Gaia GPS: Mobile Trail Maps

Ok

I really like this app and I’ve found it very useful, but with the discontinuing the $19.99 per year plan I will be canceling my subscription. This once very affordable hiking aid is now three times the price annually. If I was a more serious outdoor sports enthusiast it would probably be worth the price, but for the casual user like myself this is a ridiculous price hike.

Hahaha if I have to pay now to do things I did for free 3 days ago, there are way better choices. Oh well bye.

I've been a long-time Gaia GPS user and planned to ditch them a few years back, but didn't find an app that was fully suitable for my needs: 1. ABSOLUTE RELIABILITY FOR OFFLINE NAVIGATION. PERIOD. (Several other apps had this at the time, without question, and have further improved.) 2. Ability to download a LARGE amount of topo maps for offline use (IE, the entire PNW, east thru MT & WY). (I didn't find other apps that could effectively do this, either because of the time-consuming process and/or data volumes required.) 3. Reasonable Cost. 4. Support for legitimate issues. Gaia has failed multiple times and multiple ways at their most important task over the last few years - reliability for offline navigation. What else is a Gaia GPS subscription used for? What I've personally experienced the last few years: - recording tracks no longer worked reliably as of about 1.5 years ago (background app refresh on with no other apps in use). - contour lines started missing elevation labels and when zoomed out, appeared to have the same number of contour lines as the highest zoom level. I found this hidden gem while on Mt. Hood, where the map was almost nothing but overlapping lines that prevented it from being used for terrain association (not critical for my needs at the time, but very basic). The sporadic elevation labels for the top 5K feet of the mountain showed about 3-5 total when zoomed out and *maybe* one when zoomed in, if lucky, so not very useful on a mountain. The same issues were noted later at home on their web version of the map. - a semi-recent update required me to re-download all of my offline maps, which I was lucky enough to discover the day ahead of a trip (Gaia has always had painfully slow downloads, prone to failing and restarting, despite my 300 mbps up/down fiber line.) - Oct 2025 - after updating to the most recent iOS, I updated their app (always a good practice after os updates). This caused the app to crash about 2-3 seconds after opening it, which I didn't discover until I was out of cellular range. I did more testing at home, even force closed all apps, rebooted the phone and only opened Gaia GPS afterwards. The app stayed open a little longer (15-20 seconds?) before still crashing, and was non-functional the entire time. I was lucky enough to avoid the forced-authentication without cell service issue, but luck isn't a great plan for success with Gaia. A quick search shows some users are still experiencing this in the recent past (and still getting blamed for the issue). Previous (pre-Outside acquisition) support requests had responsive, helpful & courteous people assigned, and seemingly ‘a team of people’ working towards the same goal. I submitted a detailed bug report on the app repeatedly crashing every time it was opened, outlined my exact troubleshooting steps, etc (very detailed - I'm a software engineer and foolishly thought I'd save time by documenting this initially), and then 1.5 business days later, I get a response "This indicates that the problem may be with your device's hardware, or with trying to do to much at once." and also QUOTED MY OWN TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS, asking me to repeat them as the next step to try. I responded later that night, and 4 business days later I got a response asking me to open the app and to send them app logs. I was baffled when my troubleshooting steps were quoted as the next thing to try, and then I was wondering if Tyler was just messing with me when asking me to use the app to send logs. Sadly, Tyler seemed serious, and missed the part about the app completely crashing before it allowed me to do anything, so there's no way I could send logs. A bit of back and forth clarified that (a) there's no higher tier of support and (b) my device is officially supported, both per the app store and per the support Tyler’s response. As a side note, this is the only app that's EVER had this issue (even several months after the iOS update), so it seems quite unlikely it's a hardware or user issue, but nice try by casting doubt and throwing in some gas lighting as your opener, Tyler. Awesome support tactic to reduce your workload. Non-solutions: - Gaia GPS... I knew better than to continue my subscription, and never again. The subscription was through apple and very easy to get a refund on an app that failed so basically. Tyler refused since I was beyond the 15 days after the renewal (I submitted the bug report <30 days after the renewal). - Goats Maps - Not a chance. Glad the previous owners received a payout, but why switch to a platform built by owners that just sold their last mapping app, especially when most positive reviews mention it ‘needs improvement’? Moving forward: - CalTopo - $20 & probably the best mapping software in the entire category (USA based, anyways). It'll be used for detailed and/or pre-planned routes, with the only limitation I know of being the size of the map downloads and process (it could have improved, but was the only reason I didn't ditch Gaia previously). Many users wanting to ditch Gaia would be happy with this alone. - OsmAnd - Pro (the top tier, $30 annually) or Maps+ (very functional, $10 annually or $40 Lifetime). This isn't a 'dedicated' hiking app, but an all-around, from driving, cycling, hiking, skiing, etc. The Maps+ & especially Pro have lots of customization options for the UI, and you could create specific profiles for things like general hiking, mountain travel, shading of avalanche danger zones, etc. The NW USA also downloads using a similar amount of space as Gaia, but I was able to QUICKLY download multiple map types by state (including topo, hill shading, etc). And very importantly, they’re privacy focused instead of trying to force social media into a mapping platform. Those two apps provide way more functionality than I ever got from Gaia, at a cheaper price and provide redundancy (Gaia taught me the importance of this!)

Canceling my subscription after 10 years. I am on the original member plan for $19.99 a year. The app chews up battery and hangs for several minutes waking from Sleep when my Phone is in airplane mode. Gaia saved Our Lives 10 years ago when we were caught for 16 hours On Mt Adams in a storm. The current app would have drained my iPhone battery.

I’m very disappointed that outside magazine has chosen to put ads in GaiaGPS, even the paid version. When I’m in the backcountry assessing snow depth for avalanche risk, the last thing I want to look at is an ad for single malt whisky.

My 5 year plan just came up for renewal, and now with a new owner the price nearly doubled. I get so tired of this type of behavior - it’s a hard no for me…

I used to like the Gaia app, and I had recorded a lot of tracks. Then, the did some sort of "upgrade" the locked me out of the app and the tracks I had recorded on my phone. Despite at least half a dozen attempts to contact support, I never got a response. So my tracks are just lost. Pitiful piece of #%*%# app.

The lack of a functioning search feature is unacceptable - especially when it worked for a few years then stopped a couple of years ago. I’ve been a subscriber for several years but this is my last year.

While never perfect, the app was the best for a long time. However, there is a fairly consistent effort to make the app worse. Whether forcing Outside login and trying to make it a social media app. Or making the app unpleasant by for example, changing the default track name to something stupid. Removing their best maps sources like NeoTrex.