We often head to the outdoors to escape our over-connected and screen-filled lives. We leave behind constant notifications and blue lights for chirping birds and wide open spaces. However, sometimes our phones can benefit us when in nature. Whether you’re trying to find a new trail to hike, identify an unknown plant species or mountain peak, or secure a campground reservation, reaching for your phone might be a great way to improve your experience in the wilderness and deepen your connection to the land. Here is my list of the best outdoor apps to help make your time outside more knowledgeable, enriching, and fun.
AllTrails
Cost: Free, $35.99 a year for AllTrails+
If you’re looking for local trails, then AllTrails is a must-have app. It allows you to create, search for, and find hikes in your area to help you leave your house and explore the outdoors. Plus, it was the 2023 iPhone App of the Year, solidifying its status as one of the best outdoor apps around.
AllTrails shares valuable trail information like length, difficulty, and elevation gain. You also can filter hikes by specific parameters and save the ones that spark your interest. Once on the trail, you can follow and track your route in real time. However, my favorite function is that users can rate and review their hikes. I find these insights extremely valuable, as they often share important information on the trail’s steepness, grade, and overall condition. In fact, I remember going on a hike once that seemed straightforward but routed my group and me down a steep trail. No one got hurt, but had I read the reviews beforehand, I would have learned that it was unsafe. I now always spend a few minutes scrolling through the comments and pictures so I know what to expect.
While AllTrails is free to use, their premium offering, AllTrails+ unlocks even more benefits. Some of my top features include downloading maps for offline use, the ability to preview a trail on a 3D map, and the “distance away” filter, helping you find trails nearby. It also has several safety functions that I love, especially when I’m out hiking by myself. The app will send a notification if you accidentally step off-trail, which has saved me several times. It also lets you share your route and real-time location with your loved ones. It is a bit pricey at $35.99 per year, but if you hike often it quickly pays for itself.
AllTrails isn’t perfect (their mileage and elevation gain numbers are usually short), and you’ll want to do your own research to assess if a hike is suitable for you. Hiking blogs like Modern Hiker are great for a complete picture of a trail you’re interested in visiting. Regardless, AllTrails is one of my favorite apps to start planning my next adventure outside.
Seek by iNaturalist
Cost: Free
Have you ever been on a trail and wondered what a strange-looking plant or animal was? If so, then Seek by iNatrualist is a must-have. Using image recognition technology, this app allows you to identify plants and wildlife just by pointing your camera. It’s free to use, no account is needed, and you can start using the app right away, making it one of the best outdoor apps.
Given that you’re oftentimes away from cell service when exploring nature, I love that Seek works offline. Since downloading the app, I’ve made 111 unique observations and noticed that my plant identification skills have greatly improved. And to keep things fun, they also have ongoing challenges that you can partake in and achievements you can unlock.
If you want, you can connect your iNaturalist account and share your observations with other users. In fact, data and observations on iNaturalist have been used in thousands of scientific publications as well as the discovery of a new species.
Seek has given me a new appreciation for the outdoors and will make your time in the wilderness much more educational and engaging.
PeakFinder
Cost: $4.99
When hiking in the mountains, I often stop and marvel at the peaks around me. I love to take in their majesty and, thanks to PeakFinder, I now also know what they are. Using your phone’s camera and location, this is one of the best outdoor apps to help identify the summits around you.
Through augmented reality, PeakFinder will label the mountains as they appear on your phone screen. Alternatively, enter the coordinates of a specific location to see what the mountain ranges in that area look like. It’s a great tool to help identify where you are and learn more about the place you’re exploring. A bonus feature I appreciate is that it tracks the paths of the sun and moon in the sky so you know exactly when they’ll crest above or fall below the mountains around you.
If you’re heading somewhere remote, make sure to download the area you’re visiting within the app beforehand. A few times I received an error message because I forgot to download the region I was exploring.
Whether you’re in the middle of the city staring at the mountains in the distance, or deep in nature wondering what summits are around you, PeakFinder is a great tool to give you more context to where you’re exploring.
