The best walking apps: Time to go exploring with your phone

Walking apps vary from a basic electronic map with the ability to plot and record routes, to more extensive offerings featuring photos, reviews, searchable databases of routes and online communities.

Some even have dual live tracking, which enables another person to follow your hike in realtime, together with an emergency beacon.

We tested the most popular walking apps available in the UK. There are other outdoor and fitness apps available, but our focus here was those with mapping and route planning functionality.

For each app we’ve examined its key features, and with the most popular we’ve included a review by an outdoor expert who uses it.

In our test we focused on:

• Routes: Was it easy to find walking routes around a given location and were they reliable to follow? Was it easy to plot your own hike, save it, then follow it out on the trail?
• Mapping: We looked at how detailed the maps are on the app. Are they most suitable for town and easy country walking, or do they include features that allow you to explore further afield into the hills, mountains and remote parts of the UK?
• Usability: Is the app easy to use and can you get started quickly, or is it going to take several YouTube videos and the help of a friendly teenager to understand it?

Ordnance Survey printed its first map in 1801 and is Britain’s national mapping agency. Its maps are very detailed and are respected across the world.

The OS Maps app offers a free version, which allows you to search for routes near you and plot your own. However, the detailed Explorer and Landranger maps are only available on subscription.

This app is all about the map. It has no-frills detailed and accurate mapping coverage of the UK. It’s a simple, uncluttered app that’s easy to use and search for routes. You can download and print different maps from the app to take with you when you walk. The fly-through and 3D features on subscription are fun.

The free version only has basic mapping. To benefit from this app you need to pay to access the more detailed mapping levels. For route planning, it’s great in national parks, because it has a snap-to feature, which follows public rights of way – but it’s more fiddly to use to plot a route elsewhere. Also, you can‘t view multiple routes at once.

Reece Robinson is a mountain leader and rock-climbing instructor. He says: “I use the OS Maps app mainly on my phone as an easy reference, but I also use it from a laptop to print a paper map of the area I need.

“It’s great to be able to quickly reach into my pocket, open the app and see exactly where I am. The app is also very useful for planning a route before I set off or tracking my route while out and about. It gives me lots of useful info such as time taken, distance, height gained, and my current position as a grid reference. It also has a built-in compass, which is useful.”

A great, no-frills app for detailed and accurate mapping. It doesn’t have the same online community as other apps and it can be fiddly to plot routes outside of national parks.

Komoot is based in Germany and became established in mainland Europe before becoming popular in the UK. It has a basic free package with one map region included. You can purchase further mapping packages, including area and worldwide mapping, or choose the premium package which includes on-tour weather, multi-day planning and live tracking that enables you to share your location with an emergency contact.

Komoot’s big selling point is route finding and planning. The app opens on a ‘Discover’ page rather than a map.

To help you find your next adventure there is a library of route collections, tours and users’ routes, which include photographs and comments. Planning your own hike is simple. You pinpoint your starting point, add a destination, and Komoot will come up with a walking route based on your experience level. It even includes details such as whether the route is on roads, paths or tracks.

Out on the trail, there is voice navigation and turn-by-turn directions. The app will record your walk and you can upload photos before sharing it with the online community.

The mapping is basic and lacking in detail. Those heading for the mountains would be wise to take an OS printed map as well – something that equally applies to all walking apps – but it’s fine for town and countryside rambles.

Kate Garner, community lead for outdoor group Adventure Queens, says: “Komoot is brilliant for finding, planning and recording walking, running or cycling routes, and particularly useful if you are planning to share your routes with others for group activities.

“I organise walks for the Shropshire Adventure Queens group and love the amount of information that Komoot provides. It really helps people understand the distance, the elevation, the type of terrain and the availability of amenities.

“It’s social and lovely to share what you’ve been up to and connect with others to see what inspiring adventures they’ve had. It’s also easy to record and upload activities through your watch or phone.”

A great app for a beginner walker or those wanting it for route finding and planning. There’s a great online community to share your walks with and get inspiration from. But the mapping detail is a real drawback if you are walking in more remote terrain.

Another walking app that has its headquarters in Germany, Outdooractive claims to be the world’s largest platform for outdoor tourism.

You can browse trails and walking route suggestions with descriptions and photos. You can plot and record your hikes and then share them with its large global community. There are also online travel guides for your worldwide exploring.

Outdooractive’s plus-points include a great range of detailed worldwide maps, fast route planning and a big online community.

The app has something for everyone, from a Sunday stroll to an alpine adventure. You can browse route suggestions, photos and reviews.

It’s straightforward to plot your own routes and then follow them. You can share them to the online community. You can also download routes or print them out and follow voice guidance on the trail.

It’s also good for worldwide holiday inspiration, with travel guides to get you out adventuring.

There is a huge amount of detail on this app – possibly more than a beginner needs. It does take time to learn how to get the most from the app. Plus, a paid subscription is also needed to access detailed maps.

Mountain leader Tom Hanna, from North Yorkshire, says: “This is the app I use the most as it has an extensive range of maps for subscribers, including Ordnance Survey and Harvey Maps in the UK. The planning process is straightforward and easy to use. The ‘snap to path’ model works well and the app produces accurate statistics for routes.

“I also really like the community routes, which have provided inspiration for my personal walking and when planning tours for the company. I think it’s a great app for all abilities.”

