The Best Free Apps for Recording Your Hikes
We once hiked four miles, gained 1,400 feet of elevation, descended, drove home, made dinner, and then realized we never actually hit record. That was a painful day. A good hiking app is one you open before you leave the parking lot.
We've been through a lot of hiking apps. Some are bloated. Some cost money the moment you want anything useful. Some feel like they were designed by people who've never actually been on a trail. This list is what we actually use — all free, all genuinely useful, no unnecessary noise.
1. Trailforks
Trailforks started as a mountain biking app, and yes, you'll occasionally see it recommend lines that would destroy your knees on a hike. But the trail database is one of the most accurate we've found, and the community-reported conditions are genuinely useful. Real people mark trails as muddy, snowy, dry, or closed — not two weeks after the fact, but that morning. Before you spend an hour driving to a trailhead only to find it's a swamp, open Trailforks.
Offline maps work well. The UI is a bit mountain-biker-coded, but you learn it quickly. And it's completely free for the core stuff.
Best for: Trail discovery, current conditions, offline maps
Free tier: Full database, condition reports — no paywall on the good stuff
Visit Trailforks →
2. Strava
Strava is technically a running app that hikers have been quietly taking over for years. The GPS tracking is clean and reliable, the elevation data is actually accurate (which not every app can say), and the segment feature — where your time on a specific climb gets compared against everyone else who's done it — is either deeply motivating or deeply humbling, depending on the day.
The social feed is a nice way to see what your friends are doing. It also has a habit of notifying you that someone gave you a 'kudos' at 6am, which is either endearing or annoying based on your relationship with notifications. Either way, the free tier records everything you need: distance, time, elevation, full route map. We've got years of hikes logged in here and it's genuinely satisfying to scroll back through them.
Best for: GPS recording, tracking progress, sharing with friends
Free tier: Full activity recording and history — the premium stuff is mostly for serious athletes
Visit Strava →
3. Komoot
Komoot is what you open when you're trying to plan a route you've never done before. You set your start and end points, tell it your activity type and fitness level, and it builds a route with turn-by-turn navigation and a breakdown of exactly what you're getting into — how much is paved, how much is singletrack, where the technical bits are. The voice navigation actually works in the backcountry, which is more than most apps can say.
The catch: the free tier gives you one region. Pick it based on where you hike most. Additional regions are a one-time purchase, so if you travel a lot it adds up. But if you have a home range, the free version covers it completely.
Best for: Route planning, navigation, understanding a trail before you're on it
Free tier: One region free, which is usually enough to get started
Visit Komoot →
4. Gaia GPS
If you're going somewhere serious — off-trail, backcountry, somewhere that doesn't have cell service and would be genuinely bad to get lost in — Gaia GPS is the professional option. The map selection is exceptional. USGS topo, satellite, National Geographic trails, hunting maps, fire history, and about 30 others. You can stack layers, drop waypoints, plan multi-day routes with precise elevation profiles. It's the tool backcountry guides actually use.
The free tier handles basic recording and map viewing. Offline downloads and full layer control are behind the paywall, which is where the real value is for backcountry use. But even in free mode, it's a serious GPS recorder with better map quality than 90% of the competition.
Best for: Backcountry, off-trail, anywhere remote and serious
Free tier: Basic recording and map access — upgrade if you're going deep
Visit Gaia GPS →
5. Hiking Project (by REI)
This one doesn't get enough credit. REI built a clean, completely free trail database — no premium tier, no upsell, no tracking your data to serve you backpack ads. Just trails, photos, reviews, and maps. The write-ups are honest and the difficulty ratings are reasonable. It's not as deep as some of the other apps when it comes to live tracking, but as a trail finder it's solid and costs nothing.
If you're standing in a parking lot trying to figure out which trail to take, Hiking Project will give you a straight answer without trying to sell you anything first. That's rarer than it should be.
Best for: Discovering trails, reading reviews, finding new routes on a budget of zero
Free tier: Fully free. Always. No asterisk.
Visit Hiking Project →
Which One Do You Actually Need?
Honestly, most hikers end up with two or three of these on their phone. They each do different things well and they don't overlap much:
- Want to track your hike and share it? Strava. Best recorder, cleanest interface.
- Want to know what a trail is actually like before you go? Trailforks for conditions, Hiking Project for trip reports.
- Trying to plan a new route? Komoot. It does the thinking for you.
- Going somewhere remote? Gaia GPS. No competition for serious terrain.
Start with Strava and Trailforks. Add the others as you need them. And hit record before you leave the parking lot.
Ready to use them? Start with our Hudson Valley hiking guide, the Catskills, or browse all hikes in New York.
Gear Worth Bringing Along
A GPS app is only as good as your phone battery. Pack accordingly.
Big enough for a battery bank, extra layers, and water. Small enough that you don't feel like you're moving apartments.
We use: Osprey Talon 22
Running GPS and tracking apps all day drains your phone and your body equally. Stay hydrated on both counts.
We use: CamelBak Chute Mag 32oz
The app records your route. Good boots keep you on it. Don't let the first serious wet rock be the thing that changes your philosophy on footwear.
We use: Merrell Moab 3 Mid WP
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Exploring the Northeast? Check out the Hudson Valley hiking guide, the Catskills hiking guide, or browse all hikes in New York.