Watch Duty
Cost: Free, $25 a year for a membership
Years of wildfire suppression combined with climate change resulted in the most intense fire seasons we’ve ever seen. Therefore, you want to make sure you’re as informed as possible about wildfire threats when heading out into nature. To help you stay safe, download Watch Duty, one of the best outdoor apps for monitoring wildfires.
This app, created by the 503(c) Non-Profit Sherwood Forestry Service, shares real-time updates on active wildfires, including red-flag warnings and power outages, firefighting efforts, and evacuation orders. You also can set notifications alerting you of any fires in a specific area. I utilize this feature a lot when planning outdoor trips, as it keeps me informed of any wildfires at my destination and gives me more time to pivot somewhere else if needed. It’s a powerful tool run by over 100 volunteers who donate their time to share the most accurate and up-to-date information, helping keep you safe from potential wildfires.
Watch Duty is free to use, but if you want extra features consider signing up for its membership plan. For $25 a year, you’ll get access to more alerts and saved places, as well as the fire fighting flight tracker. Either way, this app will help keep you safe and informed when exploring the outdoors.
For more advice on how to recreate safely with the threat of wildfires, check out our article below!
Sundial
Cost: Free, $12.99 to access extra features
Sundial is one of the best outdoor apps when it comes to tracking the cycles of the sun and moon. Not only does it share information about sunset and sunrise, but also dawn and dusk, the phases of the moon, and when it rises and sets.
The free version gives you access to the core app and lets you adjust the date up to ±7 days. However, for a one-time $12.99 purchase, you’ll gain access to a myriad of other features like custom alerts, date changes beyond a week, and the ability to set your location anywhere on the planet. You also unlock lots of widgets for both your phone and Apple watch. While the free version works great for my needs, if you’re serious about tracking the sun and the moon then the fee is well worth it. Sadly, it’s not available on Android products.
Whether you’re planning to catch the sunrise or sunset, checking that the moon is below the horizon before a stargazing outing, or a photographer hoping to catch golden hour, Sundial is essential to have.
SkyView
Cost: SkyView Lite is free, SkyView is $2.99
Many outdoor apps specialize in the night sky, but I think SkyView is the best. It’s extremely simple to use — just point your camera toward the sky and its augmented reality technology will share information on planets, constellations, and even the International Space Station. It also has several other interesting features. You can save your favorite sky objects and have the app navigate you toward specific planets and moons. Best of all, it works offline, so you don’t need to worry about the app failing when you’re stargazing without cell service.
SkyView comes in a lite and a paid version – the main difference is the number of stars and other objects you can see in the sky. The lite version is great for the occasional stargazer, but if you’re really looking to level up your knowledge of the night sky, then spending $2.99 for the additional features is a smart investment. Either way, SkyView will get you even more excited to point your gaze toward the cosmos.
Recreation.gov
Cost: Free
Like the website, the recreation.gov app lets you search for campsites, apply for wilderness permits and lotteries, and find tickets to attractions on many federally managed public lands. You also can easily manage your information without a computer and access your reservations offline. This function has helped me out when showing rangers my reservation in an area without cell service.
Another one of my favorite features is Scan & Pay. Several first-come, first-served campsites now allow you to pay for a site by scanning a QR code through the recreation.gov app. It’s a cashless process that works with or without reception, eliminating the need to carry cash and fill out an envelope. I’ve used it before and enjoyed how easy paying for my campsite was. As someone who recreates on federal land, the recreation.gov app is one of the best outdoor apps I have.
If you’re having trouble snagging a spot at a popular campground or a winning highly-coveted wilderness permit on recreation.gov, then you’ll want to check out the article below. It shares advice to help you navigate the site and increase your chances of securing a reservation.
These are some of the best outdoor apps to help enhance your time outside! If you’re ready to embark on your next outdoor adventure, please reach out! We at GoForth are experts at turning your outdoor dreams into a reality. Click on the button below to learn more about our offerings, and contact us if you’re ready to take the first step toward a life outdoors!
