Hikers Assistant is the iPhone/iPad and watch app for planning and executing short day hikes to extended thru hikes. Create itineraries, routes and waypoints before you leave. Then stay on your route and hit your waypoints while on the trail. Archive your trip with expenditures, blogs and tracked miles.

No subscriptions and no in-app purchases are required.

KEY FEATURES

Send progress waypoints to off-trail family and friends when you get cell service. They see the waypoints on their own map.

Import and export GPX files with waypoints, routes and tracks.

Use iCloud to share trails between devices and backup trails and blogs.

Create and edit your own routes on maps that include USGS Topo, Imagery, and Hydrography, Apple Satellite, Open Cycle, and Thunderforest Landscape and Outdoors.

Download USGS, Open Cycle and Thunderforest maps for offline use.

Import and register images of park maps to plot your rough location while traveling in a park.

On and Off Trail modes optimize off-trail trip planning and on-trail usability. On-trail screens and maps use big controls, large text and present only key functionality.

Download and retain 7-day weather reports powered by Dark Sky.

iPhone and Apple Watch primers provide introductions to using Hikers Assistant on the respective devices.

Elevation profiles automatically generated for ranges of 5 to 35 miles, moveable along your path, or centered on your position. Route and trail statistics include length, rise/ascent in feet, and fall/descent in feet.

Touching a waypoint annotation can bring up a compass, an information popup, or driving directions to the waypoint.

One touch can bring up an ordered list of the closest waypoints with their distances and bearings. A second touch will bring up an electronic compass pointing to your choice.

Location and GPS services are tailored to minimize battery use, with on-screen warning for those functions that require extra battery.

Create quick waypoints in seconds on trail that include latitude, longitude, elevation, an icon (from a broad set of options), an optional snapshot, and a customizable name.

Log key activities on trail such as starting and finishing the trail. The app will automatically calculate the distance, time, and average speed, and give you the opportunity to change the calculated distance.

Daily log statistics can be sent to a blog screen where you can draft and save a text blog for each day. Blogs can be emailed whenever you get a signal.

Additional support modules include a calendar, itinerary, trip costs, and sunrise/sunset/moon phase.

Waypoints, routes, and tracks are individually editable within the app. Waypoints are grouped into sets of water sources, campsites, trailheads, points-of-interest, resupply locations, lodging, mail drops, businesses, and generic (other) waypoints.

File and iCloud modules support loading, unloading, importing, and exporting (via email and iCloud) a variety of binary and text formats for any number of trails. Trail data and blogs are saved in binary files. Waypoints, routes and tracks can be saved or imported from GPX files. Lists of waypoints can be imported and exported in CSV format.

A complete set of in-app help topics covers both the app screen functionality and a set of general topics relevant to using the app.

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

For on-trail use, your iOS device needs cellular/GPS capability. Trip planning can be completed on a WiFi-only device, with the *.trdat or *.gpx file emailed or transferred via iCloud to your on-trail device. Route creation is easier on a larger iPad.

Offline map downloads rely on USGS servers. Highly detailed (zoomed in) maps will take time to download. Some offline maps support only US regions.

CAUTION: USGS occasionally changes their map server URL's and configurations. This may prevent some offline downloads until the next app update.

Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.