Rhode Tour vs National Forest Explorer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Rhode Tour
Explore Rhode Island's rich heritage and culture through an interactive GPS-enabled map. Discover historical locations with detailed information, archival images, and media. Access content online or via the mobile app.
- Interactive GPS-enabled map
- Historical location information
- Archival images and media
- Heritage and culture exploration
- Coastal to coast coverage
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Rhode Tour places the heritage and culture of Rhode Island at your fingertips with this free Smartphone app. Known as the “Ocean State,” Rhode Island is filled with interesting stories, captivating places, and intriguing people from coast to coast. With a growing list of interpretive stories, each point on the interactive GPS-enabled map includes historical information about the location, along with historic images and media from archival collections and historical publications. The information on the app may also be accessed by visiting the project website at rhodetour.org. Rhode Tour is brought to you by the John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.
National Forest Explorer
Discover U.S. Forest Service lands and heritage sites with this official exploration tool. Access detailed information, offline maps, and recreational opportunities for your next adventure. Stay updated on closures and events with push notifications.
- Discover nearby forests and grasslands
- Explore points of interest
- Access forest facts and heritage information
- Offline and GPS maps
- Information on recreational opportunities
- Educational audio tours
- Push notifications for alerts
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This official app is a portal for exploring the diverse lands and heritage sites managed by the U.S. Forest Service. A powerful exploration tool, this app allows you to discover forests near you and can help you explore each destination's points of interest. Use this app for easy access to forest facts, natural, cultural, and historic information, offline and GPS maps, recreational opportunities, and other essential visitor information to enjoy our National Forests and Grasslands. The perfect companion for your next forest adventure or armchair travels, each app was developed by the forest unit’s rangers and interpretive staff and features a variety of content, including educational audio tours and natural and historic imagery. Plan your itinerary of things to see and do with easy access to information regarding recreational opportunities, trails, maps, and visitor centers. Each forest destination can be downloaded individually from the portal, allowing you to stay up to date with your favorite destinations through push notifications alerts for closures and events. Connect with Visitor Centers and Ranger Stations using one-tap calling and submit valuable feedback or report concerns with surveys. OnCell has worked closely with each forest as the official provider of their mobile apps. You can expect additional forests to be added to this app over time, as the U.S. Forest Service continues it's commitment to provide exciting and relevant visitor information in easy to access formats.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Rhode Tour at 100% against National Forest Explorer's 30%. Rhode Tour also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5). National Forest Explorer's advantage is ratings volume (736 vs 2) and iOS requirement (13 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Rhode Tour holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: National Forest Explorer has 736 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Rhode Tour's written reviews are positive against 30% of National Forest Explorer's.
Rhode Tour ships an update every 4 months, National Forest Explorer every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rhode Tour | National Forest Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.5 (736 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 30.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 736 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 19 MB | 109 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Curatescape | Toby Bloom |
Customer experience
Rhode Tour
National Forest Explorer
Bugs and requests
Rhode Tour
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
National Forest Explorer
Reported bugs
3 issues- Login issues
- Compatibility problems with older devices
- Broken links and missing content
Requested features
4 requests- More national forests and recreation areas
- Offline maps and content
- Better search and filtering options
- Integration with other outdoor apps
In-app purchases
Rhode Tour
No in-app purchases
National Forest Explorer
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Rhode Tour free?
Is National Forest Explorer free?
Which has better reviews, Rhode Tour or National Forest Explorer?
Do Rhode Tour or National Forest Explorer have ads?
Which is updated more often, Rhode Tour or National Forest Explorer?
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