Parks Seeker vs National Parks Journal
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Parks Seeker
Track your visits to national parks across the US and Canada. Log your check-ins with GPS, earn badges, and create wish lists for future adventures. Share your progress and photos with friends.
- Track visited and to-visit parks
- Detailed park information
- GPS check-ins for visits
- Earn badges for park visits
- Photo gallery for check-ins
- Create park wish lists
- Sync across devices
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How many national parks have you explored? With Parks Seeker, track your progress as you visit the national parks of the United States and Canada. View detailed information about each park, check in with your GPS location when you arrive, and share your progress, badges, and photos with friends. Parks Seeker records each park you've been to, and lets you create a wish list of the ones you'd like to travel to next! You can expand with many other types of parks, too, including the United States of America's National Battlefields, Forests, Grasslands, Historic Sites, Historical Parks, Lakeshores and Seashores, Memorials, Monuments, Preserves & Reserves, Recreation Areas, and Scenic Areas, plus Canada's National Parks and Landmarks! With Parks Seeker, you can: • Easily track your progress of parks visited and those still waiting to be explored • View detailed information about all 63 national parks • View an interactive map displaying parks and your check-ins • Check in to parks based on your current location, or create check-ins for past visits • Earn badges for different types and times of park visits • Add a photo to each check-in and view a gallery of all of your photos • Sync check-ins between multiple devices with Dropbox. • Share your visits and badges through social media, e-mail and text • Create a wish list of the parks you’d like to visit next • Locate the park closest to you based on your current GPS location Parks Seeker includes all 63 of the United States' active National Parks: Acadia · American Samoa · Arches · Badlands · Big Bend · Biscayne · Black Canyon of The Gunnison · Bryce Canyon · Canyonlands · Capitol Reef · Carlsbad Caverns · Channel Islands · Congaree · Crater Lake · Cuyahoga Valley · Death Valley · Denali · Dry Tortugas · Everglades · Gates of the Arctic · Gateway Arch · Glacier · Glacier Bay · Grand Canyon · Grand Teton · Great Basin · Great Sand Dunes · Great Smoky Mountains · Guadalupe Mountains · Haleakalā · Hawai'i Volcanoes · Hot Springs · Indiana Dunes · Isle Royale · Joshua Tree · Katmai · Kenai Fjords · Kings Canyon · Kobuk Valley · Lake Clark · Lassen Volcanic · Mammoth Cave · Mesa Verde · Mount Rainier · New River Gorge · North Cascades · Olympic · Petrified Forest · Pinnacles · Redwood · Rocky Mountain · Saguaro · Sequoia · Shenandoah · Theodore Roosevelt · Virgin Islands · Voyageurs · White Sands · Wind Cave · Wrangell–St. Elias · Yellowstone · Yosemite · Zion If you like Parks Seeker, you may also enjoy Summit Seeker—the app that tracks your progress conquering the highest point in all 50 states! Parks Seeker can use your GPS location to find the closest park to you, but the app does not require data or cellular service to use most features! Learn more at www.parksseeker.com
National Parks Journal
Document your visits to all 63 US national parks with a personal travel companion. Track visited parks, capture memories with photos and journal entries, and create shareable video reels. Everything works offline and remains private on your device.
- Track visited national parks
- Journal entries for each park
- Photo gallery organization
- Create video reels from photos
- Offline functionality
- Digital park passport and stamps
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National Parks Journal is your personal travel companion for all 63 US national parks. Track every park you visit, capture your favorite memories with photos and journal entries, and create stunning video reels to share your adventure. Everything works offline and stays private on your device. Generate a collectible park passport and have it delivered to your inbox. Whether you are planning a trip to Yellowstone, exploring the trails of Zion, or chasing sunsets at Grand Canyon, this app helps you document your journey through every national park on your checklist. Track Your National Parks Journey Keep a running checklist of every national park you have visited. See your progress across all 63 parks, check which ones remain on your bucket list, and organize your collection by state or region. Your personal park passport tracks each visit so you never lose count. Create Video Reels in Seconds Turn your national park photos into beautiful video reels instantly. Select your favorite shots from any trip and our engine builds a shareable reel set to music. Perfect for reliving your travel memories or sharing your adventure on social media. Write Your Travel Journal Go beyond a simple checklist. Add detailed diary entries for each park visit. Record the trails you hiked, the wildlife you spotted, and the scenery that took your breath away. Your digital travel journal keeps every memory organized by park. Organize Your Photo Gallery Upload and organize photos park by park. Keep your gallery sorted so you can always find that perfect shot from Yosemite, Zion, or the Grand Canyon without scrolling endlessly. Every photo stays on your device. Completely Offline and Private No login required. No accounts. No ads. Your journal, photos, checklist, and video reels stay on your device. National Parks Journal works without internet, making it the perfect travel companion for remote parks where service is unreliable. Plan Your National Park Road Trips National Parks Journal is perfect for road trips that cover multiple parks in one adventure. Planning a trip through Utah? Track your visits to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef all in one journey. Exploring the California coast? Document your stops at Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Channel Islands. Headed to the Pacific Northwest? Keep a diary of your time at Olympic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Crater Lake. Every trip, every park, every memory in one place. Collect Your Digital Park Stamps Build your personal stamp collection as you explore. Each national park visit is tracked with the date and details you choose to add. Watch your progress grow from your first park to all 63. Whether you have visited the iconic parks like Rocky Mountain, Glacier, and Great Smoky Mountains or discovered hidden gems like Congaree, Voyageurs, and Dry Tortugas, your digital passport keeps a record of every adventure. Made for Every National Park Traveler Solo travelers, couples on a vacation, families on a summer road trip, or experienced explorers working through their bucket list. National Parks Journal fits your style. Use it as a simple trip tracker or as a detailed travel diary with photos and journal entries for every stop. From the volcanic scenery of Hawaii Volcanoes to the rugged wilderness of Denali, from the white sands of Biscayne to the ancient forests of Redwood, your national park story deserves to be remembered. Your National Parks Adventure Starts Here Whether you are a seasoned explorer chasing all 63 parks or a first-time visitor planning your next vacation, National Parks Journal is the free, ad-free, and private way to track and document your national park journey. From Acadia to Zion, start your adventure today. National Parks Journal is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service (NPS). All park information is based on publicly available data.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: National Parks Journal at none against Parks Seeker's 10. National Parks Journal also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks). Parks Seeker's advantage is ratings volume (90 vs 9) and iOS requirement (12 vs 14.0). On price, review sentiment 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. Parks Seeker sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. National Parks Journal asks for nothing beyond the download.
National Parks Journal holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Parks Seeker has 90 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 93% of Parks Seeker's written reviews are positive against 100% of National Parks Journal's.
Parks Seeker ships an update every 6 weeks, National Parks Journal weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 17, 2026 and July 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Parks Seeker | National Parks Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (90 ratings) | 4.9 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 93.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 90 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 91 MB | 67 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mark Sandell | Vaibhav Teli |
Customer experience
Parks Seeker
National Parks Journal
In-app purchases
Parks Seeker
- National Battlefields$0.99
- National Recreation Areas$0.99
- National Lakeshores/Seashores$0.99
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- National Preserves & Reserves$0.99
- National Historic Sites$1.99
- National Memorials$1.99
- National Historical Parks$1.99
- National Forests$2.99
- National Monuments$2.99
- All Bundles$12.99
National Parks Journal
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Parks Seeker free?
Is National Parks Journal free?
Which has better reviews, Parks Seeker or National Parks Journal?
Do Parks Seeker or National Parks Journal have ads?
Which is updated more often, Parks Seeker or National Parks Journal?
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