The smartphone is always with you and even knows the location. For planning outdoor tours and for navigating on the go, the mobile phone is therefore increasingly replacing the good old hiking map. The range of corresponding apps is large and rather confusing for beginners. Which digital helper makes sense depends on what it is supposed to do – and how much money you want to spend. Most apps can be used not only for walking tours, but also for other outdoor activities, such as cycling.
planning
Do you only need a digital map or also concrete tour suggestions? This is a very important question when looking for the right app. The offers from Komoot and Outdooractive are probably the most widespread in Germany. They offer both, and not only on the mobile phone, but also on the PC or tablet: In addition to the navigation function, there is an online portal on which tours can be planned and synchronized across several devices and ready-made tour suggestions can be called up, which both from professional providers, for example tourism associations, as well as from other users. It is better not to trust the latter blindly: someone may have been traveling across country, in impassable terrain or even in protected areas. It is therefore best to compare the route with the marked hiking trails.
There are free versions of both apps, but important functions are missing. At Komoot you buy map packages in order to be able to navigate offline, at Outdooractive you have to take out a subscription. With Alpenvereinaktiv, the German Alpine Club also operates a portal with tours and planning options, also with a subscription model. The Bergfex app is particularly popular in Austria.
If you can manage without ready-made tour suggestions, you can hike much cheaper with map apps, for example with Osmand, Locus Map or Mapout. They are mostly based on Open Street Maps. There are numerous offers in the app stores, many of which can be tested and compared free of charge – which you should do, because there are clear differences in handling and functionality. One should pay attention to the possibility of being able to use the maps offline in order not to lose one’s orientation even without a network.
Routes can usually be planned by yourself or uploaded in the form of GPX files, which are made available by many hiking book publishers, for example: If you buy the book, you will find a download code for the digital version of the tours described. You will also find what you are looking for in online hiking portals, as well as on the websites of many tourism associations.
navigation
Always knowing where you are, even in pathless terrain or in fog – that’s what most users of hiking apps hope for. Thanks to GPS, the location can also be localized without cell phone reception. recently has Stiftung Warentest took a closer look at five outdoor apps, among other things with the question of how safely they lead the hikers to the desired destination. The portals Komoot and Outdooractive performed best. They indicate with arrows when it comes to the curve, and alternatively also navigate by voice announcement. The testers missed the directional arrows and information about the walking time and the remaining distance from the providers Alltrails and Bergfex. They are therefore more suitable for experienced hikers. The worst was the Wikiloc app, partly because neither the categories of paths nor the outlines of buildings were marked on the maps.
Navigation costs a lot of battery power. Older cell phones in particular reach their limits after just a few hours. Even in the cold, it can happen that the devices suddenly shut down. A power bank should therefore always be in your luggage – and the good old analog paper hiking map as a backup.
tour book
With most hiking apps, you can not only plan tours and be guided over hill and dale, but also record the route. In this way, a digital tour book with information about the route, altitude and duration of the hike is created all by itself. Photos can also be uploaded to tour portals such as Komoot or Outdooractive, the routes can be shared with friends and made visible online – and in turn make planning easier for other users: after the tour is before the next tour.