Biking GPS App Overview: Do not Get Misplaced

The present state of biking navigation apps: Choices. Galore. Loads of states are increasing commuter biking infrastructure. The bike trade continues to push gravel bikes as do-it-all choices that increase navigable terrain, and it’s someway modern. Bikepacking is even in vogue.

The choices for a way and the place to journey at the moment are extremely assorted, and everybody who places foot to pedal wants a approach to map their rides. Extra consumer information and higher tech have made navigating via city and backcountry environments extra handy and correct than ever.

That mentioned, not each biking GPS app has the identical execs and cons. Most of the greatest options are solely obtainable via premium plans. We’re all prone to have greater than sufficient subscription companies working.

Briefly: It’s no shock that there’s a glut of biking GPS apps, all boasting completely different sturdy fits and approaches to navigating two-wheeled rides. So, we took a peek behind the paywalls and put half a dozen of the most well-liked platforms via a number of hundred miles of planning, mapping, and driving throughout completely different states to see how they stack up. Learn on to search out our conclusions.

Journey With GPS

Journey With GPS (RWGPS, $60 yearly for Fundamental and $80 for Premium) was simply essentially the most easy do-it-all biking navigation app available on the market. In the event you’re in search of an app that can assist you to navigate round city areas with out Google Maps, plan out backcountry bikepacking journeys, observe rides, learn opinions of latest routes, and see the place everybody else is driving — RWGPS will get the job executed.

Its navigation was by far the simplest of the bunch to make use of. I typed in a vacation spot, and it shortly auto-generated a route with turn-by-turn instructions. Not like many different biking apps, the navigation rerouted in actual time and provided arrival time estimates based mostly on earlier rides.

For bikepacking and touring journeys, RWGPS premium provided intuitive however detailed mapping instruments for each cellular and desktop. When it was time to journey, these routes provided turn-by-turn instructions and might be exported in additional file codecs than some other biking GPS platform.

One other standout characteristic of RWGPS premium was the warmth maps, that are maps of biking visitors patterns (both your personal or from their huge consumer base). These maps made it simple to see which trails and roads had been the most well-liked, each on the whole and not too long ago.

RWGPS didn’t excel in every single place. Its navigation had loads of idiosyncrasies. The common to-a-point navigation was intertwined with its route recording characteristic, making it awkward to simply journey from one place to a different with out recording it.

Pre-planned routes, similar to bikepacking or touring ones, had a default path. The one approach to simply reverse this was on a pc. Set off on a route in reverse with RWGPS, and also you’ll shortly be drowning in less-than-useful “flip round and go the opposite method” alerts.

Likewise, RWGPS was in the midst of the pack for locating new trails and annotating geographical options. It provided loads of filters and maps for viewing trails.

Nonetheless, it didn’t segregate them visually (e.g., MTB versus gravel or newbie versus intermediate). It additionally prioritized routes mapped and ridden by customers. In much less fashionable areas, missing a available legend, the app provided much less common data on path composition and circumstances.

On well-mapped and reported trails, it delivered a wealth of data on campsites, water refill stations, bike retailers, opinions, and extra. Nonetheless, with out ample consumer stories, the RWGPS maps typically did not annotate options like dispersed campsites and path restrictions.

onX Backcountry

If RWGPS occupied the acute finish of streamlining navigation and route mapping, onX Backcountry ($30 yearly for Premium) occupied one other excessive: it provided all the knowledge I wanted concerning the land I used to be traversing.

OnX confirmed essentially the most granular native climate stories and knowledge on what authorities company presided over the world of curiosity. The ($100 yearly) Elite plan additionally provided info on who owns personal land parcels as properly.

Not like platforms like RWGPS, which prioritized user-mapped and ridden routes, onX prioritized geographical trails. Its common map layer made them abundantly clear and simple to observe. Its MTB overlay was implausible at displaying and instantly categorizing MTB routes into newbie, intermediate, and superior trails.

That mentioned, with a more moderen biking consumer base, fewer MTB routes have been mapped or ridden by customers. Moreover, being MTB-focused, its MTB layer failed to incorporate many paved or gravel trails. This added as much as onX displaying extra trails extra clearly than most biking navigation apps — however highlighting fewer routes total.

