We tested the navigation functionality by creating a valid GPX route in Suunto Movescount and importing it to each app. We were testing features, accuracy, ease of use and battery consumption. This drastically reduces the time we need to plan our trips. For example, if we travel to France and want to climb some mountain, we check if there is any GPS track for that mountain available online – and there usually is. It is simply because we use them all the time. Note: You might ask yourself why we are so focused on GPS tracks. Furthermore, it should also show where you hiked on a map. For example, duration, total distance, total ascent, total descent, lowest point, highest point etc. We also thought that a hiking app should provide you with some information about your hikes. When it comes to maps, we were not picky, but we did indeed consider offline maps and/or topographic maps as a benefit. To learn more about GPS tracks check out our article What are GPS tracks and how to use them for hiking. GPS tracks are very useful for hiking because it is easy to get them online and they make navigation during hikes easier. In our opinion every hiking app should provide GPS navigation and GPS tracking.īy GPS navigation we mean that the app can show your current location and direction on a map and supports import of GPS tracks. What features did we consider as mandatory? However, many of these apps are also available for iOS (see the table below), but since we don’t have any iOS device, we only tested them on an Android device. We only tested hiking apps that come for free and are available for the Android operating system.

From those we choose the best five and reviewed them here. For the last couple of weeks, we have been testing the 8 top-rated hiking apps on Google Play.

We have mostly been using the Suunto Ambit 2 watch for navigation on our hikes, but we decided to try out the so-called hiking apps. Some hiking apps come with preloaded trails so that you can easily find hikes near your location. Furthermore, hiking apps can also track your hikes and show you details about each hike such as the duration, distance, ascent, decent etc. A hiking app allows you to easily navigate along the trails and quickly find the best route to your destination.

Relive hiking app