GPS OS Grid Reference vs Alpine Quest
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
GPS OS Grid Reference
This app accurately pinpoints your location on Ordnance Survey maps for Great Britain and Ireland, even without a phone signal. It offers precise grid references, waypoint creation, and navigation features. The display is designed for clarity in all lighting conditions, and it optimizes battery usage.
- Offline map location
- Accurate grid references
- Waypoint creation and management
- High-contrast display
- Battery optimization
- Share waypoints
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GPS OS provides a fast and accurate way to locate your position on an Ordnance Survey map, both in Great Britain and Ireland. • No phone signal required - works in the most remote locations. • OSTN15 transform data for high conversion accuracy (better than 1m). • 6, 8 and 10 figure grid references. • A large, clear, high contrast display ensures you can easily read your position in any light conditions. • Optimises the frequency of position updates depending on battery charge and speed of travel to make sure you can always make calls at the end of the day. • Create waypoints from a map, your current location or manually enter Ordnance Survey coordinates. • Explore waypoints and get directions in Apple Maps. • Share waypoints with other apps or users. • No adverts. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Includes OSTN15 transform data licensed with permission. Copyright and database rights Ordnance Survey Limited 2016, ©Crown copyright and database rights Land and Property Services 2016 and/or ©Ordnance Survey Ireland, 2016. All rights reserved.
Alpine Quest
Plan routes and navigate precisely on any terrain, online or offline. Offers advanced coordinate systems and export options for outdoor missions and exploration. A PRO upgrade unlocks full features like unlimited layers and tracking.
- Route and area planning on map
- Point-to-point and route navigation
- Movement tracking with elevation/speed
- Support for MGRS, UTM, Lat-Lon
- GPX, KML, GeoJSON export/import
- Layer-based data management
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Tactical GPS is the Swiss Army knife of navigation - everything you need in one app. Plan routes, navigate cross-country, record tracks, analyze terrain and share your map with your team - online or fully offline, with the precision of a purpose-built instrument. Made for soldiers, SAR teams, hikers, hunters and anyone who reads maps. Designed and built natively for iPhone and iPad. No cross-platform compromises. Just a fast, precise tactical navigation experience. SHARE & SYNC - NEW • Share a map layer with your team over iCloud: everyone sees pins, routes and shapes update live - photos, voice memos and PDF attachments included. Invite-only, no accounts, no exporting. • Connect to a TAK server to exchange position and data in real time, with built-in certificate enrollment • Export your work as GPX, KML/KMZ, GeoJSON, CSV or DXF and continue in any other tool PLAN, NAVIGATE, TRACK • Plan routes and areas directly on the map, online or offline • Generate routes with elevation profiles • Navigate point-to-point or along a route - live distance, bearing, ETA, back azimuth and elevation delta • Record tracks with pause, auto-pause and a Live Activity on your Lock Screen • Set up geofences and location alerts • Organize everything in layers - keep missions, trips and training areas separate MAPS, ONLINE OR OFFLINE • Download map regions for fully offline use • Live topographic contour lines and hillshading • MGRS, UTM or Lat/Lon grid overlay on every basemap • Overlays for trails, cycling, ski slopes and sea marks • Night-vision mode: red or green monochrome display across the entire app FIELD & TERRAIN TOOLS • Viewshed and line-of-sight analysis • Range rings, bearings and point projections • Distance and area measurement • NATO (APP-6) map symbols • Elevation and depth readings anywhere on the map • On-position weather forecasts PRECISION POSITIONING • MGRS / UTM / USNG / Lat-Lon, plus national grids: British, Irish, Swedish, Finnish, New Zealand and more • Dozens of map datums with proper transformations • True, magnetic or grid north reference • Connect an external Bluetooth GNSS receiver for higher-precision positioning • Import GPX, KML/KMZ, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, Shapefile, CSV and more PERFECT FOR • Land navigation and route planning • Hiking, cycling and off-road exploration • SAR and field operations • Outdoor training and navigation exercises Note: Route navigation, additional maps, unlimited overlays and layers, special tools, tracking, iCloud layer sharing and export features require a PRO upgrade.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Alpine Quest at 5.0 against GPS OS Grid Reference's 4.4. Alpine Quest also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume 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. GPS OS Grid Reference sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per year and Alpine Quest sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Alpine Quest holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 7 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of GPS OS Grid Reference's written reviews are positive against 83% of Alpine Quest's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
GPS OS Grid Reference ships an update every 3 months, Alpine Quest every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | GPS OS Grid Reference | Alpine Quest |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (17 ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 89.9% of reviews — better | 83.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 17 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 13 MB | 184 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tomstrails.com | Ivan Blajic |
Customer experience
GPS OS Grid Reference
Alpine Quest
Bugs and requests
GPS OS Grid Reference
Reported bugs
5 issues- Waypoint finder satellite view is blurry
- Compass is not accurate
- Accuracy has dropped recently
- Location services permanently dimmed off (iOS)
- App does not work for users not in England
Requested features
10 requests- Add map data and search functionality
- Improve satellite map clarity
- Add ability to view location on a map
- Enable navigation from point to point
- Add Apple Watch equivalent app
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- Display latitude and longitude
- Add a dynamic display for accuracy improvement
- Implement time averaging for accuracy
- Allow copying grid reference to clipboard
- Add facility to store and recall reference information
Alpine Quest
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
GPS OS Grid Reference
- Premium Features7 Days trial$5.991 Year
- Feature Pack - Compass & sharing features.Free
Alpine Quest
- Premium Version$14.99
Questions
Is GPS OS Grid Reference free?
Is Alpine Quest free?
Which has better reviews, GPS OS Grid Reference or Alpine Quest?
Do GPS OS Grid Reference or Alpine Quest have ads?
Which is updated more often, GPS OS Grid Reference or Alpine Quest?
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