Comparison

HexStride vs Walking Route

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

Head to head
About

HexStride

This app transforms your real-world walks and runs into a game where you claim hexagonal territories on a map. Earn ground by physically moving, defend your claims by walking them again, and compete with others for the largest territories. It offers a unique way to gamify exercise and explore your surroundings.

Highlights
  • Claim hexagonal territories by walking
  • Defend claimed ground by re-walking
  • Compete for largest territories
  • Integrates with Apple Health for runs
  • No account required, private by design
  • Live Activities and widgets
  • Share walks and progress
Features
Read full description

Where you walk becomes yours. HexStride turns the streets you already walk into a board of hexagons, twenty-seven metres across. Walk a street and the hexagons under your feet are yours. Close a loop and everything inside it is yours too. Walk through a rival's ground and you take it, one layer at a time. The biggest patch leads, and the board never resets. EARNED ON FOOT Every hexagon on the map was walked by somebody. Claims count walking or running, and a walk at vehicle speed, or one your phone's step counter says you didn't walk, claims nothing. No clock ever holds ground for anyone: what defends a hexagon is walking it again, which hardens it, and a rival needs one walk to crack a layer and another to take it. How claims are checked is public at hexstride.app/fair-play. A GAME THAT STAYS KIND Your score only goes up. Losing ground stops it climbing, never subtracts. Two rest days a week are free, and a short week is never called a failure. One nudge a day at your usual hour, nothing between ten at night and eight in the morning, no red badges. WALK. RUN. LOOP. Start counts you down and follows you through real 3D streets. During the walk the hexagons you'd claim light up as outlines; tap End and they sweep in along your route. Runs count too and are saved to Apple Health as runs. THE BOARD A board for every district, city, region and country, with a podium at the top and your own row pinned wherever it falls. Tap any patch to see who holds it: their name, their photo and how much ground they hold against yours. Send a wave. Invite a friend to the same streets. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account and no sign-up. Your routes never leave your phone; only the hexagons you claimed do. Nobody, including us, can see where you walked. No ads, no analytics that track you, no data sale. Delete everything from inside the app, any time. ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN A Live Activity for the walk in progress, and widgets for the week's days out and the ground you hold. Share a walk as a story or a post, or send it to Strava. A city with nobody in it is yours for the taking. Bring a friend and it's a rivalry.

About

Walking Route

Features
Read full description

Walking Route is a free, ad-free app that creates walking routes based on your starting point, destination, and distance. Whether you want to choose only a destination or simply decide how far to walk, you can set a variety of conditions to suit your preferences. There are no ads or paid features, and we have no plans to introduce them. Key features and specifications are listed below. 【Route Planning】 ・Choose a starting point and destination, or let the app select them randomly ・Create a round-trip route that returns to your starting point ・Specify a distance or let the app choose randomly within a range, such as 2–4 km ・Record a walk without planning a route ・Search for alternative routes using the same conditions ・View the estimated distance, walking time, calories burned, and step count for each route 【Map and Tracking】 ・Record your path, distance walked, and elapsed time ・Continue recording while your screen is locked or the app is in the background ・Pause and resume recording ・Switch between north-up and heading-up map orientations 【Walk History】 ・View past walks in a list or on a calendar ・Recall previously generated routes ・View recorded paths on the map ・Add notes and photos ・Export recorded paths as GPX files 【Settings】 ・Set your weight and stride length to personalize calorie and step estimates 【Additional Information】 An internet connection is required to search for routes. You can make an optional contribution toward development and improvements through “Support” in the app. Contributions do not unlock any additional features.

Screenshots

HexStride4 screens
Walking Route4 screens

Verdict

The call

HexStride and Walking Route are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. HexStride sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Walking Route sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HexStride ships an update every 5 days, Walking Route weekly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
HexStride versus Walking Route: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHexStrideWalking Route
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB32 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBEN DUSHNITZKYShunsuke Sakai

In-app purchases

3 purchases

HexStride

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly14 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Annual14 Days trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$79.99
4 purchases

Walking Route

One-time4
  • Sanpo Route - Small tip$0.49
  • Sanpo Route - Medium tip$1.99
  • Sanpo Route - Large tip$2.99
Show 1 more
  • Sanpo Route - Extra tip$5.99

Questions

Is HexStride free?
HexStride is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Walking Route free?
Walking Route is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do HexStride or Walking Route have ads?
Neither HexStride nor Walking Route shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HexStride or Walking Route?
HexStride ships an update every 5 days, and Walking Route weekly. Most recently, HexStride was updated on October 31, 2026 and Walking Route on October 31, 2026.

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