Prepare the route
Bring the route in, and see what the day asks.
- Import the routes you already have. GPX, KML, KMZ, GeoJSON, CSV and NMEA files open from Files, Mail, AirDrop or any share sheet, with waypoint names, notes and symbols kept. Any route can be sent out again as a GPX file.
- Distance, ascent and time before anyone sets off. Every route shows its distance, ascent and descent, an elevation profile and an estimated walking time.
- Plan new routes by tapping. Points join up along real paths, tracks and lanes. Press and hold to keep the route off a road or out of an area, or to add a named stop. Planning needs a connection; the saved route then works without one.
- Split a journey into days. Mark a waypoint as an overnight stop and the route card divides the route into days and legs, with distance, ascent and timings for each, as a PDF to print or share.
Prepare the kit
Kit lists that add up.
Every item weighed
Your kit with weights, in whatever categories you use. A LighterPack list imports in one go.
A pack for each trip
Base weight, worn weight and consumables kept apart, and the packed weight shown as a share of body weight against the usual guidance of about a quarter.
Shared as a CSV
Export any pack to hand round a kit list or open it in a spreadsheet. A maintenance log on each item records what has been done and how far it has walked since.
Offline maps
Download before you go.
- Positioning does not need reception. Recording a walk and following a saved route work without signal. Maps do not, unless they were downloaded first.
- Download the map for an area, or the corridor along a route, before leaving: the Topo map with contours and hillshade. Satellite imagery and the national mapping layers such as Ordnance Survey are not part of a download.
- Where app navigation is permitted, everyone with the app can carry the same route and the same downloaded map. Where it is not, as on a DofE expedition, the download is for the leader's own preparation and supervision; see DofE preparation.
Support has a short before you lose signal checklist.
Review a recorded walk
Talk through the walk the group actually did.
Record a training or group walk on an iPhone or Apple Watch, or import the GPX from another device, and the hike page has the whole story: the line on the map, the elevation profile, and the numbers behind them.
Distance, timing and ascent
Distance, moving time, ascent and descent and pace for the whole walk, and day by day when a walk crosses midnight.
Where the decisions were made
The recorded line sits on the map with its waypoints, so the group can see where it stopped, where it turned and how long each part took.
Into the classroom
Export as GPX, KML or CSV, hand the hike to Google Earth, or, with Pro, fly over it in 3D and save the flyover as a video.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
Preparing for a DofE expedition
On a DofE expedition, phones are not navigation tools and the app does not pretend otherwise. Global Adventurer is for the weeks before the expedition and the days after it: exploring the routes, understanding the distances, sorting the kit and preparing the leaders.
Exploring proposed routes
Import a team's draft route as GPX, or plan it in the app, and see the line on a topographic map with distance, ascent and an estimated time. Waypoints and named stops mark checkpoints, campsites and escape routes before the plan is walked.
Understanding distances and ascent
The elevation profile and the route card show what each day asks: legs, distances, ascent and timings, as a PDF the team can check against the route card they write themselves.
Organising kit and comparing pack weights
A pack per participant or per tent group, with worn weight and consumables kept apart from the base weight, and the packed weight shown against body weight. Export the list as CSV for the kit check.
Supporting leader preparation
Supervisors and Assessors carry the routes and downloaded maps on their own phones for checkpoints and supervision visits, have their grid reference in large type from Emergency Location, and can record the practice walk to review with the team afterwards.
Global Adventurer is an independent app. It is not endorsed by, affiliated with or approved by The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, and nothing here changes the requirements set out in the Expedition Guide.
Free and Pro
No accounts, no adverts, no subscription.
Nobody signs up for anything. There is no account, no advertising and no analytics, and everything above is in the free app unless it is marked Pro. Pro is a one-time purchase per Apple Account, priced in the app in your currency. The full list is on the Features page.
Free includes
- Recording on iPhone and Apple Watch
- Offline maps, importing routes, following them, planning new ones
- Route cards, stops and multi-day plans
- Spoken junction directions in Great Britain
- Photos and notes on every hike
- Weather, places, summits near you, gear and kit lists, Emergency Location and live sharing of your own position
- Apple Health, iCloud sync and eight languages
Pro adds
- Flyover: a hike flown over in 3D, saved as a video to share
- Summits and hill lists: every peak reached, and progress through the Wainwrights, Munros and thirty more lists
- The Health dashboard
- Garmin Connect and Strava: activities in, routes and hikes out
- Group live sharing: several walkers on one map
- Avalanche danger beside the Winter shading, from the national services across the Alps, the Pyrenees, Scotland, Scandinavia, the US and Canada
Runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS or iPadOS 17 or later, and on Apple Watch with watchOS 10 or later. The iPad version also runs on Macs with Apple silicon. There is no Android version.
Get in touch
Coming soon for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
Planning to use it with a group? Tell us the kind of group, the ages and where you walk, and we will say plainly what the app does for you and what it does not.
Coming soon to the App Store