FreeRoam - Boondocking & More Reviews

by Siriusday

This is a decent app he didn’t give me a good amount of information and had some sites that other websites did not have. My issues is with the mapping overlays. They are not very accurate at all. I don’t expect for BLM or these types of mats to be exact but they have been off way more than what’s acceptable especially the cellular signal overlays.I booked a campground site and dependent upon FreeRoam giving me decent information as to the T-Mobile signal in the area. It is not consistent with the T-Mobile coverage map online by 5 miles. That is just too far off. Also collecting data from the clipboard is unacceptable. What people need to understand is that hackers know programming and make apps!!

by Mnmndboyz

I noticed a couple interface issues:
1. When you click on a campground, etc, the info pop up stays up with no way to remove it until you leave the map tab and then return or choose another campsite. Clutters up the map when you are searching.
2. Wondering about your weather source and accuracy as well as how the actual forecast is pulled down: looking at one campsite, I saw what was clearly a regional or nearby region vs the actual pinpoint location. The several thousand foot altitude difference from the campground to where forecast seemed to be from makes for a very inaccurate forecast.

All that being said, I like the interface and look forward to seeing how this evolves.

by Hfreind

Lots of useful info, fairly easy to use. Some bugs and glitches can be frustrating but don’t take away from the fact that this is highly valuable database of camping info. The most important issue that needs to be resolved is a bug with the offline mode. I understand the developer is working on a fix for this. To work around the lack of an offline mode I would search for a site when I had a data connection and then save a pin drop on an offline Google map so I would always have access to it.

by Avatar P

I love FreeRoam , that it exists and that it’s free. There are sweet layers you can add (where it’s Smokey from fires ), and there are so many BLM sites I would otherwise never know about. Free camping finder makes FreeRoam a huge hit for my. Thank you creators for your generosity to be not-for-profit.

The reason I gave only four stars is there are a few glitches (to be expected with any large program ), including trip functionality wasn’t working for me even a little , when I would click ‘save,’ it wasn’t easy to tell if it had saved or if it hadn’t . Overall a fantastic program, which does need internet to function , so planning ahead is helpful. Or if you’re an on-the-go planner, FreeRoam is totally for you too. So awesome , I highly recommend .

by Supercellsuperfan

The areas we have been using it in, don’t seem to have many reviews or updates. We love the idea of this and try to leave reviews everywhere we go to help build up FreeRoam and make it more useful. I gave it 4 stars because it is a little buggy and the keyboard gets stuck in the way almost every time I use it. It’s also difficult to search with the search bar, the best way to find your location is to just pinch through on the map by yourself. Searching for a city by name in the search bar is useless. So I love the idea of FreeRoam and I love all the stuff it includes, especially pricing per campsite, cell signal, and road difficulty. But it’s buggy and annoying to use. Still one of the best campsite apps out there. Love the way it looks and the potential. Will still use it and update reviews as we go and hope for some app updates!

by Fabreezy H

I camp BLM all the time, and I needed an app that actually lets me easily locate and use coordinates to get to BLM land. I love FreeRoam! It’s so useful at helping me plan for my trips.

However, it would be nice to have a feature that lets you filter only BLM, campground with restrictions, or paid campgrounds (besides just the pricing filter). Please make a feature description that says whether or not it’s completely free, requires backcountry permit, with restrictions, or restrictions apply etc. That would be very helpful.

by Dankat1209

We are learning about BLM and dispersed camping and have had difficulties understanding and finding. Seems to be a learning curve. We are on the road full time in a self sustained 44’ RV and the first time we took advice and tried to get to a BLM place our RV got pretty roughed up🥴 that being said it would help if there were more tutorials and info on the locations and road conditions. When I filter for our large RV we loose a ton of possibilities. Otherwise FreeRoam is great! Thanks for creating it!

by Ch4rlieBrown

FreeRoam is user driven, plus information from cell phone carriers, public sites, etc.

If the cell phone service doesn’t work, in an area where it is “supposed to,” then it is your carrier’s fault, not FreeRoam (FreeRoam does not give live updates on how well the cell phone service is functioning currently, since that has to do with a plethora of contributing factors).

Read all of the signage in your destination area. Since this is a user driven app, people can often times get it wrong and not notice that an area is not free or is restricted to “no overnight parking.”

Please don’t post private property areas even if it looks vacant, you’re sending someone to tresspass - In this day and age that could be deadly.

