Polarsteps vs Drive Stories
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- AI itinerary planner
- Automatic route tracking
- Photo and video capture
- Trip sharing with updates
- Trip Reels video creation
- Printable Travel Books
Read full descriptionHide full description
Join 23M+ travelers using Polarsteps as their all-in-one travel app. Build unique itineraries with the travel planner, let the travel tracker record your route, share the journey with friends and family, and turn it into a photo book to relive later. Whether it's a six-month trip or a weekend canoeing close to home, Polarsteps is here to capture and share your journey as it unfolds. 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
Drive Stories
Experience your travels with location-based audio stories that bring places to life. Discover history, landmarks, and fascinating facts as you drive, with seamless in-car integration. Transform every journey into an immersive narrative.
- Location-based audio stories
- Seamless in-car use
- Apple CarPlay integration
- Over 40 languages
- 15 story categories
- Choice of 10 voices
- Global location selection
Read full descriptionHide full description
Drive Stories : Location-Based Audio Stories *** 2025 Fast Company Innovation Award *** 2025 Online Design Award *** 2026 Webby Award Nominee Discover a new way to experience your drives with Drive Stories, an innovative audio travel app that brings locations to life. As you travel, Drive Stories delivers captivating, location-based factual stories about the places you pass through—whether it’s the history of a small town, the lore of a landmark, or fascinating facts about your surroundings. Perfect for road trips, commutes, or spontaneous adventures, the app transforms every journey into an immersive narrative experience. Designed for seamless in-car use, Drive Stories is fully compatible on Apple iOS devices and Apple CarPlay, ensuring safe and easy access to stories while keeping your focus on the road. Simply launch the app, choose a location and category, and enjoy audio stories tailored to your route. Your first 5 stories are free - no strings attached - then choose a monthly or annual plan. Drive Stories is an invitation to discover — a hands-free experience that delights, informs, & entertains by fostering a deeper connection with the people, places, & histories of the places you are traveling through. Awarded by some of the top industry experts, including a 2025 Fast Company Innovation Award. Download the app today and experience one of the smartest and most robust travel apps on the market. FEATURES: - Integrated into Apple CarPlay for seamless use while driving - Available in over 40 languages - Choose from 15 categories from any location you select - Choose from 10 different voices to find the one you like to listen to the most - Choose ANY location in the world, wherever you are - Focus on what matters - audio stories keep your eyes off your phone and on your surroundings ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, DRIVE STORIES WORKS The app will automatically find your GPS coordinates and based on your geolocation, will identify 10 of the nearest cities, towns and villages near you. Simply tap a location and category and hit play. SELECT FROM 15 CATEGORIES * Introduction (of Location) * Important People * Wildlife & Nature * Economy & Industry * Food * Architecture * Sport * Political & Social * For Kids * Points of Interest * Art, Literature & Music * Science & Innovation * Entertainment * Local Language * Weird & Wonderful ABOUT DRIVE STORIES Drive Stories is a passionate return to the open road and the driving experience, helping unlock location stories from all around the world - allowing us to create enjoyable moments of open-road freedom and a leading example of how technology can help unlock knowledge and information in an exciting new way. Drive Stories wants to make every drive a memorable one, no matter where the road takes you.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Polarsteps at 4.9 against Drive Stories's 3.3. Polarsteps also leads on ratings volume (10K vs 4) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Polarsteps sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Drive Stories sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Polarsteps holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Polarsteps has 10K ratings behind it against 4, 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 80% of Drive Stories's.
Polarsteps ships an update every 4 days, Drive Stories every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Polarsteps | Drive Stories |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (10K ratings) — better | 3.3 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 89.8% of reviews — better | 80.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 10K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | #53 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 228 MB | 53 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Polarsteps B.V. | Thomas Moeller |
Customer experience
Polarsteps
Drive Stories
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
Drive Stories
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Polarsteps
- Plus Monthly$9.991 Month
- Plus Yearly$34.991 Year
Drive Stories
- Monthly$2.991 Month
- Annual$34.991 Year









