Bivy vs Swing Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bivy
Discover and navigate over 40,000 mapped outdoor adventures across 21 activity types. Track your progress, share your location for safety, and even connect to a satellite device for off-grid communication and messaging.
- 21 adventure types
- 40,000+ mapped adventures
- Location sharing
- Offline maps
- Satellite messaging
- Adventure tracking
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* 21 different adventure types, Hiking, Biking, Kayaking, Rock Climbing and Backcountry skiing all in one app. * 40,000+ adventures fully mapped - never get lost again! * Share adventures with your friends, build up your profile and contribute your favorite photos and routes. * Share your location with friends and other Bivy users. Make it easy to stay safe and found. FIND • Easily find any kind of outdoor adventure near you. Filter by activity type, difficulty, and quality. • Bivy has 17 different adventure types: Hiking, mountain biking, road biking, trail running, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, camping, rock climbing, mountaineering, backcountry skiing, canyoneering, bouldering, aid climbing, kayaking, canoeing, rafting, sea kayaking, SUV, UTV, Snowmobile, ATV, and Motorcycle. • Search by map or list. Get directions to the start of every adventure TRACK • Let Bivy track your location on the full path of every adventure. • If you go off-route, Bivy will alert you to get back on the right path. • Keep track of your pace, mileage, calories burned, top speed, resting time and ETA. SHARE • Locate other friends and Bivy users in the outdoors. See other adventurers near you. • Find out who has completed adventures you are interested in. And see comments on each adventure • Build status in the community by completing adventures and uploading your own adventures, photos, comments, and corrections. Be the most accomplished adventurer in your neck of the woods. • Every uploaded adventure is vetted by our knowledgeable staff so you can trust the accuracy and quality of the data. SAFETY • Share your location with friends or other Bivy users. If you don’t come back on time, they will be able to see your path and location. • Every adventure description gives you detailed information on distance, elevation, and difficulty • While you are tracking, Bivy will tell you how much further you have and your expected time of arrival at your current pace. BIVYSTICK • Connect via Bluetooth to the Bivystick. Turn your Cell phone into a satellite communication device. • Send and receive text messages when you are out of phone service • Send an SOS and get in communication with EMS from ANYWHERE in the world. • Access to point weather forecasts • Detailed downloadable maps that can be used when you are offline or without service. Note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Swing Journal
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Swing Journal is a practice notebook for social dancers. Log the moves you learn, the line dances you know, and the songs you dance to, then come back and actually remember them. WHAT YOU CAN KEEP - Moves, sorted into Footwork, Spins & Turns, Dips & Drops, and Lifts & Tricks, each with a difficulty, your own notes, and a short video. - Line dances with an ordered list of steps and an optional linked song. - Songs you want to remember, found with a built-in search and saved with a link back to Spotify. VIDEOS STAY ON YOUR PHONE Videos you record for your own moves are stored on your device and are never uploaded. They are yours. The only clip that ever leaves your phone is one you deliberately share with your dance partner, and even then it is deleted from our storage as soon as their phone has it. PRACTICE WHAT YOU FORGET Every move counts how many times you have practiced it. The home screen puts the ones you have neglected in front of you, so your practice time goes where it is needed instead of to the moves you already like. SHARE WITH ONE PARTNER Send your dance partner an invite code and the two of you get a shared journal. Share a move, they see it with the video, and either of you can save the other's moves into your own library. No feeds, no followers, no strangers. WORKS WITHOUT SIGNAL Everything is stored on your phone first and synced to your account when you have a connection, so a basement studio with no bars is not a problem. FREE, NO ADS No advertising, no analytics, no tracking. Delete your account from inside the app at any time and everything goes with it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Swing Journal at none against Bivy's 2. Bivy's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). On price, ads and device support 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. Bivy sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Swing Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | Bivy | Swing Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (110 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 43.9% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 110 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 140 MB | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Headgate Studios | CHRISTOPHER RAND STUBBS JR |
Bugs and requests
Bivy
Reported bugs
24 issues- App crashes on startup constantly
- Tracking is nonexistent or unreliable
- App glitches when tracking
- Does not properly send or receive messages
- Crashes when looking at user guide and other menus
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- App crashed in backcountry, unable to send messages until reinstalled
- App crashes constantly
- App crashes on start after last update
- Unable to activate Bivy via the app
- App requires in-app purchase before download
- App crashes every time when sending a text
- Lost message responses
- App initiated tracking issues
- App stopped working on iPhone 11 iOS 14
- Unable to log in, says no connection even on Wi-Fi
- Tracking stopped mid-day and missed most of the hike
- Check-ins sending with old locations
- Basic editing functions don't work
- Moving between screens sometimes doesn't work
- Keyboard won't disappear, forcing app closure
- Find Me feature does not work
- Incorrect river trail data leading to private property
- Device heats up and battery drains on iPhone 11
- Top part of the app screen is clipped on iPhone X and 11
Requested features
15 requests- Improve search results to exclude paid advertising
- Allow searching for places by lat/lon coordinates
- Enable password pasting and visibility on iOS
- Make the app less cluttered and more focused on core features
- Add an option to opt out of paid search results
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- Allow creating waypoints directly from the map
- Add more camping options to the map
- Allow saving favorite activity types
- Improve visibility of routes on topo maps
- Add arrows to routes for direction guidance
- Provide a way to clear contacts from message threads without reinstalling
- Allow users to exclude campgrounds from the map
- Increase the number of adventures in the database
- Add more climbing types to filters
- Optimize app for iPhone X and 11 screen sizes
Swing Journal
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Bivy
- Premium One Month$2.99
- Premium One Year$29.99
Swing Journal
No in-app purchases









