onX Backcountry: Trail GPS App

This silly hiking app logs you out randomly and you can’t log back in without cell service which is nuts. Use AllTrails unless you want to get lost in the woods if you rely on this app. Plus it is constantly throwing menus up when all you want to do is check the map but no, it needs to give you options you don’t need when you just want to check where you are. I can’t believe they made this app so you can’t see your downloaded maps if you don’t have cell service so you can’t login to use the features that keep you from getting lost in the woods. Just got lost because of this app. I’m actually writing this review (my first review I’ve ever we in my life) in a spot that has cell service as I just used AllTrails to find my way back to where I should be because this app may look great but in the field if you can’t use it without cell service it’s completely useless. Make sure you have other map apps when this one logs you out and won’t let you use your downloaded maps. Too much time spent on making it look good instead of making it work. I’m going to play with it for a few more days but it’s already gotten me lost on the first day I used it so it doesn’t look like I will be using it much longer.

Updated review. On second day using app, the server that controls login crashed and couldn’t use the app. I’ve been trying to plan some hikes and this app just has nothing on the alternatives. You can’t navigate between waypoints. Unless a user has uploaded a gps track, the “trails” on the map are pulled from a general USGS database and lack topo and difficulty. Because it’s a new service there are not a lot of reviewed trails. I am going back to my other apps. This one is not ready for prime time. Initial Review. Just got the app. I also use Trailforks, MTB review, and Gaia (all paid versions). This app is geared toward hiking only. It lacks trail reviews, trail photos, and any other intel that I find helpful in planning an adventure. Great to see that a trail is in the Gunnison NF, or that the Gunnison nF is 1,000,000 acres but I ask you, how does that assist me planning a hike? It does not. Clicking on a trail marks that spot on the trail and highlights the trail. It’s a bit of an awkward functionality. Again show me trail reviews, trail conditions, user photos. Also what’s the point of an app that only shows information for a single use - hiking? All the other apps I use are multi use. So far disappointed.

Tried this out when backpacking Big Bend for the first time. Ended up getting snowed into a mountaintop campsite with a historic amount of snow. This app gave us the confidence we were going the right way to return to the base when we couldn’t see any trail or tracks at all and needed to get down in time to prevent frostbite. The tracking works remarkably well and the UI is fairly intuitive. Also seeing the difficulty gradient along the trails is very useful for planning and decision making. My only suggestion would be to make it easier to access and view stats on previously tracked hikes. The only way I could find to access them was by tapping on the path on the map, but sometimes I had hiked the same segment many times making this an imprecise way to find precious data.