Cool Routes vs BrightMaps
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Cool Routes
This navigation app prioritizes user comfort and environmental factors like shade and greenery in its routing. It helps pedestrians and cyclists find cooler, more pleasant paths without significant detours, contributing to safety and well-being.
- Climate-aware routing
- Thermal comfort optimization
- Greenery and shade indices
- Reduced heat exposure
- Pedestrian and cyclist safety
- No unreasonable detours
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'Cool Routes' is a routing system that incorporates indices representing vegetation and perceived heat (thermal comfort) into navigation for people walking, biking, and rolling. Our generated routes demonstrate that users can reduce heat exposure and experience more greenery and shade without having to undertake unreasonable detours, demonstrating the potential of climate-aware navigation recommendation tools to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety and comfort. This project is part of the broader NO-HEAT Initiative through which we are working to better understand extreme heat exposure and exploring heat mitigation interventions for people walking, biking, and rolling. NO-HEAT Initiative: https://resilience.research.gatech.edu/feature/no-heat-initiative-tackles-climate-inequity-one-street-time
BrightMaps
Navigate your city with a focus on staying cool. This app provides walking and biking directions that prioritize routes with tree canopy and building shade, avoiding direct sun exposure.
- Shade-first routing
- Turn-by-turn navigation
- Live shade forecasts
- Comfort-based route alternatives
- Live Activity and Dynamic Island support
- Shade-colored route lines
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BrightMaps — The Better Way There Stop walking through the sun. BrightMaps is shade-first navigation that routes you through tree canopy and building shade instead of straight down the hottest sidewalk. FREE Get fast, reliable walking and biking directions with comfort labels on every route, powered by real environmental data across 25 US metro areas. BRIGHTMAPS PRO Unlock shade-optimized routing that automatically favors tree canopy and building shade over sun exposure. Pro also includes: • Shade-colored route lines (tree, building, combined, exposed) • Live shade forecasts and shade timelines • Comfort-based route alternatives Pro shade routing is available nationwide across the lower 48 states using tree canopy data. Our 25 launch metro areas include additional building shade data for the most detailed routing. Try Pro free for 7 days, then $4.99/month or $39.99/year. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID account settings. EVERY ROUTE INCLUDES • Turn-by-turn walking and biking navigation • Live Activity and Dynamic Island support for tracking your route from the Lock Screen • Sign in with Apple for fast, private account creation Whether you're commuting, running errands, or exploring a new neighborhood, BrightMaps helps you find a cooler, more comfortable way there. Privacy Policy: https://brightmaps.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://brightmaps.app/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Cool Routes at none against BrightMaps's 2. Cool Routes also leads on ratings volume (4 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). BrightMaps's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 weeks). On price, rating, review sentiment 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
Both are free to download. BrightMaps sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Cool Routes asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Cool Routes against 5.0 for BrightMaps. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 1 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Cool Routes ships an update every 2 weeks, BrightMaps every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Cool Routes | BrightMaps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 39 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Rounaq Basu | ZINEB SAID |
Customer experience
Cool Routes
BrightMaps
In-app purchases
Cool Routes
No in-app purchases
BrightMaps
- Brightmaps Pro Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- BrightMaps Pro Annual7 Days trial$39.991 Year
