By Sebastian Frost, a professional hiking guide who curates trail routes for TrailyMap.

The best hiking apps for 2027 do three jobs: help you pick a trail, keep you on it, and get you home when the signal drops. No single app does all three perfectly, so this list ranks the ten I trust most and says plainly what each one is for.

Full disclosure: I curate routes for TrailyMap, which is why I know it inside out and why it sits at #1. Every other pick earned its spot on the trail. Prices are U.S. list prices as of November 2026 and change often, so check the store before you subscribe.

The ranking at a glance

1. TrailyMap: best for choosing among 80,000 trails across the U.S. and Canada and following them by voice.

2. AllTrails: best for crowd reviews and recent trail reports.

3. Gaia GPS: best for serious backcountry navigation.

4. onX Backcountry: best for public land boundaries and conditions.

5. FarOut: best for thru-hikes and long trails.

6. CalTopo: best for planning off-trail and winter routes.

7. NPS App: best free guide to national parks.

8. PeakVisor: best for naming the mountains around you.

9. Organic Maps: best free offline map.

10. iNaturalist: best for identifying plants and wildlife.

How I ranked them

I looked at what matters on a real hike, not on a spec sheet: how fast you can find a good trail, how reliable navigation is with no cell service, how clear the warnings are when you wander off route, how much the free version actually does, and how fair the price is. Apps that do one narrow job well, like peak identification, rank lower only because fewer hikers need them, not because they are worse at that job.

1. TrailyMap

Best for: finding a trail near you and following it hands-free

Price: website free with no account; optional Premium in the app

Platforms: iPhone app and web map at trailymap.com

TrailyMap is built around one idea: you should be looking at the landscape, not at your phone. It also has a big catalog for North America, with more than 74,000 trails in the United States and more than 9,000 in Canada. Open the map, filter trails by difficulty, length and elevation gain, and each trail page shows the distance, ascent, estimated time, an elevation profile, photos, points of interest along the route and a weather forecast. A good example is the Delicate Arch Trail page in Arches National Park: you see the 545 feet of climbing and the full route before you ever leave the car.

On the trail, the iPhone app gives spoken turn-by-turn directions in five languages, and guidance starts at your door rather than at the trailhead. The map turns with you, the app warns you when the GPS signal drops and when it comes back, and if you leave the route it shows where you really are and the way back. It records your track with the screen locked, so you can keep the phone in a pocket. Premium unlocks unlimited routes, offline maps and offline voice navigation.

You do not even need the app to start. The website at trailymap.com gives you the full map with every route, the filters, trail pages with elevation profiles, photos, weather and reviews, and a GPX download for each trail, all free and without creating an account. I often plan a client's week on a laptop there and only open the app at the trailhead.

Watch out: the app is iPhone-only for now. Android hikers can still plan on the web map and download GPX files.

2. AllTrails

Best for: reading what other hikers saw last weekend

Price: free Base plan; Plus $35.99 a year; Peak $79.99 a year

Platforms: iOS, Android, web

AllTrails has one of the largest hiking communities of any app, with more than 450,000 trails worldwide. Its real strength is people: recent reviews and photos tell you about mud, snow, washed-out bridges and full parking lots faster than any official page. The free plan covers search, maps, reviews and basic navigation.

Plus adds the features that matter in the backcountry: offline maps, wrong-turn alerts and live location sharing. Peak, launched in May 2025, adds custom routes, a crowd heatmap and a camera tool for identifying plants and insects.

Watch out: trail lines are user-generated, and quality varies. The key safety tools need a paid plan.

3. Gaia GPS

Best for: backpacking, off-trail travel and layered topo maps

Price: limited free version; Premium $59.90 a year

Platforms: iOS, Android, web

Gaia GPS is the app I hand to clients who are heading beyond the trailhead sign. Premium unlocks offline downloads and a deep stack of map layers, including land ownership, slope angle and contours, and you can plan a route on the website and have it waiting on your phone. In October 2026 its "Guide Me" turn-by-turn guidance was extended to hikes and public tracks.

Watch out: the free version does not include offline maps, and the learning curve is real. National Geographic Trails Illustrated maps were removed in April 2025, so older tutorials that mention them are out of date.

