OS Maps: Hiking & Bike Trails App Reviews

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Really useful. I got this app just before starting out on a week-long walking holiday and was a little unsure about it as I love paper maps . It was incredibly useful. As we walked in the rain and on top of windy cliffs it was much easier to use the app than do battle with a paper map. It can be used offline so internet connection isn't vital. The image quality is excellent. It doesn't get blurry when you zoom in or out. I like the feature that shows you exactly where you are and that you can record your routes and distances. The only slight issue I have with it is if you have it set to record your route and then try to move the map to see where you are heading (or zoom out) the map automatically centres back on your current location. But all in all a great addition to the OS range.

Terrific app. This app does so much in a easy to learn format. I highly recommend it!

Love in the USA. I use this app all the time for my walking in Washington State. All the trails are there. App works amazing. Gaia GPS went downhill after Outside bought it. OS explorer is great!

Don’t see how to integrate with OS hiking guides. I’m a big user of Ordnance Survey hiking guides, particularly the Pathfinder series, but don’t see a way to integrate these routes into the App. Am I missing something?

Fails to retrieve country settings. As of 2022-02-08, my copy can’t allow setting up account—with which to add more detailed maps—because “failed to retrieve country settings.” Blah. As of 2022-02-13, now won’t even log me in because “failed to retrieve email server,” or soemthing. My email server is working fine. I am suspecting that this thing only works for people in the UK.

Map download. Although you can download actual OS maps, which is good: these maps take a very long time to download, in the US 24 hours; you have to scroll to map area to download, so when downloading adjacent areas there is likely to be overlap, so you download overlap areas twice;

Keep on Trekkin'. We use OS Maps app all across the UK @TrekEpic, love it!!! Can't wait for our next walk!

Good App, but don’t subscribe in app. Like this app for the rights of way and download map feature (which worked fine for our trip), but subscribe through the website and not in the app. A one month subscription through the app ran out on the last day of the month (after only 2 weeks) and not after 30 days. The in app subscription also didn’t reflect in our account on the website. Subscribing instead through the website also works for the app and it lasts for the appropriate amount of time from activation (you might also be able to find a discount code for it).

Released with fatal bugs. In July of 2016 I used this app for walks in the Yorkshire Dales. I had planned the trip carefully, researching walk routes on the Internet, and downloaded about a dozen offline maps, a key feature of the app, designed so you can view a map in a wilderness area without data connectivity. The maps saved ok, but I discovered when I tried to use them, that if I loaded a saved route on top of an offline map, it would crash immediately.. On my first walk I had to abandon the app altogether and use a paper map. Later I discovered I could use the app if I loaded the map I needed for the upcoming walk using wifi in my hotel. As long as I didn't save it, it would persist in cache and I could load saved routes on top of it. So I finished the trip using the App that way. That's why a 2* rating. When I contacted customer support after my trip to report the problem, they admitted this was a known bug if you save more than "3 or 4" offline maps.

Not serious about safety. The app developers are pretty casual with their users’ safety. Offline maps are an important safety tool on a hike and if you can’t rely on them being available (or if they’re not available at all zoom levels), it can be a risk to use them on a hike. Given that this is basically a government funded endeavour, it’s terrible how careless they are.

Doesn’t work. Period.. All you get on trying to log in to the iPhone/iPad app is “Unknown error occurred. Please try again.” Really helpful. I paid for the Premium version so that I could import routes. Just getting the login working on their site was a chore; their domain and session handling seems a mess. And now I find the iPhone app is effectively useless. Can I have my money back please?

Must have for hiking in the UK. If you’re going hiking in the UK and not taking this app on your smartphone then you are a fool. Definitely worth the cost of the premium version to get access to the detailed maps and offline maps. OS maps always had amazing accuracy and detail - now you can use gps on your phone to see exactly where you are among all that detail. Great for planning free form hikes to get you off the beaten path. Only thing the app can’t tell you is the condition of the trail or footpath you are going to hike on - huge clumps of stinging nettles are a real thing - but you can use the app to replay your hike on the fly to avoid whatever you encounter that you don’t want to deal with. All this for less than the cost of a single paper map - it’s a bargain!

Major technical issues syncing to iPhone and I Pad. When I originally installed the apps and upgraded to Premium, everything worked fine. I logged out, but could never log back in with my premium subscription, both on the website and on the smart devices. I was finally able to log back on to their website but only by changing my password, which is ridiculous. And when I used the new password on my iPhone and iPad, in both cases I received the message that an unexpected error had occurred. Technical support did their best to help but the issue remains unresolved. There’s another feature of the app that is very annoying (this was before all my technical issues). The screen has a window with the option to start navigation. I only wanted to look at the route, not navigate. Unfortunately this window takes up a significant part of the screen, blocking a large part of the map. For some unknown reason, you can not close this window, and tech help said that the app developers aren’t currently going to change it. All in all, it’s a great app when it worked for me, and most people don’t appear to have had the problems I’ve experienced. I hope that tech people read this and do some more development work.

Very good. Missing one basic thing!. I use this app whenever visiting family in the UK, for hikes and runs as it points out locations of historical interest as well as footpaths in the countryside. I’m back for the first time in 4 years (thanks covid) and just in time to try the new snap to path feature which is great! Wow! The one thing missing is that I can’t save locations the map and to a list. I’d love to be able to save “mum’s house”, as well as other destinations I’d like to visit without having to plot a route. Love OS, they’re great maps!

