Phone navigation apps

[Dave Barter]

I am doing a piece of research on bar mounted phone navigation apps such as Komoot and wondered what peeps on here were using? To date I've only had experience of the OS App. Anything else worth looking at?

[Lazarus]

I use alpine quest ( paid version ) as you can load the memory map maps we all have a copy of (,qct)
Free version is same but you cannot load those OS maps

Its back up for my Garmin but works fine. Gives a line on an map you follow with better zooming. You can record rides but never bothered don't think you can do routes or tracks on the app but it was less than a tenner and I just wanted Os cheaply on my phone

[woodsmith]

I've been a Ridewithgps user for several years and found it to be generally excellent and far better than komoot. Its only faults are that it doesn't have OS as a base map option and the only offline map available is RWGPS own version of OSM.
Either has the option to select start and end of route to auto generate a route based on cycling, walking or driving, or the ability to design a route turn by turn.
I've played with Kommot a fair bit and regardless of what mode of transport you select it consistenley sends you down main roads whem BW etc are available.

[johnnystorm]

Back Country Navigator!

[ledburner]

I have tried several and use GPS viewer Pro (Ventura Games OÜ) on Google play store. I have, also used Fatmap, view ranger, locus maps & strava), to trace where I've been, rather directly navigate by.).

[Moder-dye]

Maverick GPS navigation (pro); been using it for maybe 10 years on Android. Has OS and many other map layers that cache to your phone for offline use.

[Moder-dye]

I occasionally use komoot for planning when not near a PC, but I find it badly miss.routes at times. Select road ride.and it'll use main A roads,.select tourer and you get quiet roads, but also gravel/MTB tracks, and gravel has definitely chosen MTB level routes. MTB probably routes via grade 3 scrambles

[thenorthwind]

Been a heavy Viewranger user for a good few years, but now looking at others because of it's impending demise. Long thread on that topic, which will probably net you some other views too: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21124

Tried OS Maps app (recent thread here too: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21415) and Backcountry Navigator. Intend to try out Memory Map too, but bought an OS Maps subscription, so might just see how that goes.

[Dave Barter]

Thanks all very useful. Next question is which case for an iphone to mount in my existing Garmin adaptor?

[gairym]

I have tried several and use GPS viewer Pro (Ventura Games OÜ) on Google play store. I have, also used Fatmap, view ranger, locus maps & strava), to trace where I've been, rather directly navigate by.).

+1 - this is pretty exactly what I was going to write. Exactly what I use with the exception of view ranger.

[pistonbroke]

Sorry for the pedantry, it just comes naturally, but it might be worth clarifying what you mean by navigation. If you're, for example, a complete stranger, sat in Sheffield and want to be directed to Leeds using a route taking in off road trails, quiet country lanes, etc then an app which relies on algorithms such as Komoot should work. In reality I've heard lots of similar reports of it taking you along main roads when you've selected off road and vice versa but this is only hearsay, I've not used it much.
If you've got an idea of which way you want to go and want to draw a route to follow on the phone to save digging out a map every 5 minutes, then Ridewithgps is the go to app and seems to work everywhere.
If you're in a village in the Pyrenees and fancy riding a 50km mountainbike Loop that won't take you 30km into the mountains then turn into a goat track where ropes and carabiner are more use than spds, then Wikiloc is your friend. In some places, regrettably not so much in the UK, there are so many options available, you can filter it down by activity, distance,climbing, difficulty, time of year, etc and still have dozens routes to chose from. As the content is generated by users, the gradings could be subjective but it's not failed me yet. I think the lack of coverage in the UK is due to Strava's dominance with their heat maps but personally I much prefer Wikiloc's seamless ability to wirelessly upload routes to one's Garmin,, you can create brand new routes by drawing them on satellite imagery then trying them out, it's also managed to avoid the Strava willy waving segments thing. A full subscription is a tenner a year and as such is a bargain.

[Charliecres]

I’ve used ViewRanger, Komoot and RWGPS. ViewRanger was great , Komoot and RWGPS both suffer from crap maps which are useless for planning an off-road route by anything other than the automated routing option, which is patchy at best.

For attaching a phone to the bars, I use one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123585295479 stuck to a cheap clear phone case. Never had an issue with my (sizeable) iPhone XR. I do however have a lanyard as a back-up.

[benp1]

Thanks all very useful. Next question is which case for an iphone to mount in my existing Garmin adaptor?

I like the look of the quadlock mounts

[benp1]

Some of these apps aren't on ios I don't think?

I'd love an app that uses the garmin img map files

[Dave Barter]

Thanks all very useful. Next question is which case for an iphone to mount in my existing Garmin adaptor?

I like the look of the quadlock mounts

Problem is they use their own proprietary mount

[ScotRoutes]

I’ve used ViewRanger, Komoot and RWGPS. ViewRanger was great , Komoot and RWGPS both suffer from crap maps which are useless for planning an off-road route by anything other than the automated routing option, which is patchy at best.

For attaching a phone to the bars, I use one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123585295479 stuck to a cheap clear phone case. Never had an issue with my (sizeable) iPhone XR. I do however have a lanyard as a back-up.

OTOH I'm basically using Komoot for all my route planning now, even if that means adding in tracks I know to exist. Easy integration with my Garmin s too.

I've not tried navigation with Komoot as I've never wanted to risk my phone attached to the bars. I do have a suitable "second" phone now but would need a suitable case for it - something that could attach to a Garmin mount.

[gairym]

Thanks all very useful. Next question is which case for an iphone to mount in my existing Garmin adaptor?

I like the look of the quadlock mounts

Problem is they use their own proprietary mount

They do. And they're great.

Not used anything but Quadlock since first getting one about 7-8 years ago.

Never once had an issue and I use only my phone for all navigation on all trips.

[ootini]

Hi Dave

I use GPXViewer Pro on my old Samsung S7. It's in an SPCONNECT case with a corresponding mount fitted to the stem count on both my bikes.

Does everything I need and never let me down yet, that's the app and the mount system btw.

[arkay]

Viewranger was great and perhaps I am a lone dissenting voice but I actually think Outdooractive (which replaced/killed it) is not that bad. It's certainly a lot better than it was when it first took over, so give it a chance.
It seems to have lots of unnecessary fripperies but if you ignore them and use it as a basic "where am I and where am I going?" tool it does very nicely. The map display is excellent, nice smooth scrolling zoomable OS maps, plus lots of other foreign maps available if going abroad ever becomes a remotely attractive proposition again.

[Alpinum]

I am doing a piece of research on bar mounted phone navigation apps such as Komoot and wondered what peeps on here were using? To date I've only had experience of the OS App. Anything else worth looking at?

Specific to the country(ies) I plan to travel through.
Riding from the southern most islands of GB to the northern most I used your mod'ed OSM map on my Garmin and as a back up... probably a free OSM based one. Can't remember but likely OsmAnd or OsmAnd+.
Most impirtant to me are elevation data and ease of use with large gpx files consisting of routes, alternatives, POI etc. in different colours. But then my smartphone is just one of my backups on trips abroad where prime nav is done by GPS (when riding) or paper map (when hiking).

At home I just step or ride into stuff and see what happens

[Pirahna]

I'm still experimenting with this but, Orux Maps looking at OpenMTB maps on Android.

Unzip the OpenMTB maps on a PC and transfer to phone. This way you can look at the same map on both PC and phone. If you play around with maps the one thing I hate is having to look at different maps of the same thing depending on the platform I'm using.