In our testing, onX routinely did one of the best at annotating and differentiating between landmarks similar to dispersed campgrounds, paid campsites, mines, waterfalls, archeological factors of curiosity, and extra. This was aided by one of many clearest and most accessible legends of any cellular mapping app.

Nonetheless, onX began as a searching app, and it confirmed. It didn’t supply turn-by-turn instructions. It didn’t auto-generate any biking routes for commuter biking. With a slim MTB-focused layer and the smallest biking consumer base, its MTB layer highlighted the fewest trails and user-generated routes. If you’d like an app that makes planning a bikepacking journey or each day commute so simple as potential, this isn’t it.

If, then again, you need dependable land info and extra handbook controls, onX was second to none. For the multi-sport-minded, or these in search of a backup app for crafting unique routes, onX was it.

It commonly provided essentially the most up-to-date path circumstances and hyperlinks to land company websites so I might test present restrictions. Its maps had been clear and simple to learn. Downloading high-quality offline maps (albeit solely in a vertical format) was a breeze.

The wildfire and air high quality filters had been notably helpful out west. And the offline monitoring routinely provided me among the most correct and detailed breadcrumb trails of any biking navigation app.

GAIA GPS/Trailforks

Throughout testing, Gaia and Trailforks had been a two-for-one particular — and so they had been a damned highly effective one at that. Whereas each companies had been provided individually, they’ve been introduced below the identical Exterior+ for $7.49 month-to-month. So, for lower than $3 per thirty days, I might entry Trailforks as a map layer inside Gaia Premium.

It was laborious to discover a process that this dynamic duo couldn’t sort out properly. By itself, the Trailforks layer clearly highlighted biking trails and user-generated routes in line with sport (gravel, MTB, street, and so forth.), graded them by expertise stage, and provided common info on restrictions, opinions, and common journey stats.

Utilizing Trailforks as a layer as an alternative of a standalone app did make the consumer expertise a bit extra sophisticated. By Gaia, there was no easy approach to entry Trailfork’s heatmaps. Fortuitously, I might nonetheless assess these via the Trailfork app, which was a part of the bundle. So, it doesn’t matter what, the added capabilities Gaia delivered to the desk had been properly price it.

Gaia had by far essentially the most map layers of any platform on this listing. Mountaineering, fishing, overlanding, common out of doors recreation — no matter different hobbies you might need, there was a layer for it in Gaia. This made it simple to customise maps. Downloaded routes, as properly, might be personalized to incorporate no matter layers I desired.

In fact, all this added utility got here with problems. Gaia had the steepest studying curve and most intricate consumer interface of any app right here. Even with all its layers, it often missed dispersed campsites in any other case highlighted by onX. Furthermore, whereas Gaia provided turn-by-turn navigation (which I might reverse) for routes and point-to-point rides alike, it didn’t auto-reroute like RWGPS.

Even so, in the event you’re the type of multisport out of doors fanatic who merely needs one app for the whole lot outdoors of city biking (the place there’s at all times Google Maps), the Gaia and Trailforks bundle obtained the job executed. It hit the candy spot between onX and RWGPS.

Komoot

Komoot ($30 yearly for worldwide premium options) was all about simplicity and ease of use. The house display was photo-forward, selling the most well-liked and scenic routes in every space.

Tabbing over to the app’s “Routes” web page delivered me to a map. I honed in on an space, zoomed in, and hit “Search this space.” Komoot confirmed me routes, graded by issue, and highlighted in line with which layers I had energetic.

Komoot did delineate between trails a bit awkwardly, dividing them into “mountain,” “touring,” “bikepacking,” and “street” biking classes. The “touring” and “bikepacking” attorneys tended to spotlight solely lengthy, promoted, mutually unique trails. The shortage of a “gravel” class felt a bit dated for biking in 2024. And Komoot highlighted by far the fewest routes of any of the apps examined.

Nonetheless, the routes highlighted had been fashionable within the space. I might choose any of them, and it was a breeze to test climate circumstances, obtain the route, or export GPS information. Komoot additionally provided easy, clear turn-by-turn navigation — each for established routes and for auto-generated ones between two factors.