Offline maps are buggy. Downloaded a couple of maps from purchase of paper versions. Zooming causes the map to be truncated. Can’t be relied upon. Test before you leave.

Quits repeatedly with large custom offline maps. Created a custom map of most of Pembrokeshire (250K) for an upcoming hike. Once it finished downloading, I zoomed in and out, scrolled, etc. It only took a few seconds for OS Maps to quit. I tried again with similar results. A separate custom online map of SE Wales had the same trouble. I had fewer problems with paper map downloads (OS maps that have a digital activation code). This makes me think that OS Maps was not thoroughly tested with large offline maps (>250K). I will make sure that I carry paper maps for now.

Doesn’t work when connected to the internet. Update. The app works great with no internet connection. Disable mobile data for the app and it works great. Having purchased paper maps, I’ve used this app to download the off-line version. The app continually requires me to re-login, and I frequently have to re-download, or at least verify the download, before I can use the maps. Horribly flaky behaviour.

Just terrible. I downloaded a paper map, then zoomed in on it, but it failed to show up. I close & reopen map; still not showing. Then I kill the app, reopen, and finally the map shows on zoom in. Really this app is poorly map. I think I will move to AllTrails instead. OSM is so much better now. Previous complaint: drove to remote location with no mobile phone to do a hill walk. Opened the app and nothing worked: it had logged me out and refused to show my downloaded map. There I was, in the wilderness, and no electronic map! Thankfully, I brought paper map. This app is useless to me if it requires mobile data to operate on hill walks!

Lots of fun!. For armchair travelers and walkers too.

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“Premium” topo has a long way to go. Australian “premium” topo maps appear to be a low res scan which does not zoom without terrible pixelation. Certainly not worth the subscription and nothing like the quality of the UK version. ViewRanger is a better option at the moment for Australia

Not worth it!. Downloaded and signed up. What a waste not even one trail in my area. And found only one in the whole Aus. Waste of time! Deleting and canceling the subscription!

Rubbish!. Why would I pay for a subscription when I have no idea what sort of quality I can expect?

Plagued with problems, poor support. This app has great potential but it just doesn’t work. I can’t view routes I have created nor can I view routes uploaded from gpx files. Support is so slow as to be worthless. I am a Premium member which means I subscribe to all their features. That gets you an app that doesn’t work and support that takes days to answer. Why bother. Worse than the cost of the Premium membership is the amount of time wasted trying to get simple things to work. It should be clear by now that I am not a happy user and recommend people to steer clear. I also use AllTrails. It works. I’ve never used AllTrails support, I’ve never needed to.

Not worth it!. I got suckered into paying for the app, it doesn’t even show available riding trails in my area. They are sign posted by the local council but this app doesn’t recognise them. Absolute waste of money!

Not for AU Vic. Doesn’t really have anything listed, there’s quite a few well known walking tracks in my area and none appear on the map.

Poor quality maps. The maps were so low resolution it was pointless keeping the app. It’s a shame because it would otherwise be so useful.

Useless for Australia. Absolutely useless for Australia. Zero maps in SEQ, complete waste of time and money.

“Premium”. The initial app was very promising, so I upgraded to access “premium” topographical mapping. Unfortunately this premium map is an embarrassingly bad image that couldn’t even be used for planning long distance cycling or driving. So disappointing given the fantastic quality I’m used to from OS in the UK. Such a shame as the base app is good Update: several weeks later the “premium” maps haven’t been updated, and I’ve had no response to emails to customer services. Star rating reduced commensurately.

My subscription disappeared. I came on a walking holiday, relying on the app for navigation. After day 3, the app “forgot” my Premium subscription so it won’t show me the leisure maps. I am so angry! It’s Sunday and I can’t even talk to their support. What a joke.

Buggy. Premium subscription very buggy. Says you need to download maps but won’t let you download when you have it. So it is useless

Don’t rely on this for Australia - could be a death sentence. For the new Australian service - I would suggest steering clear of this app at least until they get their act together. It’s patchy at best and poorly constructed without true bushwalking maps being included. There’s plenty of bushwalking guides and maps available, including digitally, and I suggest looking at those instead. Getting lost in the Australian bush can be a death sentence, and by putting out a beta product with poorly constructed maps loaded on a battery-powered device, is just asking for trouble. Let’s hope the worst doesn’t occur. Coming from an experienced wilderness warrior - be prepared and stay aware.

Can’t Rely on This App. We subscribed to the maps for a month long walking holiday in UK. Downloaded maps disappeared, their update went badly with many bugs. Could be fatal, so carry a hard copy map.

Downloadable maps don’t work. No help from OS to resolve.. Firstly the codes on the paper UK explorer maps didn’t work. After chasing it up with OS, the downloads were added to my app account. Then the downloads triggered a message “the map failed to load because the style can’t be loaded.” They advised be to uninstall, reinstall, redownload. Same issue again. When I contacted OS they said they would get technical services to look into it. A week later I got an email saying they couldn’t recreate the issue and couldn’t fix it, in spite of screenshots being provided showing it is a problem. Waste of time and clearly false advertising when they say includes mobile download on the front of their maps. Really poor service.

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