11 Best Hiking Apps of 2024: Route Planning, GPS Navigation and More

While many people like to switch off from technology when hiking, there’s no denying how useful our smartphones can be. These pocket-sized devices can help us navigate, plan routes, record our activity, and can even do things like identify wildlife or find nearby campsites.

Regardless of how you feel about bringing your phone out hiking with you, the best hiking apps are designed to make the outdoors easier to navigate. I’ve used a lot of hiking apps in my time; some good, some not-so-good and some downright awful, so I’m here to tell you which are, in my opinion, the best of the bunch.

Best hiking apps for navigation

AllTrails

AllTrails is without a doubt the best-known and most popular hiking app out there. It’s also my personal favourite for navigation and finding local trails. It features more than 200,000 curated hikes from around the world, making it super easy to find one that’s perfect for you.

Within each trail, the community can leave photos and reviews to help out others. This can be really useful for learning about path closures, a delicious restaurant on the route or amazing viewpoints to look out for.

The free version of AllTrails doesn’t let you download maps for offline use, but the Pro plan is only £29.99 per year and is totally worth it. If I could only have one hiking app, it would definitely be AllTrails!

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free or £29.99 per year for Pro

Gaia GPS

Gaia GPS transforms your smartphone into a handheld GPS device. It’s perfect for multi-day hikes and backpacking trips, as the routing tools enable you to find campsites and points of interest, as well as measure distance, elevation and altitude.

You can also search for hiking trails on Gaia GPS, create your own tracks and contribute to the community-sourced hiking database, much like you can with AllTrails.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free or £23.86 per year for Premium

Komoot

Komoot is another great hiking app for navigation. It’s able to calculate the optimal route to your destination and will provide the elevation profile and terrain of this route. The app also keeps track of your activities and allows you to connect with other hikers around the world.

Komoot’s Discover tab is really great for finding hiking inspiration, and features “collections” such as “Spellbinding hikes in the South Lake District.” Collections contain a series of hikes with photos, information and a map which you can follow on the app.

To be honest, Komoot is better suited for cycling, but it’s still one of the best hiking apps out there.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free or £4.99 per month for Premium.

FarOut (Guthook)

FarOut is easily one of the best hiking apps for thru-hikes. Lots of thru-hikers use FarOut on America’s Triple Crown Trails as the app details important information such as water sources, campsites, viewpoints, nearby towns and resupply points.

While the app itself is free, you’ll need to purchase individual trail guides within the app. Some of these are expensive — the Appalachian Trail guide is an extortionate £53, for example. That being said, it’ll allow you to save the map offline and will flag those all-essential water sources, campsites and resupply points along the trail.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases

Tip: Most GPS tracking apps will drain your phone battery, so I recommend carrying a power bank while hiking.

Best hiking apps for inspiration & planning

National Parks Service App

This one is for the US National Parks lovers! The National Parks Service App has everything you need to know about the 63 national parks, including hikes in the area, the best things to do, where to stay, park amenities and more.

Built by rangers, the app provides details on each park’s most popular hikes, including the distance and time to complete the hike. You’ll also find directions to trailheads and can download the entire park for use offline, so you can use the map function when you’re without service.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

HiiKER

The HiiKER app is excellent for learning about, planning and acquiring maps for well-known hiking trails. You can access information on over 4000 of the world’s favourite trails, such as the Pennine Way, the Tour du Mont Blanc and the Appalachian Trail.

HiiKER’s design and user interface are beautiful, making it a joy to scroll through and find hiking trails that look interesting. Each trail includes a GPS map, a printable map, information about each stage of the hike, campgrounds/accommodation on the trail and community reviews. I’ve been using it to plan my very first thru-hike: The South Downs Way.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free or £27.49 per year for Pro

FatMap

FatMap claims to be the world’s “most advanced 3D outdoor map,” and while it was originally developed for skiers, it’s also ideal for hiking in the mountains. It has advanced terrain analysis tools including slope, elevation, avalanche and more, allows you to see current and forecast snow conditions, and can even find mountain huts and campsites.

Most of the best hiking apps provide mapping, GPS navigation, topographic data, and other tools to find your way around the outdoors, but none offer the kind of depth and detail of FatMap. The detailed big-mountain imagery is simply incredible.

With this in mind, I’d recommend FatMap for planning a mountain hike in detail. The 3D map will help you to understand the terrain of your trail, as well as check the snow forecast, avalanche risks and more.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases

Best hiking apps for tracking performance

Strava

Okay, so Strava is primarily used for running to track performance statistics such as time and distance. It’s a great way to monitor your progress, record your runs and share your activity with friends.

However, if you’re trying to become a faster hiker, Strava can be a great way to measure how your speed is improving over time. I can see how trail runners, in particular, would enjoy using Strava to see their training progress and share their routes with the community.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free with in-app purchases

Best hiking apps for safety

Cairn

Cairn is one of the best hiking apps out there for safety. It has two safety features which I think are particularly useful: data on where there’s known to be a phone signal and live location sharing with trusted contacts.

Safety contacts can view your live GPS location throughout your hike and will be notified if you’re overdue to arrive at your destination. Your contacts will get information on important rescue initiation decisions if needed. Cairn also shows you where fellow hikers have found phone signal, so you can try to get to one of these locations if you need to call someone.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

Best hiking apps for education

PeakVisor

It’s nice to learn about the world around you while you’re walking through it, so why not use an app that aims to teach you about the surrounding landscape?

PeakVisor is quite remarkable in that it can identify any peak. Simply point your phone’s camera towards the peak, and the app will provide you with a detailed profile of the mountain via high-precision 3D imaging and location tracking. The profile will tell you the name and altitude of the mountain, as well as which range its in and other useful information.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: £4.29

Seek by iNaturalist

If you love to learn about the local flora and fauna while you hike, then Seek by iNaturalist is the app for you! Created by the California Academy of Sciences and National Geographic, Seek can identify plants and animals using your camera and GPS location.

Simply use the app to take a photo of your target. Seek will then use your location to filter down potential species and once it’s made an identification, it will provide you with information about what you’ve discovered.

Note: Please be responsible when using this app and refrain from disturbing wildlife.

Available on: iOS & Android
Price: Free

And there we have it — 11 of the best hiking apps to use in 2024! What are your go-to apps for hiking?

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