GPS Tracks vs AllTrails
AllTrails is the better choice for most users due to its extensive trail database, ease of use for finding new routes, and generally more reliable tracking, despite its aggressive monetization tactics.
AllTrails offers a vast database of trails and is praised for its ease of use in discovering new outdoor activities, though many users dislike its paywalls and occasional bugs. GPS Tracks is a powerful, feature-rich app for detailed GPS tracking and fieldwork, but it suffers from a steep learning curve and inconsistent reliability.
Head to head
you need a powerful, detailed GPS tracker for fieldwork, off-road activities, or specific navigation tasks, and are willing to invest time in learning its interface R8.
you primarily want to discover and navigate new hiking or outdoor trails, appreciate a large community-sourced database, and prioritize an intuitive experience for finding routes .
Evidence note: Both apps have a mix of positive and negative reviews, with many negative reviews for both focusing on pricing and bugs. AllTrails has a significantly larger user base and review count, which naturally leads to more varied feedback.
Frequently asked
Is AllTrails free to use?
Does GPS Tracks offer offline maps?
Are there issues with AllTrails' free trial?
How accurate is GPS tracking for these apps?
What reviewers actually said
Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.
- [R2] GPS Tracks Excellent GPS App: I use it when biking and walking to track progress. Also used it in the woods behind my house to see where things came out on the other side.
- [R4] GPS Tracks NOAA charts: They do not work well zooming in and out
- [R5] GPS Tracks Extremely phenomenal: Smooth tracking, refreshing!
- [R8] GPS Tracks Compass on steroids: Nice tracking app…if you have acreage to oversee, it’s worth it
- [R3] GPS Tracks Use it almost every day: Track walks in forest. Never lost. Easy
- [R11] GPS Tracks Easy to use: Very user friendly suits our purpose
- [R12] GPS Tracks I want it to be better: It’s just not intuitive. Even simple things are difficult. I have to go to ChatGPT many times to ask things I need. If I ever figure it out, I would love to give it five stars. Very frustrated.
- [R22] GPS Tracks Difficult to learn: Not an easy learning curve. The directions need improvement. Author needs to assume we don’t understand much about this technology.
- [R7] GPS Tracks Not working so well with recent macOS and watchOS updates the watch forgets it is tracking the last: Track did not match real life last time out
- [R17] GPS Tracks Patriot17 FAVE FOR ONBOARD GPS: I paid. I love this program. Really accurate and valuable for sharing OPERATIVE MAPPING.
- [R18] GPS Tracks Average due to weak programming: I deleted this app when it got stuck on a screen and became a brick. The programming is headed in the right direction but is not well implemented. Still, good feature set just not worth paying for until the freezing is resolved.
- [R10] GPS Tracks MoneyTracks: They want money for everything. Greedy developer. There are better apps around where you can have similar features way cheaper, like maps.com
- [R16] GPS Tracks Not free: Tell price up front. I would have paíd if the price was posted before downloading. Now I do not plan to use this app.
- [R19] GPS Tracks Inaccurate description: What the description states and what you actually get are two different things. I do not recommend this app
- [R42] GPS Tracks 3 years: Using for the last 3 years for spear fishing. Marking reefs and areas. Works great w/couple small annoyances. Some features seem complicated and laggy but service response is quick and efficient. I may also be part of the problem and could learn more..
- [R49] GPS Tracks Synchronisation is still really poor and unreliable: Thus would be a great app if the synchronisation worked OK, but its completely unreliable. Sometimes stuff randomly disappears, other times it will appear on iPad but not on computer or vice versa. Been through all sorts of steps with the developer and just can’t get it to work because of some Apple limits to do with how the app works or somethi
- [R52] GPS Tracks Support is superb: App works great. Using for dog walks and hiking. Very happy with it.
- [R56] GPS Tracks Very happy. User friendly.: Great service. He helps me out quickly!
- [R61] AllTrails Greedy: Ads every 3 photos. I used to be able to see my time and pace for a trail completed which is now locked behind a pay wall. All it shows now is that I did the trail and no other info.
- [R69] AllTrails Great App but it’s a money grab: 80 dollars is ridiculous for the peak subscription. I feel like it’s a money grab, I also hate how they show features that you don’t have access to and you don’t realize you don’t have that feature until you click on it. The peak features should be part of the plus subscription.
- [R76] AllTrails Offline maps doesn’t work offline: Have Plus membership. Downloaded a map to use offline. Went to a trail away from any coverage. Tried to use the downloaded map: “Not available. What you’re looking for isn’t available to view.” I have a Plus membership, which I thought gave me access to downloaded maps while offline. Later in the hike I got one bar of coverage, and it let me start the trail halfw
- [R87] AllTrails Feature locked: I would be happy to pay plus fees if I could create and modify my own routes. It’s ridiculous this is locked in the peak tier for £80 a year. Just save that tier for your AI tools? It’s a good app, nice interface and smooth operation, but I’ve cancelled my subscription and won’t restart it until these features are available for the plus tier. Very frustrating.
- [R20] GPS Tracks Great App: I was looking for an app to trace my route as I travel. This app draws a perfect line showing my route. Lots of great features too. I’m using the pro feature so I can use the offline maps. Note that Google and Apple Maps are not available offline, but there is a house version that is, and it works fine.
- [R53] GPS Tracks Misleading description: I downloaded this app only because in description says off-line maps available but that’s not true. You need to pay additional annual fee for that.
- [R59] GPS Tracks Terrific navigation app!: I had MotionX-GPS but they stopped supporting the iOS in 2021 so it won’t even launch on my iPad with iOS 15. I downloaded GPS Tracks and after a few uses, I upgraded to GPS Tracks Premium. Feature rich, ability to save offline maps, tracking, waypoints, just a great NAV app!! I highly recommend it!
- [R73] AllTrails They will Scam you!: They offered a 50% off a year but when the actual charge came through it was full price. They were unwilling to give a refund and even after multiple escalations held to the full price. False advertising. Ruthless and totally not customer friendly.
- [R91] AllTrails Only 7 days free?: Looks like a free app with in app purchases- but these seem to be essential / forced after 7 days
- [R97] AllTrails Useless unless you pay premium: I downloaded this because it said there was a 7-day free trial, but there really wasn’t. Everything I tried to explore, to see if I liked the app, kept resulting in annoying ad pop-ups asking me to sign up to premium. I couldn’t view how the maps worked, how you would follow directions, the 3D option. Nothing, so I can’t make a judgement on if the app would work for
- [R105] AllTrails Clunky UI/UX: Just clunky and slow.. some things don’t load properly. Very awkward and confusing experience. Also, thought I was signing up for a trial. Not sure I was tricked by dark pattern UX or my mistake. Ended up paying for a year.
- [R43] GPS Tracks Great idea but failed to track correctly: Used this for the first time at the weekend. I used it to track my path and log any finds but use of a waypoint marker whilst I was metal detecting. It seemed to start off ok but later in the day it stopped recording my path so I ended up with only half of my tracking showing and worse still, any waypoint I entered for the finds were off by a huge distan
Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store