Routes and their turn-by-turn directions might simply be reversed. When mapping or importing longer routes, Komoot provided the choice to routinely divide the routes by each day stretches based mostly on my self-reported health and bike sort. Pre-established routes additionally are inclined to characteristic images and opinions which can be routinely translated by Google into your language of choice.

Komoot’s navigation isn’t as slick as RWGPS, however its consumer interface was extra easy. The app had nowhere close to the granular path and knowledge provided by onX and Gaia. Nonetheless, it excelled at being terribly simple to make use of.

A few of the biking navigation apps on this listing may be overwhelming in options and capabilities, particularly for a weekend rider who merely needs to discover a enjoyable, skill-appropriate path to entry and pedal alongside. Even skilled long-distance cyclists who have already got extra detail-oriented GPS apps can get so much out of Komoot’s dwell, shared ride-tracking characteristic and easy interface. 

AllTrails+

AllTrails+ ($36 yearly) was the odd one out. It was the one app within the lineup with no handbook route-mapping capacity. It additionally didn’t enable for point-to-point navigation. And whereas it had a number of map layers, they solely beat out Komoot when it comes to map particulars like campsites and landmarks.

What AllTrails did have was easy, social approachability. AllTrials was much less of a GPS and mapping app, and extra of a social platform geared towards discovering, score, and documenting new routes.

AllTrails was simply essentially the most photo-forward platform right here. Its residence web page provided easy, picturesque, community-oriented previews of routes others had ridden. Very like Komoot, it wasn’t geared towards granular particulars of trails and the land they’re on, however quite towards displaying images, opinions, and maps of routes ridden by others.

The app operated like a extra polished Komoot. Solely the kinds of trails (MTB, street, or touring) chosen had been proven in a given space. They stayed collapsed till I clicked on a highlighted level, at which level all routes in that space had been highlighted. After I chosen one, I obtained climate, size, elevation achieve, and all the fundamental path data — plus the slick choice of a 3D animated preview.

This made for a clear, easy consumer interface. An extended listing of additional layers was obtainable on Komoot and onX similar to “scenic driving,” “paddlesports,” “fishing,” and extra. Nonetheless, I leveraged AllTrails for community-informed views on locations of curiosity for different sports activities.

Going all in on neighborhood contributions left AllTrails missing in mapping instruments. I might solely import and export routes on a pc. Route had been simple to hint with dwell monitoring, however AllTrails didn’t supply turn-by-turn navigation. Likewise, it lacked the flexibility to change imported maps, generate unique routes (besides via recording rides), or see many particulars concerning the lands I rode alongside.

Its maps had been easy, with helpful data on climate, gentle air pollution, air high quality, and extra. The large consumer base supplied a glut of opinions and images of fashionable routes. The offline maps, route monitoring, and built-in options for alerting contacts had been all easy and efficient. To not point out, with AllTrails donating 1% of its annual Professional gross sales to numerous out of doors charities, they provide again to the outside they map.

Backside line: AllTrails didn’t substitute devoted route-mapping platforms. Even so, it did justify its worth for a easy, extra social strategy to path rides.

Biking Navigation App Conclusions

There’s a bevy of biking navigation apps vying to information your subsequent journey, whether or not via metropolis streets or backcountry singletrack, however all of them nailed completely different factors.

Journey with GPS made a fantastic case for it being your one devoted biking app for mapping and navigating each two-wheeled journey. OnX and Gaia (with Trailforks) as an alternative leaned into extra multisport utility by placing as a lot info on the paths and land obtainable in an space as potential, and letting me determine what to do with it. Komoot and AllTrails opted for fast and simple utilization with a social bent that made them joyously nontechnical to make use of.

So, whereas there isn’t a one biking navigation app that did all of it completely, you possibly can relaxation assured figuring out that one of many above will in all probability be just right for you — and virtually any mixture of two of them will cowl you utterly.

As for me, addict that I’m, I’m going to maintain utilizing all of them concurrently to map as many routes as I can — and maintain questioning why my telephone has so little cupboard space and battery life.