A comprehensive walking app that can take you from your first steps in walking all the way through to mountain and worldwide treks. However, it takes time to learn to use, so other apps may be better suited to novice walkers.

AllTrails is a US-based global walking app, which is designed to help people discover the outdoors. You can create and follow your own routes, but the main selling point is the browsable collection of curated walks (almost 6,000 in England alone).

Enter a location and it finds ready-made routes, including mapping, description, difficulty level and other useful details such as whether it is dog friendly and a weather forecast.

AllTrails is one of the most inclusive apps, with dog-friendly, child-friendly and wheelchair-friendly routes. You get access to road, satellite and topographical maps (although not with the level of detail of OS Maps), as well as details such as time, distance, top speed and weather forecasts. There are even GPS directions to guide you to the start of your route.

The subscription version allows you to download maps, see them in 3D, gives you alerts when you go off trail and a chosen safety contact can track your progress.

We also love that AllTrails has planted more than 10,000 trees to date and is donating one per cent of its profits to environmental initiatives worldwide.

Many of the routes on the app are created by volunteers. This can result in irrelevant or inaccurate information – so check out the reviews before you set out.

The mapping isn’t very detailed and you need to subscribe to be able to download maps.

Marlon Miah is the founder of the 20,000-strong Hiking Buddies walking group.

He says: “I have been using AllTrails for around a year and, overall, it’s spot on. It’s very user-friendly and takes about 20 minutes to get used to. I’m not very tech savvy and I’m fine with it.

“I love how easy it is. You put in where you want to hike to see what routes they have, and you can look at photos, how far it is, how technical it is and reviews. You can also save a route you have done to show your friends or just keep for yourself.

“The only downside I’ve found is that some old routes might not be true to the GPS location, and that could be down to a mixture of things, but I’d stick to the well-known routes and trails.”

AllTrails is a brilliant app for beginners looking for off-the-shelf walks in a particular area. It’s also great if you are visiting somewhere you don’t know and want to see where to walk. You can create your own routes, but its main selling point is the browsable collection.

Memory-Map has been around for more than 20 years and was creating mapping for PDAs (handheld computers, now replaced by smartphones) when the iPhone was just a twinkle in Apple’s eye.

Now the developers have launched Memory-Map for All (MM4A). It’s a simple app that’s all about creating your own routes and the maps, with no community involvement or inspiration.

It’s got a great map view screen and is uncluttered. You get full OS mapping with subscription, route planning and recording, easy GPX import and export and offline capabilities.

There are no route suggestions and no community aspect, if those features are important to you.

Tom Hutton is a mountain bike guide, mountain leader and outdoor author who uses Memory-Map for All. He says: “The OS mapping can be downloaded onto a hard drive and your phone at a reasonable price.

“On the hard drive, it’s a useful planning tool and maps can be printed and laminated easily enough.

“On the phone, it’s a functional navigation app, which is simply to check where I am on the map. I don’t tend to draw or follow routes on the app. I also don’t use it to record or share info. For those reasons I love it and rely quite heavily on it.

“But it does drive me mad trying to manage which maps I have already bought, which are already downloaded, which are online and which need downloading. And downloading to my phone seems to take hours, even rested against my router.”

A simple app for route planning and recording using OS mapping. You need to subscribe for it to be worth using on your phone.

Topo GPS is a simple app but it works well. You need a subscription for OS mapping and you can download worldwide maps if you are travelling abroad.

This walking app is reliable and fast. You can easily plot and record routes by activity, and add photos and waypoints. It has a good range of the official topographic maps of many countries – making it great for active overseas travelling.

It also never saves your data, a major plus for those who value keeping their details private.

There are no community features on this app. It has OS mapping on subscription, but only the 1:25000 at present. If you are travelling, you’ll have to pay to add each country’s topographical maps to the app, which can be costly.

A simple but powerful app for anyone who isn’t interested in any community aspects and prefers to keep their own data private.

Fatmap was bought by Strava in January 2023. It’s another community-oriented app where you can discover new routes and share them with other users.

It’s great for route planning and inspiration. It integrates with Strava and GPS watches. Route planning is very easy and it has some fun interactive and 3D features that are helpful for visualising routes.

The free version is very basic, and you need to pay a subscription to get OS maps and global topographical maps. Some functions don’t work offline either, such as route planning.

This is a fun and easy-to-use app, especially for beginners looking for inspiration. More advanced users may find the app cluttered, and gaps in its offline functions – such as route plotting – are frustrating.

A new arrival to the walking apps world. Hiiker was founded by Irishman Paul Finlay, a keen long-distance walker who wanted to create an app to help people discover the world’s long-distance trails.

Now Hiiker boasts thousands of backpacking and hiking routes with reviews, photos and places to stay.

The main screen is clear and the subscription version gives you Harvey Maps, OS maps and international topographical maps. This is another community-focused app with loads of route and accommodation recommendations too. You can plan and record your routes and there is a huge database of trails and recommendations you can browse for inspiration. You can also download maps for offline use.

The free maps are very basic, so once again you really do need to purchase the subscription if you plan to go off exploring in wilder areas. Planned routes are also not shown on the main screen; you have to tap through to another screen, which may frustrate many users.

This is a new app that is growing in popularity. There have been a few technical issues, which the developers say are being ironed out. But for backpackers this could become a very useful app for exploring worldwide.