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Get More out of Your Hike With These Terrific Apps
Your iPhone can be a huge help on that next big adventure into the wilderness. However, to make it the most beneficial tool, you're going to want more than what the standard apps can offer, especially when it comes to being away from the internet. These are the best hiking apps to help you navigate, stay safe, and more.
Gaia GPS has been around for years, making wilderness exploration easier and safer than ever before. In the latest version, it's been infused with the best topographical maps available in the United States, Canada and other countries. Gaia GPS supports downloading maps for offline use, and allows you to save your tracks, way points, and maps to the cloud so you can access them from any of your iOS devices or computer. Search for trails, parks, natural features, and more from within one app.
Why we love it
Gaia GPS has, and continues to, set the standard that other outdoors GPS apps have to live up to. It includes topo maps from the United States Geological Service, United States Forestry Service, and more. It even has its own vector-based topographic map of the entire world, and all of the maps are easy to download for use even when you have no internet connection. Allowing you to record and save tracks and way points, it's like having a standalone GPS device right in your iPhone.
For people who want to be able to survive emergencies in the outdoors
Written by a former SAS soldier and instructor, John "Lofty" Wiseman, the SAS Survival Guide is what you need in your back pocket to get through any outdoors emergency. It includes the full text of the book, optimized for the iPhone, along with 16 videos providing invaluable survival tips. This app also provides photo galleries of animal tracks and knots. It also gives you information on edible, poisonous, and medicinal plants. A 100+ question quiz will help you determine if you have the knowledge to survive a true emergency, and other utilities like a Morse Code signalling device and sun compass are included to help you in the wilderness.
Why we love it
When it comes to survival training, this book/app is the ultimate choice. It's chock-full of valuable information, and the app also includes handy utilities within it that will help ensure that you can deal with anything nature throws at you. It also includes Urban SAS Survival, the ultimate guide to fending for yourself in an urban environment, like after the zombie apocalypse.
For those who want to hike, cycle, or explore the British countryside
This is the app trusted by thousands of hikers, cyclists, explorers, and outdoor instructors. It makes it easy to enjoy the British countryside with confidence, because the app provides you with fully downloadable maps including the Explorer 1:25K Ordnance Survey maps. You get full statistics and elevation profiles when you're planning your route, and 200,000 preplanned routes are just waiting for you to explore. This is a fully functional GPS device at a fraction of the cost of a handheld unit, and it's accurate to within 10 meters. The app even includes a hands-free mode for cyclists.
Why we love it
This app isn't just great for hikers in Great Britain, but for anyone traveling the outdoors: hikers, cyclists, or explorers. It provides detailed Ordnance Survey maps, which can be downloaded for use when you don't have an internet signal. The app also provides you with 250,000 points of interest, with a lightning fast search tool.
For people who want a simple way to keep track of their hikes
Hike is a fairly simple app, but it's complete enough for the average hiker. With this app, you can automatically record your voyage through the countryside, and the app automatically stops tracking when you return to your starting point. It records distance, duration, and elevation statistics, and includes widgets to display those details. It also integrates with HealthKit on the Apple Watch, allowing you to start a workout session that contributes to your Activity Rings. Unfortunately, it doesn't provide you with any downloadable maps like other apps do.
Why we love it
Hike is a good way to keep track of your hiking workout, and it gives you spoken feedback as you go. You can drop pins on the map to mark important waypoints, adding a description for each marker as well as for the hike itself. If you follow a route that takes you back to your starting point, Hike automatically stops tracking when you return to where you began your journey.
For the hiker who wants detailed statistics of their journeys to share with a large community
Map My Hike provides you with a terrific way to map your travels and share them with others. It helps you discover new hiking trails to explore, all the while allowing you to keep an eye on how well you're performing during your workout. If you have an Apple Watch, Map My Hike integrates with the wearable to monitor and analyze your heart rate, so you can make sure you're maximizing your workout. At the end of the hike, detailed statistics are available to review and share, including pace, distance, duration, calorie burn, elevation, and more.
Why we love it
This app gives you all the information you need to make the most of your hike. It allows you to view detailed statistics about your journeys, mapping your progress and helping you build your endurance with encouragement and motivation. The only downside is that you can't download the maps for offline use.
For hikers who want to have a portable GPS and more on their iPhone
With GPS Hiker, you get all of the features of a standalone GPS device and then some. It supports offline maps, using Open Street, Open Cycle, Hike Bike, and Custom Map Images. The app also supports importing and exporting GPX files, so you can use preplanned routes or save your tracks for use with other GPS applications. Follow your tracks along with those of others, helping to make sure you stay on the right path, importing GPX files from community websites. GPS Hiker also includes a built-in camera, so you can take pictures without ever leaving the app. You can share those photos through email or Twitter.
Why we love it
The best feature of GPS Hiker is the ability to import GPX files from other GPS websites and devices. You can enjoy the benefit of following in others' footsteps, helping to ensure you make the most of your hike and stay on the right path to be safe. It supports geotagged photographs, so you can keep a visual memory of where you've been and what you've experienced.
For those who want to enjoy famous hikes without leaving their neighborhood
Through Hike At Home, you can compare the steps you walk throughout the day with the paths thousands have enjoyed in the great outdoors. Using your iPhone's built-in pedometer and the Health app, Hike At Home keeps track of how far you've walked and then displays that as if you were following one of the three greatest hiking trails in the United States. Choose from the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail, or the Continental Divide Trail, and see how far your daily walks get you along those famous paths. It shows famous landmarks along the trail, so you can see how long it would take you to get from one spot to another.
Why we love it
This is a unique app in that it allows you to go hiking without going hiking. Instead, it takes the walking you do everyday and translates it into following one of the greatest hiking paths in the United States. You can keep an eye on how far you've traversed along one of these amazing trails, without ever leaving your home or neighborhood. It even includes a Today widget to track your progress.
For people who want to find exciting new trails to hike
Naturapps is a good way to find new hiking trails, and get more information about them before you set out. It provides you with a full description of the trail, along with a picture gallery and directions to the path's starting point. Through in-app purchase, you can download high-quality interactive maps of the path that keeps track of your position and trail using your iPhone's GPS. Once you download the guides, they're fully available offline so you don't have to have an internet connection. Some routes are even sponsored, and available for free.
Why we love it
This is a good app for finding out about new trails that you've never explored before. It allows you to get plenty of information about hiking paths, dividing them into levels so you don't tackle a hike that's beyond your capabilities. It can get rather costly, though, since you have to purchase each trail separately.
For the outdoor enthusiast who wants a great GPS app for all of their activities
With Map My Tracks Walking, you get a terrific GPS experience. It provides you with information about your distance traveled, speed, pace, heart rate, calories burned, duration, and elevation gains and losses. It synchronizes to MapMyTracks.com for detailed analysis of your performance, and you can even stream your cycle rides, runs, or hikes live for friends and family to follow online. It's a social GPS app with plenty of features to keep your hike fun and safe.
Why we love it
The social experience behind this app is extraordinary. It allows you to live stream your hikes, assuming you have an internet connection, so your friends and family can follow along and encourage you. At the same time, it provides all of the features you would expect from a GPS mapping app, giving you a great outline of your hike, bicycle ride, or any other outdoor voyage.