4. onX Backcountry

Best for: knowing whose land you are on and what the snow is doing

Price: free Basic plan; Premium $29.99 a year; Elite $99.99 a year

Platforms: iOS, Android, web

onX Backcountry shines in the West, where trails cross national forest, BLM and private land. Premium shows public land boundaries, slope angle, aspect, active wildfires and avalanche terrain layers, plus unlimited offline maps and curated routes. The free plan already includes avalanche forecasts and pinpoint weather, which makes it a smart install even if you never pay. onX also owns the former REI Adventure Projects apps, including Hiking Project.

Watch out: the free plan allows only one offline map, and private landowner names are in the pricier Elite tier.

5. FarOut

Best for: the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and other long routes

Price: guides sold one by one, or Unlimited at $15 a month or $96 a year

Platforms: iOS, Android

If you are planning a thru-hike or a long section, FarOut (formerly Guthook) is the standard. Its offline guides list water sources, campsites and resupply points, each with dated comments from hikers ahead of you. That is how you learn that a spring went dry three days ago. Unlimited covers more than 200 guides and 50,000 miles.

Watch out: it is not a general trail finder, and big guides are pricey: the Appalachian Trail guide is $74.99 as a lifetime purchase.

6. CalTopo

Best for: detailed trip planning on a big screen

Price: free account; paid plans for offline and advanced features

Platforms: web, iOS, Android

CalTopo is the planning table of choice for many search-and-rescue teams and ski tourers. On the website you can draw a route and check it against slope-angle shading, satellite imagery, fire history, sun exposure and forecast overlays, then print a clean PDF map or load the route into the phone app for offline use.

Watch out: there is no curated trail database or reviews. It rewards hikers who already know how to read a topo map.

7. NPS App

Best for: planning a national park trip

Price: free

Platforms: iOS, Android

The official National Park Service app covers more than 420 park sites with maps, trails, amenities, alerts and self-guided tours, and you can download a park's content for offline use before you lose signal at the entrance. It is the fastest way to check closures and shuttle details on the day of your hike.

Watch out: it is a guide, not a GPS navigator, and it covers only National Park Service sites.

8. PeakVisor

Best for: answering "what mountain is that?"

Price: free with an internet connection; PRO $39.99 a year

Platforms: iOS, Android

Point your camera at the skyline and PeakVisor labels the peaks in augmented reality. It also has 3D maps, route planning and GPX import. Prices rose on June 1, 2025, so older reviews quote lower numbers.

Watch out: offline peak identification, the version you actually want on a summit, is a PRO feature.

9. Organic Maps

Best for: a free offline backup map

Price: free, no ads

Platforms: iOS, Android

Organic Maps is an open-source, privacy-first map built on OpenStreetMap. Download a state before you leave home and you get offline search, hiking route layers, contour lines, track recording and GPX import with no account and no subscription. I keep it as a backup on every phone I carry.

Watch out: no reviews, photos or trail conditions, and trail detail depends on how well your area is mapped.

10. iNaturalist

Best for: naming the flowers, birds and mushrooms you pass

Price: free (nonprofit)

Platforms: iOS, Android, web

Snap a photo and iNaturalist suggests what you found, then real naturalists confirm or correct the ID. Your observations become data for scientists, and the map shows what others have spotted near any trailhead. For kids, the simpler Seek app from the same team needs no account.

Watch out: observations are public by default, and it does nothing for navigation.

How to choose

For most day hikers, two apps cover everything: one to find and follow the trail, and one free offline map as a backup. Add Gaia GPS or onX Backcountry if you travel off trail, FarOut if you are walking a long trail, and the NPS App before any park trip. Whatever you use, download maps at home, carry a battery pack and keep a paper map for remote country.

FAQ

What is the best free hiking app?

For free navigation, Organic Maps has no paid tier at all. TrailyMap and AllTrails both have useful free versions for finding trails.

Do hiking apps work without cell service?

GPS works without a signal, but the map does not unless you download it first. Most apps put offline maps behind a subscription, so check before you head out.

Is one app enough?

For an easy, busy trail, usually yes. For anything remote, carry a second offline map and a paper backup.