When using the free sites, please remember that other people use these as well and that if they arrived first, please give them their space. They did not choose that spot because you were there, please don’t add yourself to their well thought out and researched area, thus rendering it useless to them for all intents and purposes (which is so that we can get the heck away from each other : )

Thanks for reading this, campers! Stay safe when you go “Into the Wild!”

by LongPooper

Really useful, offers thoughtful features that make planning camping easier (e.g. cell signal overlays), and super convenient BLM/National Forest overlays that are hard to find elsewhere. A few UI limitations (e.g. the adjustable opacity doesn't seem to work on Mac browser or iPad app, app version can't save offline datw) but I’m not complaining since this is a free volunteer effort. Thanks to the devs! Seems to be attracting more and more campsite reviews which only makes it get better and more useful.

by Twicebakedbby

FreeRoam is amazing, I downloaded 4 or 5 at the same time because I was going to compile everything and make my own map, but FreeRoam goes above and beyond and does everything for you. It has direct links to things you need for your build, it has chat groups specific to your rig, if shows all kinds of spots and tells you everything you need to know about them. I don’t normally review apps but this is so great!

by Rachel Speed Skater

I have about five apps that I use consistently (we are traveling full time out west) and this is my favorite. Campendium does paid sites well but has nearly no free places. And this app has them plus many paid sites. The UX could use some finesse (I want to read reviews every time I see a listing so place those on the main page, etc.) but The data set here is what really shines. So many listings you can’t find anywhere else! You guys make my life easier and I appreciate it!

by A Ryan Seacrest Type

I’ve gone on tons of road trips to the middle of BF nowhere. When you’re traveling to not super touristy areas, the campsites aren’t always on google. Free roam has saved me having to sleep in the car countless times, and has also saved me from having to pay for an expensive KOA countless times. It’s a must have. It also gives you coordinates too which helps finding spots that aren’t on a marked road. It doesn’t always have a lot of info on the sites, but that’s the nature of dispersed camping.

by Lmjhiker

FreeRoam literally saved me hours of researching forums/maps for designates camping locations. The layers is a really helpful resource as well. However, there are a few things holding it back from being the end all be all of camping maps.

1. The layers are a great feature but it is missing a generic map feature like Apple/google maps. I find myself cross referencing between other apps to make sure I am in the right place. I think this could be added and it would make it a lot more user friendly.

2. It’s hard to differentiate between RV camping areas and primitive camping areas on the map. I know this is user information put in so I didn’t take off a star for that but I hope to see more filters in the future.

Overall, this is a really good app to have in the tollbox. Keep up the good work!

by Al Aaraaf

I really love what the developer has been doing with FreeRoam. I’m more of a 4X4 Overland Tourer type, but I’m sympathetic to the Van Life and I find I need a lot of the same overlays to work and explore—like the mobile service maps and the BLM overlays. The ethos is not terribly different. Anyway, I’ve recently noticed wildfire alerts coming up in FreeRoam for the areas I’ve been looking at. Super cool. The UX is very clean and easy to use. Frankly, It just blows iOverlander out of the water and I’d use it exclusively if some of that data and organization targeting 4WD users could port-over.

by Conflicted About FB

There are a lot of new apps being developed but they don’t have the info this has; I appreciate all the reviews from people and the pics. I find this super easy to navigate and appreciate the cell service filter because it’s a necessity for me with daily calls. However, what I have had a hard time with in trip planning is where to find the “saved” sites for me to return to? I haven’t figured that out yet so am using pen and paper. But I sure appreciate FreeRoam.

by Dallas Cloud

I’ve only initially started planning a trip through FreeRoam, but it seems to be an amazing tool. It’s very feature-rich, and it has many layers that I’m blown away by. Thanks to the developers for giving us such a useful tool for free. The paid apps that I’ve found do not offer the functionality that this contains. I would pay a one-time fee for FreeRoam without a doubt.

*note to developer* - I’m not a fan of subscription based payments for this type of app. Thanks for keeping it free, but if you do charge, I would suggest a one-time payment.

by Pidpot

I like FreeRoam because it offers weather forecast via Dark Sky, easy to access, but especially for the filters. In particular the temperature min and max options (* greater than or less than), is extremely handy to quickly find what regions might be a good match.

The demo videos were very helpful too. Thank you.

The only snag Ive noticed is that when typing into the weather field (for instance “78” for max high of 78), only the very top portion of the numbers show up (like the top 10% of the 7 and 8), as if the text font is too large and its top adjusted. I believe this happened on both iphones Ive had (6 and 7), and dont recall if it also happened on a laptop.

