I’m looking for recommendations for a good hiking companion app. Three constraints: no Watch (I’m aware much of this can probably be done just fine or even better on Watch), all data recording and processing offline on my iPhone (no having to upload to or interact with cloud), and no subscription apps.
What I’m looking for is simple display of elevation and heading. Play/pause would allow recording distance hiked along with time and elevation difference since last waypoint. Plotting track on top of map could be nice, but not required. Display of GPS location accuracy (eg. in ft) is very helpful. Perhaps display average speed, but probably more gimmicky than actually useful. I’m not looking for long-term archival, just want to be able to record a day’s worth of hiking along several waypoints. In the evening I want to know how far I went, what elevation, and how long it took. No need to save any of this or upload it to any database.
All Trails provides a lot of that even with the free version…as does a set from Abvio. The latter has Cyclemeter and Hikemeter and Runmeter ad probably a couple more but they’re all the same basic app with UI stuff for whatever sport. I use Cyclemeter because I bike but it also will do walks and hikes and about a dozen other things.
It looks like Commander Compass at the free level may do what you want. Note that the built-in Apple Compass app provides elevation, location and heading information, but no way to track routes or set waypoints.
I believe that the MapMy family of apps, at the free level, may do what you want, but may upload to the cloud. The free level of Strava may also work for you.
I have been using Gaia GPS for years. Originally it was a paid app. Now it is subscription. The subscription has a free mode with fewer maps but otherwise is quite good.
Easy to record routes. Also easy to create routes in other apps and upload them to Gaia GPS. Extracting the recorded route is done through iTunes or iOS Files. (I still use iTunes.)
You can also download portions of maps if you plan to be off the grid.
Thanks for your many suggestions. I forgot to mention I wanted something quite simple. I have the very lightweight but perfectly fine Locatometer (went ad-free for $2) to give me location and elevation, even on top of a map. The only thing I miss there is the ability to essentially start/stop so I can get elapsed time, distance, altitude.
Anyway, I briefly tried out Commander Compass but quickly realized this is far too professional for what I’m interested in.
Just looking at the App Store descriptions, I have to admit I was turned off by the privacy details (data linked to you) for All Trails and Gaia GPS. So I didn’t try out those.
I did also check out Abvio Walkmeter. Looks like this might hit the sweet spot. I’ll give it a proper trial once I get to the next trail.
AllTrails has a free option that seems to work for my wife. I don’t think they’re collecting data for sale, and I haven’t seen any sort of advertising except their own stuff through email. I use the paid option for an annual fee just because I want to support them. The drawback of the free version is that you can’t pre-download a map for your hike, so you have to have cell service at your trailhead to set it up as you head out.
There is a watch app available for install but I never use it.
We use it with cell/bluetooth/wifi turned off and it tracks using GPS just fine. It is a ‘crowd sourced’ app so it wants you to share your data with others using the cloud, but you don’t have to and you can keep everything private using appropriate settings.
