Comparison

Polarsteps vs MapWalker

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Polarsteps

Plan, track, and relive your adventures with this app. It helps you create personalized itineraries, automatically logs your routes, and allows you to share your journey with friends and family. Capture memories with photos and videos, and even create shareable video reels or printed travel books.

Highlights
  • AI itinerary planner
  • Automatic route tracking
  • Photo and video capture
  • Trip sharing with updates
  • Trip Reels video creation
  • Printable Travel Books
Features
Read full description

Plan, track and relive your adventures with Polarsteps. Keep your friends and family up to date. Whether it’s a six-month trip or a weekend canoeing close to home, Polarsteps is here to capture and share your journeys as they unfold. Awards ■ Top 26 Apps — Apple App Store (2026) ■ Top 3 Travel Apps — Apple App Store (2026) ■ App of the Day — Apple App Store (2025) PLAN ■ AI itinerary planner: Create a personalized adventure based on past trips or current goals. ■ Destination snapshots: Get a quick overview of each place, why it fits your travel style, and which friends have already been there. ■ Trip details: Add notes, accommodation details, and must-see spots and activities. ■ Transport planner: Choose how you'll get from A to B for every leg of the trip. ■ Inspiration: Follow other explorers, see where they went, and get ideas for your own trips. TRACK ■ Automatic route tracking: Accurately track the route you took on a beautiful digital world map. ■ Travel Buddies: Invite friends to track trips together. ■ Capture the adventure: Add photos, videos, and stories to each step to bring your journey to life. ■ Travel stats: See how much of the world you’ve traveled, with your total of countries visited, distances covered, and more. ■ Top spots: Add your favorite places and activities so they’re part of your story. ■ Transport mode: Select how you got from place to place, whether by plane, train, or even tuk tuk. SHARE ■ Trip updates: Share your journey so friends and family can follow along from anywhere, seeing where you are and what you’ve been up to. ■ Traveler tips: Leave suggestions for other travelers on what to see and do. ■ Privacy controls: Decide who sees your adventures: everyone, followers only, or you only. RELIVE ■ Digital memories: Scroll through the places, photos, stories, and stats you’ve captured across all your trips. ■ Trip Reels: With the press of a button, transform your trip into a memorable video (also perfect to share on socials). ■ Travel Books: Turn your trip into a beautifully printed Travel Book that showcases your route and memories. WHAT OUR USERS SAY: “Love this app! It tracks me on my vacation and provides real-time notifications to friends and family of my trip. At the end, I ordered a Travel Book of my photos which is very high quality.” “The Polarsteps app is great. I am totally addicted. It is so nice to keep up with all your travels. And friends and family can follow you wherever you go. The Travel Book, which you can order afterwards, is of very good quality.” “I’ve been using this app for years now. It’s always been good and it keeps getting better.” WHAT THE PRESS ARE SAYING ABOUT POLARSTEPS “The Polarsteps app replaces your travel journal, making it easier and more beautiful.” - National Geographic “Polarsteps helps you track and share your journeys in an easy and visually appealing way” - The Next Web “Polarsteps’ resulting travel log is impressive, and is the source of a severe case of itchy feet in your correspondent.” - TechCrunch

About

MapWalker

Virtually explore the world by creating and sharing custom walking and driving routes. Plan your journeys, save your paths, and even add landmarks for a personalized travel experience.

Highlights
  • Simulated virtual travel on map
  • Create and save custom travel paths
  • Edit and add landmarks to routes
  • Share travel paths via iCloud/Dropbox
  • Replay saved travel path movements
  • Locate current position on path
Features
Read full description

Rotate your iPhone or iPad to start an amazing virtual trip on map around the world. Control the traveler to move on map and create your walking and driving trails. With MapWalker, you can traverse the whole world in your hands and create your own travel maps. You can also plan your travel path for your travel plans. Features: • Simulated Travel: Pick a start place and rotate your iPhone/iPad to start a virtual trip on map. • Save and Share Travel Path: You can save the dynamic travel path to create your own travel map. You can also take the snapshot of the travel path as a picture for sharing. • Travel Path Replay: You can see the movement of the saved travel path on map. • Travel Path Edit: To create your own landmarks on the saved travel path. • Travel Path Locate: You can see your current location on the travel path. • ReplayKit enabled. • Support for iMessage: Find and share nearby places via iMessage. • Export and import travel paths via iCloud/Dropbox. • Wi-Fi Transfer: Quickly transfer travel paths to others via Wi-Fi. With MapWalker, you can enjoy traveling anytime, anywhere.

Screenshots

Polarsteps4 screens
MapWalker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Polarsteps at 90% against MapWalker's 40%. Polarsteps also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and rating (4.9 vs 1.0). MapWalker's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 17.0). On 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Polarsteps is free to download; MapWalker costs $2.99 up front. Polarsteps sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and MapWalker sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Polarsteps holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Polarsteps has 9.5K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 90% of Polarsteps's written reviews are positive against 40% of MapWalker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Polarsteps ships an update every 4 days, MapWalker every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and September 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
Polarsteps versus MapWalker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPolarstepsMapWalker
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.9 (9.5K ratings) — better1.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews89.6% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings9.5K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#49 — better—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size218 MB7 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperPolarsteps B.V.Little Sam Software

Customer experience

Polarsteps

All ratings9,486 ratings
Positive97.8%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews2,223 reviews
Positive89.6%
Neutral4.0%
Negative6.4%

MapWalker

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

Bugs and requests

Polarsteps

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Trouble uploading videos
  • Incorrect time zone and location tracking
  • Steps and photos randomly disappearing
  • Crashes and freezes during usage

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to collaborate on trips with others
  • Option to customize page layouts for travel books
  • Improved video support and integration
  • More flexible map and route editing tools
  • Synchronization across multiple devices

MapWalker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Polarsteps

Subscriptions2
  • Plus Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Plus Yearly$34.991 Year
3 purchases

MapWalker

One-time3
  • 100 Coins$0.99
  • 550 Coins$4.99
  • 1200 Coins$9.99

Questions

Is Polarsteps free?
Polarsteps is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MapWalker free?
MapWalker costs $2.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Polarsteps or MapWalker?
Polarsteps is rated higher. Polarsteps averages 4.9 out of 5 from 9.5K ratings, while MapWalker averages 1.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Polarsteps or MapWalker have ads?
Neither Polarsteps nor MapWalker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Polarsteps or MapWalker?
Polarsteps ships an update every 4 days, and MapWalker every 2 months. Most recently, Polarsteps was updated on September 27, 2026 and MapWalker on September 12, 2026.

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