Comparison

Tern vs MapJour

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

Head to head
About

Tern

Features
Read full description

No fake routes — only the places you actually went. Tern turns the photos already on your phone into a travel map, automatically. HOW IT WORKS Open Tern and it reads the geotags already saved in your photo library, then instantly builds: • A world map lit up with every country you've visited • Your travel stats — countries, trips, days away, distance covered • Trips broken into ordered steps, auto-clustered from your photos by date and location This all happens on your device. Nothing is uploaded, no account needed. TRIPS, YOUR WAY • Auto-detected — Tern clusters your camera roll into trips and stops automatically • Live — start recording and Tern tracks your route and stops in real time as you travel • By hand — add any place, past or future, with a search or a tap on the globe EXPLORE THE WORLD Browse every country and continent on the same living globe — guides, highlights, and a wishlist for the places you haven't been yet. PLAN AHEAD Sketch out upcoming trips before you leave, then watch them turn into memories the moment you're back. SHARE THE STORY Turn any trip into a share-ready postcard or a vertical travel video — pick your cover photo, your look, and the stats you want to show off. Send it as a file: whoever you share with doesn't need Tern or an account to see it. YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS Tern works entirely on-device. Your photos, locations, and trips are never sent anywhere. No accounts, no analytics, no ads. SEE IT FIRST The scan and the map it finds are yours to see before you pay, and the price is shown up front, with no free trial that turns into a charge. TERN PRO Tern Pro opens the whole app — your map and trips, stats, watermark-free videos and share cards, and iCloud backup — with yearly, monthly, or lifetime options. LEGAL Privacy Policy: https://beratmehmetoglu.com/privacy/ Terms of Use (EULA): https://beratmehmetoglu.com/terms/

About

MapJour

A private travel journal app that lets you record visited places, dates, and stories on an interactive map. Entries include notes, photos, and voice memos, all stored locally on your device.

Highlights
  • Interactive map of visited places
  • Chronological visit timeline
  • Rich journal entries with notes, photos, voice memos
  • Local-first data storage
  • Exportable backups (spreadsheet, PDF)
Features
Read full description

MapJour is your private travel journal on a map. Record the places you’ve visited, the dates you were there, and the stories you want to keep — without an account or cloud sync. YOUR JOURNEY, ON A MAP Drop pins for the places that matter. Browse visits on an interactive map with visited-country highlighting, or open the 3D globe for a spinning overview of where you’ve been. A TIMELINE YOU CAN REVISIT Flip through chronological visit cards to relive trips in order. Open any entry for place details, dates, journal text, photos, and voice memos. RICH, PRIVATE ENTRIES • Dates for when you arrived and left • Place search, map pin, or current location • Journal notes written only on your device • Photos linked from your library, with a small private preview kept on device • Private voice memos stored in the app BACKUP AND SHARE ON YOUR TERMS Export a spreadsheet backup to move visit data between devices, or create a print-friendly PDF travel journal to read and share. Photos and audio stay on the device that created them. LOCAL-FIRST BY DESIGN MapJour does not create accounts, does not sync your journal to a MapJour server, and does not include ads or tracking. Your visits live in a private database on your iPhone or iPad until you delete them or uninstall the app. Privacy Policy: https://feifeifeih.github.io/mapJour/privacy.html Support: https://feifeifeih.github.io/mapJour/support.html

Screenshots

Tern4 screens
MapJour4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MapJour at none against Tern's 3. Tern's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Tern sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. MapJour asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tern ships an update every 5 days, MapJour every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Tern versus MapJour: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTernMapJour
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size52 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBerat MehmetogluFei Huang

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Tern

Subscriptions2
  • Tern Pro (Monthly)$2.991 Month
  • Tern Pro (Yearly)$10.991 Year
One-time1
  • Tern Pro (Lifetime)$15.99
None

MapJour

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tern free?
Tern is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MapJour free?
MapJour is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Tern or MapJour have ads?
Neither Tern nor MapJour shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tern or MapJour?
Tern ships an update every 5 days, and MapJour every 3 weeks. Most recently, Tern was updated on October 29, 2026 and MapJour on October 25, 2026.

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