Vertical vs PIEPS
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Vertical
This app serves as a comprehensive guide for both outdoor and indoor climbing. Log your ascents, discover new routes and crags worldwide, and access gym topos. It also offers personalized training plans and community features to connect with other climbers.
- Outdoor and indoor climbing route discovery
- Digital climbing guidebooks
- Logbook for climbs and memories
- Personalized training plans
- Gym and global climbing challenges
- Community features and friend connections
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Built by Climbers for Climbers: Vertical-Life is Your Climbing Guide for Outdoor and Indoor Climbing. Keep a log of your climbs and favorite memories, access local beta, and dream about your next adventure. Start exploring new climbing spots and get inspired! CLIMB OUTDOOR: Find sport climbing, bouldering and multi-pitch routes. Hundreds of digital climbing guidebooks available online and offline. Discover routes and boulders, featured on a worldwide map. Authored by local experts, our crags and climbing topos are continuously updated. We support local developers with a portion of our revenue. CLIMB INDOOR: Follow your home gym. Enjoy free access to gym topos and view rankings. Get updates on new routes, log your ascents and connect with climbers in your area. GET PERSONALIZED TRAINING: Enjoy customized training plans by professional coaches. Tailored to your level, our plans align with your gym's routes and boulders. Also, explore our free, single-day workouts to spice up your gym sessions. JOIN CHALLENGES & COMPETITIONS: Gym and global challenges are the perfect motivation boost. Move up the ranking ladder, reach new goals, unlock achievements, and win exciting prizes! FIND FRIENDS & COMMUNITY: Join a global network of climbers. Follow friends, share your successes, encourage your peers, and climb as a team for your local gym. ACCESS FROM THE WEB: Find your synced logbook and profile on https://www.vertical-life.info. Discover daily climbing news and a community-built route database with millions of ascents and insightful comments on Vertical-Life Web. GET MORE WITH PREMIUM: Premium unlocks all outdoor content in the app and gives you the digital convenience of having topos, additional beta, training plans, parking navigation and digital maps, in your pocket, online and offline. - All guidebooks available on your phone - Millions of ascents and comments for the best beta - GPS navigation to crags - Detailed map, with precise topos and route information Learn more: https://www.vertical-life.info/premium Terms of Use: https://www.vertical-life.info/en/pages/legal
PIEPS
Configure, check, and update your PIEPS or Black Diamond avalanche transceiver. Train your rescue skills with your phone as a remote control and register your device for additional services.
- Device configuration
- Functionality check
- Firmware updates
- Rescue skills training
- Remote control functionality
- Device registration
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- Configure your PIEPS or Black Diamond device according to your preferences. - Check the functionality of your PIEPS or Black Diamond device - Update your PIEPS or Black Diamond device to the latest firmware. - Train your emergency rescue skills. Use your phone as a remote control. - Register your PIEPS or Black Diamond device to get additional services
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PIEPS at 4.9 against Vertical's 2.7. PIEPS also leads on review sentiment (63% vs 23%) and in-app purchases (none vs 4). Vertical's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs monthly). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Vertical sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. PIEPS asks for nothing beyond the download.
PIEPS holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PIEPS has 1K ratings behind it against 47, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 23% of Vertical's written reviews are positive against 63% of PIEPS's.
Vertical ships an update every 8 days, PIEPS monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Vertical | PIEPS |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.7 (47 ratings) | 4.9 (1K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 23.5% of reviews | 63.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 47 | 1K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 150 MB | 46 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vertical-Life srl | Pieps GmbH |
Customer experience
Vertical
PIEPS
Bugs and requests
Vertical
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
PIEPS
Reported bugs
2 issues- App home screen going blank
- Incompatibility with certain beacon models
Requested features
2 requests- Support for more languages (e.g. Russian, Japanese)
- Improved security for app login/registration
In-app purchases
Vertical
- Outdoor (1 Month)$4.991 Month
- Training (1 Month)$4.991 Month
- Premium (1 Month)$8.991 Month
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- Friends (1 Month)$14.991 Month
PIEPS
No in-app purchases
