Tripcast vs Backroads
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tripcast
Share your travel experiences privately with friends and family. Create trip albums, receive live photo updates, and collect everyone's photos in one place. Browse photos by location and stay connected through comments and likes.
- Live photo updates
- Private trip albums
- Collect photos from multiple users
- Map-based photo browsing
- Location-based photo tagging
- Real-time comments and likes
- Private sharing away from social media
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* Featured as “New and Noteworthy” by Apple * Tripcast lets you share your travel photos with the people who want to see everything, not just the highlights. Start a trip, invite your friends and family to the album, and give them live photo updates from the road! The best way to share your trip: • Make updates instantly: Update your family and friends in real time • Stay in touch: Ask questions, leave comments, and like posts Build an album with everybody: • Vacationers assemble!: Collect everyone's trip photos in one place • Easy backup: Download them all when you get home Map it out: • Effortless tagging: Photos are automatically added to the trip map • Browse by location: View photos by where they happened, not when Everyone is using Tripcast to share their travels: • Keep it private: Share only with the people who care the most, away from social media • Apps for everyone: Access Tripcast through gorgeous apps for iPhone and the web • Bring everyone along: Notifications keep friends and family updated whenever there's activity How it works: 1. Create: Make an album for your trip 2. Invite: Pick friends and family to follow along 3. Update: Post photos and videos as you travel Built by the team that created Cluster, featured as a Best New App in the App Store! Tripcast Club is a monthly or annual subscription to give admins more control over their groups. Check it out by visiting the Settings → Subscription Settings section of the app. By purchasing a subscription you agree to Tripcast's Terms of Use: https://tripcast.co/terms/ and Privacy Policy: https://tripcast.co/privacy/
Backroads
This app provides detailed information and daily route options for active travel adventures like biking and hiking. It offers helpful tips and regional information to enhance your journey. Your trip leaders are also available through the app for guidance.
- Daily route options
- Trip schedules
- Helpful tips
- Regional information
- Trip leader access
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Backroads is the leader in active travel, offering Biking, Hiking and Multi-Adventure Trips in 55+ countries worldwide. This Trip Companion app, and a unique log-in code, will be available to you just before your trip starts. You’ll find daily route options, schedules, helpful tips and other regional information. Of course, your incredible Trip Leaders are available every day of your trip to guide you through some of the most beautiful places in the world. We look forward to seeing you out there!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Tripcast at 4.8 against Backroads's 3.3. Tripcast also leads on ratings volume (7.1K vs 62). Backroads's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Tripcast sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Backroads asks for nothing beyond the download.
Tripcast holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tripcast has 7.1K ratings behind it against 62, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 50% of Tripcast's written reviews are positive against 52% of Backroads's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Tripcast ships an update every 2 months, Backroads every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and August 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tripcast | Backroads |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (7.1K ratings) — better | 3.3 (62 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 52.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.1K — better | 62 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 35 MB | 173 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cluster Labs, Inc. | Backroads |
Customer experience
Tripcast
Backroads
Bugs and requests
Tripcast
Reported bugs
5 issues- Invites not being sent to users
- Uploaded photos not displaying properly
- Frequent app crashes and freezes
- Account login and access issues
- Inconsistent app behavior across devices
Requested features
5 requests- Allow editing of posts and comments
- Improve photo upload and organization
- Add support for multiple photos per post
- Implement password reset functionality
- Enhance map integration and location tracking
Backroads
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tripcast
- Tripcast Friend$4.991 Month
- Tripcast Pro$9.991 Month
- Tripcast Friend$49.991 Year
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- Tripcast Pro$99.991 Year
Backroads
No in-app purchases









