Planning is of utmost importance when it comes to camping and the growing number of apps makes it easier. To save your day and improve the camping experience, camping apps come in handy. While there are so many options out there, we bring the top 11 recommended best camping apps that should definitely try before you plan on the next outdoor travel.
- The Dyrt
- Roadtrippers
- Recreation.gov
- Tentrr
- Reserve America
- REI Co-op National Parks Guide
- Hipcamp
- iOverlander
- Campendium
- AllStays
- Packing List Checklist
By taking the best camping apps, you can stay connected to the outdoors. Think like you are struggling hours or sometimes days to find the perfect place to pitch the tent this time, there are smart camping apps that could save you time.
For many walk-up sites are desired to just arrive and find your place. But what if you find all they are full when are arrive after all-day travel? To stop you from a frustrating drive back home, make it easier and work perfectly with your smartphone. You can find plenty of best camping apps to catch the best camping destinations, information, reviews, and also reservation support. And there are more apps you can get support to plan your trip and up to reach your spot.
From beginners to experts, there are so many benefits on the side of choosing the best camping apps. If you want to travel more and make things easier than before, find the right set of apps for camping.
The Dyrt
The Dyrt is the first step to any camper where you find everything you need to know to pitch your tent. It has RV and tent campsites, reviews, and guidelines for all the U.S. campgrounds.
You find everything inside the Dryt comprehensive and has been updated so often. It has photos, videos, and the best reviews of over 42,000 top raked campgrounds being the best resource for any camper and taking user-submitted guides too. It covers national parks, Hipcamps, cabins, Tentrrs, private RV campgrounds, state parks, and more.
The interesting part is users can participate in camping contests with online reviews through an app where they can win real prizes and get amazing discounts with outdoor brand associates. And you can get online reservations through the app making it the all-time favorite of every camper.
The app Dyrt is totally free and compatible with both Android and iOS. And over 4.2 K ratings, this comes top of the best camping apps all the time.
App highlights:
- Free to download
- Compatible with both Android and iOS
- Includes RV and Tent campsites, reviews, and guidelines
- Supports photos, videos, and user-submitted guides
- In-app bookings
Roadtrippers
For planning your outdoor trips, Roadtrippers is our type of best to work with. This comes super smart and helpful no matter it is a road trip or staying at a national park. Simply, it is a planning tool that you can reach through the website and the app to make your travel experience the best.
You can have it in both free and paid versions with the Roadtrippers app to serve you accordingly. And comparatively, Roadtrippers plus is worth upgrading with offline maps and access up to 150 stops. Believe me; it is like planning your Yellowstone and Grand Teton trip on just one map.
The free version is extremely limited to a few features while the upgrade of $29.99/ yearly is a lot more. In fact, it brings offline maps, up to 150 amazing spots, interesting waypoints, and recommendations, support to save your favorites, check live traffic, enjoy new map styles, and more in a completely ad-free frame. And there is also the chance for amazing discounts and deals from travel partners.
Just plan your entire trip with Roadtrippers,, having it either on Android or iOS or just launching via Laptop. This is one of the best camping apps so far for a good camping tour.
App highlights:
- Available free and Roadtrippers Plus for $29.99 yearly
- Compatible on Android and iOS
- Up to 150 spots
- Offline maps and live traffic
- Customized RV routes
- Travel deals and collaborations
Recreation.gov
You can find Recreation.gov as an iOS supported app among the best free camping apps providing you with all Federal campground information. It is an updating app for campers running by a renowned campground listing site.
Recreation.gov covers popular national park and forest campgrounds to choose from and comes up with the activities you can find in the relevant area. But as it is not a peer-to-peer peer service, you do not be able to find images, videos, and reviews submitted by users. However, that is where you can find some information related to each spot according to the information provided by the federal sources.
This iOS-exclusive travel app is a perfect on-the-go solution for booking thousands of amazing camping destinations. If you are a type of final-minute camp planner, you can book your federal site through the app for free.