The only addition Id hope for is the option to search a 3 day forcast (in addition to the 7-day option, not instead of), since temperature swings can be pretty quick/dramatic, helpful for near term planning.

Overall, outstanding job/product. Thank you!

by Jwernicke

I've been using FreeRoam every day for a month while traveling 5000 miles around the western US, and this is my favorite camping app for its minimalist layout which runs smoothly on all my mobile and laptop devices, the useful layers, like fire, BLM land, and cell phone coverage, and noble goals of being open source, community driven, and promoting responsible outdoor stewardship. I'd like to be able to add more types of locations like dump stations, water, and WiFi. I also think the offline mode could be more intuitive, like just selecting an area to download like other map apps.

by Seaquest7

Every once in a while someone makes a very useful app. What doesn’t happened very often is it offered for free.
The author wants to have a public platform that not only benefits the users but one that also promotes a healthy and sustainable relationship with nature. I personally think there is no greater cause for those of us who love camping and just being outdoors.
For those few who are being critical of FreeRoam , think about all the others you use. Flawless? I doubt it. How about helping the rest of us by giving the author the actual issue and when it occurs.

by No_please_make_it_stop

FreeRoam has absolutely all the features I’ve wanted for full time boondocking and remote work: cell coverage, cell tower, weather, easy way to add locations, I’m just really amazed by FreeRoam. I’ve tried all the apps and been using campendium (paid subscription) and ioverlander the most to find locations to full time over the past year. Free Roam blows them out of the water and is now my go to. Plus the social community seems cool. I’ll still use other apps because not all sites are listed here, but I’ll be going here first and contributing most to FreeRoam. I so want the developer and the community to thrive and last a long time!

by ColonelPanik

Yet another iOS app that has no ability to navigate or send a location to Apple Maps the native map in iOS. From Apple Maps, I can send the location to any number of map apps I have installed. Instead of this, you get sent to Safari to Maps. Just utterly lazy. If you are going to have a location based app, support the mapping in the OS.

Oh and contacting the dev, you get sent to a page that shows pictures of the devs out in the wilderness, mission statements, bla bla bla. Then you have to join some chat channel to “leave feedback”. Ridiculous.

by T4trd22qe

I like the mission of FreeRoam but there are many small UX issues that make it frustrating to use. Example - next or done can disappear while creating a review. Create review screens aren’t auto saved, so if you decide to back out to get around the bug, everything’s gone and now you start over. Hope to see attn to detail improve in FreeRoam . It has a lot going for it.

by Pdavis120

I love FreeRoam but the menu will freeze over the viewable map and the only way to remove it is delete and reinstall FreeRoam . Frustrating. Please fix this bug. Otherwise it’s a truly amazing app for camping and Boondocking!!

by Jeepnation52

Like FreeRoam a lot, it’s gradually becoming my favorite tool. One thing I’ve noticed, it doesn’t seem to include a direct link to the campground’s own website. This would be helpful in many ways.

by Googslx

I’ve never taken the time to write a review for any app I’ve ever had but I had to for Free Roam. FreeRoam is so smooth and well developed I’m astounded by the interface and how many nifty options and filters there are. It’s very updated and useful. It can show you BLM land, cell phone coverage, free campsites, paid campsites, reviews for places. Two thumbs up 5 stars.

by Bbahrman

FreeRoam has an impressive list of features. It’s still early so reviews are still being fleshed out as people contribute. Nice to have so many filtering options, a chat channel, and a mini wiki.

by Averbets

I have a number of apps for RV traveling but I tend to go to this one more and more. It’s easy to navigate and is to the point. I would love to see more reviews and more activity here because I think it’s a great driving app. Very nice job!

by Charon0739

Amazing app design with outstanding tools and functionality. Decent amount of site info, but it would be greatly improved by more user data.

by BookemDano57

This is by far the best camping app! The amount of information including an overlay of cell reception, near by dump, amenities and attractions.
If you have an motor home, camper or a tent this is a must have app.
Heck it even tells you where the wild fires are.

by Becky.Bebop

The overlays make finding exactly what you need much easier than with any other app I’ve used up until now. Looking forward to seeing the reviews of sites fill in.

by Guillehes

This is what I wanted my google maps to be. The public lands overlay feature was something I was looking for. I was doing a lot of bike trips and looking for camping and FreeRoam was one of my reliable tools. It is even better for people car/van camping, but useful for bikers too or just people interested in public lands and camps around them.