcel line, with owner names where records provide them • Corner-crossing and landlocked-public-land layers to help you see where public meets public • GMU boundaries, wilderness areas, roadless areas, and USFS/BLM roads • Offline maps state by state — trails, parcels, lakes, roads — downloaded to your phone before you lose signal FISHING • Wetfoot Stream Access — stream segments of interest to anglers, drawn as robin's-egg "trout highways" (1 CFS and up), with flow data. Coverage varies, access rules vary, and records can be wrong — confirm before you go. • Tap any river for its story, plus flow and water temperature from USGS gauges when available • Stocking records where the state wildlife agency reported stocking in the last two weeks, with species counts • Whitewater and float runs with class ratings, put-ins, and take-outs TRAILS & RIDING • Thousands of trails with difficulty ratings and honest two-sentence writeups drawn largely from community data • Hike/Run and Bike modes with curated bikepacking routes • Record your tracks, then share them as clean stat cards — distance, vertical, difficulty • Plan routes, drop pins, navigate to anything WEATHER • NEXRAD radar — a composite regional view, or tap any radar dome for super-res detail • Lightning strikes that fade over ten minutes, storm cells with hail and rotation data, when the data is available • See active wildfires with perimeters and the firefighting aircraft working them • Wind flow animation, forecasts, and near-surface smoke HUNTING • GMUs, ownership, walk-in access, and terrain built for glassing country in 3D SKIING • Winter mode with terrain relief tuned for reading lines All of it free. No subscription, no paywall, no feature gates. Coverage is state by state and still growing. Information, not protection. Wayward GPS shows you data from public and community sources that can be wrong, coarse, or out of date — it is a planning tool, not a safety device, a warning system, or a substitute for official sources, your own eyes, and your own judgment. Alerts and forecasts may be delayed, incomplete, or absent, especially with no signal. In an emergency, call 911 or use your device's SOS. Built by people who fish, ride, and hunt here. Data from USGS, NHD, USFS, BLM, NOAA/NWS, state wildlife agencies, and adsb.lol.

About

GridDown Maps

This app provides detailed offline topographic maps of the United States, including streets, trails, and terrain data. It offers navigation tools like location tracking, compass, and route planning, functioning without any internet connection. It's designed for backcountry use and emergencies.

Highlights
  • Offline US state topographic maps
  • Location tracking and compass
  • Offline route planning
  • GPX import/export
  • Elevation profiles and viewshed analysis
  • Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Maps
  • Survival handbook
Features
Read full description

GridDown is a topographic map of the United States that keeps working when nothing else does — no cell signal, no Wi-Fi, no internet at all. Download the states you want while you're online. After that, everything runs entirely on your phone: streets, Forest Service roads, trails, and terrain with hillshade and contours — plus the tools to navigate by them. Built for the backcountry and for emergencies, when "just check your phone" isn't an option. WHAT'S INSIDE • Offline maps of every US state — streets, trails, forest roads, terrain • Your location, a compass corrected to true north, and an MGRS / lat-long readout • "How do I get there" — an offline route overview along real roads • Drop pins, record tracks, import and export GPX • Elevation profiles, line-of-sight, and viewshed from real terrain data • Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Maps — which roads you may legally drive • A survival handbook (US Army FM 21-76) that works with no signal • Sun and moon times, a night-vision red mode, and a battery saver • Print a paper map with a real MGRS grid — a backup for your backup • Teammate positions over Meshtastic LoRa radio, with no cell towers PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Your location never leaves your phone. No accounts, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. There are no servers — the whole point is that GridDown works when the grid is down.

Screenshots

Wayward GPS4 screens
GridDown Maps4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Wayward GPS at weekly against GridDown Maps's every 5 weeks. On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Wayward GPS against 5.0 for GridDown Maps. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Wayward GPS ships an update weekly, GridDown Maps every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Wayward GPS versus GridDown Maps: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWayward GPSGridDown Maps
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPod, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.515.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size204 MB37 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWayward Navigation LLCJames Carey

In-app purchases

None

Wayward GPS

No in-app purchases

None

GridDown Maps

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Wayward GPS free?
Wayward GPS is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is GridDown Maps free?
GridDown Maps is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Wayward GPS or GridDown Maps?
Wayward GPS and GridDown Maps are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Wayward GPS or GridDown Maps have ads?
Neither Wayward GPS nor GridDown Maps shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Wayward GPS or GridDown Maps?
Wayward GPS ships an update weekly, and GridDown Maps every 5 weeks. Most recently, Wayward GPS was updated on October 24, 2026 and GridDown Maps on October 25, 2026.

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