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Getting out for a walk doesn’t need to be a whole operation, you can usually just lace up your trainers, grab your headphones and phone and off you go. If you wish to head out on a hike or walk in the country, you may want to track or plan your route more carefully, track your fitness and performance levels over time or make sure that you’re staying safe and well throughout your walk.
If you’re taking a long walk through the hills and valleys of the countryside, then we have some of the best apps available to make sure your walk is as enjoyable as possible. Don’t forget to take photos of the lovely views you’ll see and make sure you have enough fuel and water to last while you’re out.
MapMyWalk
Free subscription
This is one of our favourite apps, it does a lot more than just map your walk; you can track your route, see how long your walk was, the speed, elevation and how many calories you burned. Upload your walk and get your friends involved so you can share routes with them and congratulate each other on the walks you do.
Link up your fitness watch or other wearable devices to see all the data you could possibly need. It’s a great app for tracking progress and one that is popular among the walking community.
Walkmeter
Free subscription
There are a lot of cool features on this app, including being able to look at your walks by route or by date so you can look at performance over time.
Walkmeter links up with Google Maps so you can see real-time updates, and terrain maps and record the weather automatically so you can keep an eye out for any changes. Use the Race Compete section to look at your times and pace along popular routes. Walkmeter includes a lot of data and statistics including training plans, graphs and heart rate zone. Link it up with your smartwatch or wearable to get a fully personalised workout.
World Walking
Free subscription
If you want more of a challenge to keep you out walking more regularly, then World Walking is for you. A constant pedometer, this app can give you routes around the world that you can complete, including Route 66 in the US or the Machu Pichu Inca Trail in Peru.
Join a virtual club to get support from your fellow walkers and work together to complete club challenges and get to your final destination quicker. You can track your distance, get little updates at certain milestones and make your walks more exciting.
Strava
Free (premium from £6.99)
Strava tracks so many activities that we couldn’t leave it off our list. Use it to map a route, track your progress, and look at pace, elevation and calories burned.
Look up popular routes using the heatmap function, give kudos to family and friends for their walks and link up a variety of wearable devices to make sure that you’re always tracking your workouts. Use Strava to keep up with your workout plan and with so many different activities to record, it is one of the best fitness apps out there.
Charity Miles
Free subscription
Use your walks for a good cause and download this app to give money to charity for a variety of causes.
This is not a fitness tracker, but it can track a range of activities and the charity will get money for each activity you do. It’s completely free and is gaining popularity among the walking community, being able to share your walks on social media to gain sponsorship and earn more money for the charity of your choosing.
Viewranger (Android Only)
Free subscription
This app will help turn your device into a GPS unit. Pay to download OS apps or use the free Open Street Maps to plan you walks, check you’re on the right path during your walk and even plan routes in other countries if you’re going away.
The handy BuddyBeacon means you can share your position with other users of the app or see where they are. Viewranger allows you to record the walk as you go and you can save waypoints and milestones, which is great if you have a particular route that you want to go back to and see a certain view or trig point.
Outdoors GPS (iPhone only)
Free subscription
Similar to Viewranger for Android, you can access a variety of free Open Street Maps or pay for the OS maps to download. The maps can be stored in your phone, ready for you to use whenever you need, especially if you’re in an area without a signal or internet.
Import routes from the computer, build your own routes that are perfect for your weekend walk with friends and see where other people have walked.
There are a number of tracking and planning apps for your walks, but these ones are our favourites. Make sure that on a walk, someone knows where you are, and that you have a plan in case of an emergency.
Check out our other posts about the best cycling apps and best running apps here.
Looking For More Hiking Gear?
We have compiled a great guide with lots of walking gear, clothes and equipment, check it out by clicking below.
