Either pay for it (subscription) or it's terrible. I rarely use the app, maybe a half dozen times a year so I'm not going to upgrade to the pro version. If the had a 'lite' version that was just maps with half of the features I would think about it. The updated version allows you to get a larger area but now it just says "downloading". Not sure what it's downloading or how far, since it doesn't say. After 10 minutes of waiting I'm about to give up.
Reviews for Trailforks
← Back to TrailforksI had to uninstall and reinstall the app 3 times to get it set up correctly, and even now it has a very limited free version. I'm very hesitant paying for a subscription when I don't know the quality of features I would get. There was previously an issue where I couldn't zoom in or out on the map because it would bounce back to a fixed zoom position. They have fixed this.
None of the trials around me show including the Great Allegheny Passage. There's 1 halfway across my state. The only way to ever see them is to zoom all the way into where it's at. That's not helpful if you're trying to discover or new to things. Constantly displaying a nagging screen to "upgrade to pro" so you're unable to figure out the interface without a commitment of a credit card. Most scam apps work that way.
Helpful, but glitchy for me. Won't go without it but it always has a hard time showing pictures and routes of the trail I'm currently looking at, always reverts back to something I was looking at 15 minutes ago for some reason. I also wish that the "open app" button when trying to view trail footage on YouTube would work. Overall, I use this all the time, but I wish it was less finicky or less expensive... I'd be happier either way.
Not user friendly at all. Very difficult to use. All I am trying to do is search trail with name but it won't. Maybe I am doing something wrong but if that's the case, it says it all. Shouldn't be this difficult to find the trail I am look for using search. Seems like I wasted my money. Alltrail is so much easier to use. Only pro a about this app is it colors the difficulty of the trails
This is my go-to app when looking for new trails. I'm only using the free version, so I can't really compare it to the subscription. I just can't afford the paid version at the moment. Update 10/1/2025: I have had to delete this app because I have been locked out of the free version. I was told that if I wanted to continue using TF, I would have to buy the paid version. There are too many issues mentioned by other users,and it's too expensive. It's a shame because it used to be a great app.
I signed up for pro hoping it would be better than the free version but found it very hard to use. Routes are miscategorized, search doesn't work well, etc. Maybe they will improve the app but for now I would try one of the alternatives. Definitely still feels like a (somewhat broken) free app with the pro subscription.
I really like this app, honestly it has a huge amount of potential still, but it's already an amazing app, I think the price is way to high for subscription, when you talk about the competition, most of them, like the really good ones are actually mainly free so hopefully you do take that deeply into consideration in the near future, other than, I love it!
the absolute worst support I've ever encountered for a paid app. It took up to 10 days to get a response at times and there was zero follow up. I've been trying for months to solve a problem with no luck. My Pro subscription is up next month and I won't be renewing. Mark Holloway is the least professional "manager" I've ever corresponded with.
I don't know why this is so highly rated! They want you to pay for everything, throwing ads at me right off the bat and I can only download one region at a time!? NO, YOU MUST PAY! It looks to me like you don't get anything useful through payment anyway but I'm uninstalling due to the ads and trying to shove the "upgrade now" down my throat. Nothing useful here
Good app, but it's almost useless unless you pay (it wasn't always like this). I get it, it costs money to host the data, support live maps, etc. But you literally can't even click on a trail to view it unless you pay them? Yet they still want me to feed them FREE, CROWD-SOURCED data and give them trail reports after a ride? No thanks. It used to be so much better but I cancelled my subscription awhile ago cause I can't support and don't agree with the changes they've made.
I pay the Pro version, but it's really unreliable app, I download desired regions at home before ride, to be ready while needed, than you are on a ride, open the app and it wants to download the region again, so if you are in place with low or no reception, you are left with no trails on map. It's happening even that after download region, you search a trail, it finds it, than you want to find another one and suddenly it says no regions and needs to re-download them again, CAN'T recommend at all
This used to be the best mtb app, but I hate using it now. I don't even mind paying (although the yearly pricing is getting ridiculous) but over the years the user experience has gotten way worse. There were a couple summers I couldn't even log in because of the outdoor magazine account merging situation.. There are annoying pop-ups for features I don't want to use and the interface is clunky and cluttered. Over the years has been unreliable at times too.
This app used to be so great. But I'm having the same issue as Timothy C from 4/17/25 now: downloaded regions aren't showing up offline, or are intermittently disappearing from my downloads folder. That, and selecting trails to review stats only works occasionally and I have yo restart the app to select more than one. Even that doesn't always work. I'm on the most recent version of the app. Honestly we don't need Strava-like recording and all that, just show me trails and where I am on them.
I'm stuck in a loop and the app is useless for the only thing I want to do with it. Logged in to my Trailforks account, pulled up a saved route. Tried to share it to Garmin Connect. It prompts me to log in to Trailforks. Which I'm already logged into, or I wouldn't have been able to locate and open the saved route I'm currently looking at. So I log in, repeat the process, it asks me to log in again...
I am also an original subscriber. I used to love this app, but no more. Every time I open it, in town or on the trail, it starts downloading regions....that have already been downloaded...which makes the app useless. I've tried to turn off automatic sync...nope. Uninstall, reinstall....nope. Also, zero customer service. Don't waste your time or money.
This used to be the best app but is now essentially useless. Downloaded regions no longer show up when not connected to wifi or data. it is somehow a very data hungry app that can download a few g in a few days. and still not be able to show maps. Oftentimes you can see trails when zoomed out. but they disappear as soon as you zoom in. you can pick a route from your home when connected to wifi but it will disappear by the ti.e you get to the trail head. The support has not been helpful.
App only gets worse and more locked down each update. Shame there is such a high subscription cost now, due to this no one provides any trail updates and the app is going through a slow painful death. If Outside wants to charge for trail data then they should probably go out and get that data themselves, not rely on the community. Or yanno, just don't run the app into the ground with cost.
I'm a founding member. This has been the best trail map database, but this year I have not been able to get downloaded regions to show up if I start the app offline. This is a crucial feature. Like, when I'm at a trailhead in the woods, wanting to navigate, no trails show up. No background tiles show up. I've reinstalled the app, removed and redownloaded the regions individually, gone into offline settings to select them manually, nothing has worked. Why am I paying for this?
I'm very disappointed in what this app has become. I've been using it since it was completely free. It has recently become useless. I can't get trails to render on the map. It will not download data which is one of the reasons I pay the subscription. My confidence with this app in new unfamiliar trails is gone. I can't count on Trailforks to get me in or out of trail systems safely.