App highlights:
- Only supported to iOS devices
- Free to download
- Includes a wide range of federal camping options
- Covers popular national parks and forest campgrounds
- No user-submitted reviews and images are available
- In-app bookings
Tentrr
Tentrr is one of the best camping apps where you can find pre-made glamping tents, including more than 800 private and public campsites. The app is iOS exclusive at the moment and is available for free.
The app is home to more than 730 campsites bringing you cozy accommodation in nature. And it allows booking some services like saunas, massages, and even breakfast in bed that you generally be covered at luxury hotels. Most of these campsites do not come as low-cost as an RV site or tent you find in public campgrounds. And of course, they are luxurious and offer a comfortable and stylish stay outdoors.
The access to Tentrr comes in both the app and on the web proving you the relevant information like services, sleeping selections, and accessibility to nearby spots. You can book your site through the app Tentrr.
App highlights:
- Free app to download
- Available only for iOS
- Covers more than 730 campsites, comfortable and luxury
- Provides pre-made glamping tents (private and public)
- Direct bookings through the app
Reserve America
For those who are looking for the best camping apps for free, Reserve America is a perfect match to find out campsites in state parks, RV parks, and also private campgrounds like KOA and Good Sam. It is both iOS and Android supported to serve more users and you can search through campgrounds and day. Also, it filters results through federal, state parks, county sites, and private.
Through location and date, users can look for the perfect campgrounds. But the lack of map functionality is a major drawback with Reserve America which is important for planning ahead with road maps.
The filtering feature of the app is useful and its upcoming reservation tab helps too along with the tracking details. But it does not come with user reviews and ratings for the sites available. Therefore, planning only with Reserves America can be a little risky sometimes if you are totally new to the sites. However, you can book your site directly through the app easily.
App highlights:
- Free to download
- Filtering features and upcoming reservations tab
- Sort by location and date
- Easy to find and book
- Includes state-operated camping states and private campgrounds
- In-app bookings available
- Does not support maps, reviews, and rankings
REI Co-op National Parks Guide
With a primary focus on maps and information of national parks across the United States, this is one of the best camping apps you should try.
It mainly focuses on national park details and helps the best with planning your national park trip. National Park Trail Guide is a complete and comprehensive source for campers and hikers with everything included for your plan.
The app isn’t directly focusing on camping like the above options but can be rated one of the best camping apps to have. It is home to plenty of facts on hiking trails, popular views, and also a GPS locator tool. This tool is useful as a personal locator to use even when lost and the best part is it works without the internet.
You can have this app for free on iOS and Android supporting a wide range of devices. And it owns high ratings making it a perfect app for those who plan to visit national parks.
App highlights:
- Free to download
- Available on iOS and Android with wide support to devices
- Focuses on national park details
- Offline details and built-in GPS
- Allowed to create a to-do list
- Can track your hikes
- Allowed to send your exact location for any emergency needs
Hipcamp
One most popular and referred to as “Airbnb of camping”. One of the best providers of outdoor stay opening you to discover, and reserve exclusive outdoor getaways including glamping, tent camping, treehouses, RV stays, and even more. If you are looking for a destination that fits your style, it is pretty easy by having Hipcamp.
The app primarily focuses on private, unique landowner-run campgrounds similar to Tentrr. But it is not for standardized glamping how exactly Tentrr works. In fact, Hipcamp is a mix of rural backcountry destinations to hotel luxury-level. And most of these sites are isolated for those who are highly concerned about privacy as they are single-spaced for tent and RV campers.
Through the app, you can directly book your campsite and you can have this free on both Android and iOS. And thanks to its neat booking mechanism, you can apply filters like filters for night-of camping or weekend plans.
App highlights:
- Free to download
- Available on Android and iOS
- Covers over 300,000 listings with a mix of destinations
- A comprehensive resource of paid private-campsites
- Features a host of filters
- Have community-sourced pictures and reviews
iOverlander
iOverlander is simply the best worldwide campsite database, which is also the most needed support for campers. It provides crowd-sourced, easy map support to everything you need on your road trip.
