The best hiking apps, by what you actually need them for
There is no single best hiking app, because "hiking" covers four different jobs: finding a trail, planning a route, following it without signal, and getting back when you have left it. Most apps are excellent at one of these and mediocre at the rest. We make one of the apps below, so we have said plainly where it is the right pick and where it is not.
The short answer
| If you need to… | Best pick | Offline | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get back to the car after you have left the trail | MushTrail | Yes — the map of your area downloads itself | Free for the way back |
| Find a good trail for the weekend | AllTrails | With AllTrails+ | Free to browse; Plus about $36/yr |
| Plan a hike or bike route in Europe | Komoot | Unlocked regions | One region free; Premium about $60/yr |
| Plan on topo and satellite layers | Gaia GPS | With Premium | Premium about $40/yr |
| Know whose land you are standing on (US) | onX Backcountry | With Premium | Premium about $30/yr |
| Walk a long-distance trail (AT, PCT and others) | FarOut | Yes, per guide | Each guide bought once |
| One free map that just works offline | Organic Maps | Yes, unlimited | Free, no ads |
| Tinker with every setting | OsmAnd | Yes | Free with a download limit; paid for unlimited |
Most people need two of these, not one: something to find the walk and something that works when the signal goes. Below is what each app is genuinely best at, and the catch.
1. MushTrail — best for getting back when you have left the trail
Every other app on this list assumes you are on a trail, or on a route you planned. Foragers, birdwatchers, dog walkers and anyone who follows a path that turns into no path are not. MushTrail is built for exactly that afternoon: it marks the point where you entered the forest, records the line you actually walked, and when you are ready shows one arrow back to the start, with the distance. No reading a map, no signal needed.
While you still have signal it downloads an offline map of about 60 km around you by itself, so there is nothing to prepare the night before. You can save any spot — a parking place, a patch of chanterelles — with one tap, and the same arrow will lead you back to it next season. The walk home is free on iPhone and Android; a paid plan unlocks your full history of past trips.
The catch: it is not a trail catalogue and not a route planner. If you want to choose where to walk, pair it with AllTrails or Komoot. Get MushTrail.
2. AllTrails — best for finding a trail
The largest catalogue of trails, with photos, reviews and recent conditions from people who walked them last week. For "where should we go on Sunday" it has no real rival, and following a chosen trail on the map is simple.
The catch: offline maps, wrong-turn alerts and live location sharing need AllTrails+ (about $36 a year in the US; a higher Peak tier adds custom routes). Step off the marked trail and the app has much less to say.
3. Komoot — best for planning routes in Europe
Komoot's planner is the friendliest way to draw a hiking or cycling route: it snaps to paths, shows the surface and the climb, and turns the route into turn-by-turn voice navigation. Its route collections are strong across Germany, the Alps and the rest of Europe.
The catch: offline use depends on having the region unlocked; every account gets one region free, and the rest come with Premium (about $60 a year). The pricing has changed several times since 2025, so check in the app what you actually get.
4. Gaia GPS — best for topo maps and serious planning
The best map layering here: topo, satellite, slope shading, public-land boundaries and a precise route planner. If you plan on contour lines, it is a pleasure.
The catch: the full offline map catalogue is behind Premium (around $40 a year), and the map sources lean towards North America.
5. onX Backcountry — best for public and private land in the US
Topo and satellite maps, trail data and route building, with an optional layer that shows land ownership — useful wherever trails cross private property.
The catch: offline maps need Premium (about $30 a year); the private-land layer is the more expensive Elite tier. Outside the US it has little to offer.
6. FarOut — best for long-distance trails
Trail-specific guides for the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and hundreds of others, with water sources, campsites and comments from hikers ahead of you. Once a guide is downloaded, everything works offline.
The catch: each guide is bought separately (or through a monthly subscription), and it is overkill for a day walk.
7. Organic Maps — best free offline map
Free, open source, no ads, no account, built on OpenStreetMap. Unlimited offline downloads, track recording and GPX import and export. If you install one map for the outdoors and never want to think about subscriptions, this is it.
The catch: trails are only as good as OpenStreetMap in your forest — excellent in the Alps, patchy where nobody has mapped. It has an outdoor style with contour lines, but no satellite imagery.
8. OsmAnd — best for people who like settings
Contour lines, custom routing profiles, plugins, offline search and fine-grained track recording, also on OpenStreetMap.
The catch: the free version limits the number of map downloads, and the interface is dense. Powerful, but not the app to set up for a parent.
How we picked
Every app was judged on the same four questions, because these are the ones that matter when the signal goes:
- Does it work with no connection — maps downloaded in advance, not just cached?
- Does it record where you walked, even with the screen off?
- Does it get you back if you leave the planned route?
- What does it cost to do the above — not what the free tier advertises?
For a deeper look at offline use only, see the best GPS apps for hiking with offline maps.
Common questions
What is the best free hiking app? For a map: Organic Maps — free, offline, no ads. For finding trails: the free version of AllTrails, as long as you will have signal. For getting back to the start without signal: MushTrail, whose way home is free.
Which hiking apps work without signal? All of them can show your position, because GPS needs no internet — see does GPS work without internet. What differs is the map: Organic Maps, OsmAnd and MushTrail have it offline for free; AllTrails, Gaia GPS and onX need a subscription for it.
Is a paid hiking app worth it? If you plan routes every week, yes — the planning tools are what you pay for. For occasional walks, a free offline map plus a way back to the car covers what actually goes wrong.
Do I still need a compass? A phone can run flat; a compass cannot. It weighs nothing, and using one takes ten minutes to learn.
Prices checked in October 2026 in US pricing and rounded; they change often and differ by country — check the store before subscribing. We have no affiliate arrangement with any app here.