Trāce vs Tiny Cities
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Trāce
Map your travels by marking countries and US states you've visited, lived in, or want to see. Track your progress with statistics on countries, continents, and world coverage. Share visually appealing maps of your journeys.
- Mark countries and US states with custom statuses
- Visualize travel progress on a world map
- Track statistics for countries and continents
- Generate shareable map images
- Switch between light and dark map styles
- Offline functionality
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Trāce is a map of everywhere you've been, and it's free. No subscription, no ads, no account. Mark the countries you've visited, lived in, have booked, or want to see next. Trāce fills them in on a world map that's been drawn to look like an atlas rather than a satnav: no roads, no buildings, no pins, just land, water, borders and names. It's a globe, so you can spin it and zoom right in. It keeps the count for you. How many countries, how many continents, and what share of the world that really is. THE PLACES THAT AREN'T THEIR OWN COUNTRY Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Macau, Greenland, Guam, Aruba, the US and British Virgin Islands, French Polynesia, the Cayman Islands and more. 44 territories in all, counted separately from the 198 countries, so your country total stays honest. ALL 50 US STATES States get their own map, their own stats and their own share card, Washington DC included. Other travel trackers charge extra for states. Here it's part of the app. FIVE THEMES Paper, Daybreak, Tide, Midnight and Ember. Your theme goes everywhere: the map, the lists, the share card, and the app icon on your Home Screen. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Tap a country on the globe, or tap the box on any row, to mark it Visited, Lived, Booked or Want to visit - Read a list of countries without checking a key, because each status has its own mark - Add 44 territories and islands, counted separately from countries - Track all 50 US states and Washington DC on their own map - Browse your places by continent, with progress for each one - Search for the small places that are hard to hit on a globe - Share your map as a card in your current theme, to Instagram, Messages, or anywhere - Keep your map on your other devices through your own iCloud - Use it offline. No signal needed WHAT IT COSTS Nothing. Other travel maps charge for US states, for regions, or for a subscription. Trāce gives you all of it free, with no ads and no in-app purchases. PRIVATE BY DESIGN There's no account to make and nothing to cancel. Your travel history lives on your device and syncs through your own iCloud if you want it on more than one. It never touches a server of ours, and we never see your map. Trāce is the free flagship of the Āpex Suite from HYTimes App Studio. Start with the first country you remember. The map does the rest.
Tiny Cities
This app lets you digitally collect and display the places you've visited, creating unique miniature dioramas for each city. It allows you to add photos and notes, and track future travel aspirations.
- 602 hand-made city miniatures
- Interactive snow globe effect
- Virtual passport with stamps
- World map with glowing beacons
- Digital fridge magnets
- Someday cities list
- Memory notes and photos
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A tiny digital snow globe for every city you've been. Tilt your phone, the snow falls, and you're back there. 1,000+ illustrated clay-style miniatures: a digital travel journal that feels like a keepsake. You add the places yourself — Tiny Cities never tracks your location. Other apps count your countries. Tiny Cities keeps them. WHAT YOU GET • 1,000+ ILLUSTRATED CITIES — a clay-style diorama under glass for each one, 1,018 cities from Paris to Tashkent, each with its own landmarks. Not clip art, not a map pin. • TILT THE GLOBE — move your phone and the globe answers. Every city has its own atmosphere: snow, petals, mist. • A KEEPSAKE PASSPORT — every city you add gets a digital stamp. It's a keepsake inside the app, not a travel document. Watch the cities and countries you've added count up, with 106 milestones to earn along the way. • YOUR WORLD, LIT UP — spin a 3D Earth and watch every country you've visited glow. Open a country to see your cities set on its clay map. • THE FRIDGE — every city you keep becomes a digital magnet on your in-app fridge. New fridges unlock as you travel. • SOMEDAY CITIES — keep your bucket list under glass, each with a sealed note to your future self. When you finally arrive, move them onto your shelf. • MEMORY NOTES & PHOTOS — the night train, the corner café, the wrong turn that made the trip. Up to ten photos with every city, dated to the day, the month, the season or just the year. • THE STUDIO — turn your travels into a route film, a year poster image, a world map or a digital postcard to share. • ON YOUR HOME SCREEN — add the widget and keep your shelf close. HOW IT WORKS 1. Search any city you've visited. 2. Say when you went — to the day, or just "spring 2019". 3. Watch its miniature develop, and set it on your shelf. QUIET BY DESIGN • No sign-up form. You start with a private, anonymous account. • Your shelf syncs privately. Link Apple or Google whenever you like. FREE TO START Add every city you have ever been to. There is no limit. Your first three arrive as full clay dioramas with the whole ceremony. The rest are kept, stamped and counted while their miniature waits to be developed. FIRST CLASS First Class develops every city on your shelf, and every new city the moment you add it. It also opens all 22 display stands in the cabinet and removes the web address from your shared postcards. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription, or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Everything in Tiny Cities is digital — nothing is printed or shipped. Where have you been? Start your shelf tonight. TERMS & PRIVACY Terms of Use: https://tinycities.vercel.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://tinycities.vercel.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Trāce at none against Tiny Cities's 3. Tiny Cities's advantage is update cadence (every 11 days vs 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
Both are free to download. Tiny Cities sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Trāce asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Trāce against 5.0 for Tiny Cities. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively.
Trāce ships an update every 5 weeks, Tiny Cities every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Trāce | Tiny Cities |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 11 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 110 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dennis Hodgson | Ramin Afandiyev |
Customer experience
Trāce
Tiny Cities
In-app purchases
Trāce
No in-app purchases
Tiny Cities
- First Class (Monthly)$5.991 Month
- First Class (Annual)$29.991 Year
- First Class (Lifetime)$79.99