You can find a whole lot of information through the app from remote campsites to well-known campgrounds, and everything you need to pick in between. Looking for a single-night stopover, dump station, water spot, or anything else; just head to the app and find perfect solutions in your area.
The biggest change of iOverlander from others is its addition of hardware supplies, mechanics, and propane fill-up solutions. Even while you are in the middle of your road trip, it would not be hard to find the closest mechanic by having iOverlander with you. And also you can now check for the cellular coverage by major providers at each campsite here with the app to make sure you really need to camp there.
You can download the app free and can take it on iOS and Android with wide device support.
App highlights:
- Free to download
- Supports iOS and Android devices
- Best worldwide campsite database
- Provide crowd-sourced, easy map support
- Supports hardware supplies, mechanics, and propane fill-up solutions
- Allowed to check for cellular coverage at each site
Campendium
Campendium is a popular pick for RV and tent campers hosting thousands of places to camp. It spreads from standardized RV parks to free remote destinations, and everything is inspected by the expert team of passionate travelers and looked over by members above 600,000.
You can find the perfect campsite for you with map overlays for cell service reports and also public lands. The featured listing of the app is continuously updating and well-maintained too. Thanks to growing reviews every day, you can find real experiences of the campers to make a perfect campsite decision for you.
The app is free to download and compatible with only iOS. Currently, Campendium lacks booking directly through the app.
App highlights:
- Free to download and use
- iOS exclusive app
- Covers national parks, forests, state parks, BLM, county, city parks, and RV Parks
- Provide cell coverage reports
- Photos and reviews in a continuously updating database
- Useful filtering features
- Does not support in-app bookings
AllStays
If you are not camping on a budget and ready to spend some dollars on even planning your outing, AllStays is a perfect solution for what you are looking for among the best camping apps. And for the biggest change, AllStays comes as a chain of apps instead of packing to one. Therefore, it comes as a package of 6 apps prices ranging from $1 to $10.
The apps are as, Military FamCamp Campgrounds, Camp and Tent – Tent Camping, AllStays Hotels By Chain, Rest Stops Plus, Truck Stops & Travel Plazas, and RV Dumps.
Different from other best camping apps, on the top of their tent camping and RV database, it focuses services like rest stop locations, parks at RV, parking lots at Walmart to make the app more trip-friendly to the users. And with this package of 6 apps, AllStays covers a lot of useful information about your campsites.
While there are so many free options under the best camping apps, AllStays comes with a paid service. However, the payoff brings useful features to the experience including offline search. But as a drawback, the app does not support in-app bookings and user-submitted reviews.
App highlights:
- Paid app $9.99
- Extremely road-trip friendly
- Package of 6 different apps ranging from $1 to $10
- Available only on iOS
- Brings most of the public listings
- Features useful services including offline search
- No support to in-app bookings
- No user submitted reviews
Packing List Checklist
When it comes to the best camping apps that you should definitely take before you plan your next journey, apps-based destinations, routes, information on sites, and related always come at the top. But how could you miss app support for perfect packing? That is where Packing List Checklist moves toward the play.
Once you have chosen the best campsite for you, it is your time to get ready. There, the app Packing List Checklist comes smart with broad categories of packing lists making users tailor planning options. It simply allows hassle-free planning of gear based on location and your group.
Another important feature it takes is “Pick Suggested Items” where you are allowed to create detailed lists with minimum effort. This is very useful for regular campers to save time and effort as you can keep lists for any time to use future too.
The app is iOS exclusive and can have for free.
App highlights:
- Free and iOS-exclusive app
- Brings the best-tailored planning options
- Includes checklists of all camping things
- Can sync lists and set reminders
- Allowed creating customized categories
- Can reuse lists for future use
- Support to manage with qualities of the items
All interesting things about camping come when prepared! With the best camping apps, we can save days wasting to finding information about places to visit, good and bad, routes to head, and so on. But if you find the right app, everything will be hassle-free. Before you plan your next outdoor journey, pick the right camping apps for you!
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