Sēkr: Vanlife, Roadtrip, Camp Reviews

by Nchlsrbrts

Sēkr is useless offline which is when most van lifers are looking for a place to camp for the night. I get a login screen when I don't have a connection and the second I get reception it opens. I default to adding information to another app because this one is missing so many key features which I wish wasn't the case. Sekr is much more modern and has a lot of potential compared to the others available.

UPDATE: Still needs an offline option. It would be nice too delete or organize conversations with people too.

by V-eno

I love Sēkr and its my go-to app for finding spots to stay. i wish there was a way to download a region so that it can be used when no service is available. also it would be good to be able to save a location when signal is not available, and that will upload that data once online

by Going With Home - Julia + Joe

Although I have several different apps that help me find places to stay this is the best. It shows all of the important things that I need when on the road like service signal, convenient map display, and most importantly reviews of others.

My only negative review will be there are a very large number of the sites with no reviews. Hopefully they can find ways to incentivize or reward people for leaving more reviews with the details because it helps a lot when finding a spot.

Happy camping!

by Kyle Kai

Developer told me after reading my review they fixed the deficiency I reported below. Bravo and thanks!
Old:
I use Apple’s magic keyboard for my iPad, and because Sēkr won’t work in landscape mode, it’s unusable. It’s not that hard to incorporate landscape mode into an iPad app; I know because I’m a software developer. Sēkr seems to have a lot of good info. Too bad Sēkr is unusable.

by Wheremyoffcenow

In my 7 years of full-time vanlife, one of the biggest challenges as a remote website developer was finding beautiful campsites with cell service for WiFi. Sekr has solved this problem!!! I cannot wait to finish building my skoolie and hit the road again. With Sēkr I will be so much better equipped for success with less wasted time searching for good WiFi. I’ll have more time to work productively and actually enjoy the lifestyle!!! Thanks Sekr Team!

by LiloVanNoir

Not sure why I prefer this one over the other apps but it really shows you many locations and people already have been rating a lot of locations. It’s easy to handle and I love that I can mark my favorites easily. The map is easy to read and it just is so handy. Love it!

by TinyPerfection

Sēkr got off to a rocky start which is I’m assuming why they have poor reviews in 2019. But it’s come a LONG WAYS in 2020!! The Vanlife App is super helpful in finding new/SAFE places to park overnight. The benefit to the VLA over any other is the ability to connect with other nomads around you in real time 🙌🏼

by Ashkey17

Love finding reviewed and trusted places to park overnight. The cell service is also an amazing feature since we work from the road. The community part is awesome! Join events, meet other vanners, organize your own event. Wonderful app and will only get better!

by ENewton

I love Sēkr - and what the company stands for! The people who created it are living the life. They’re not sitting behind a desk somewhere thinking up things they imagine are helpful, but they are not the same situations as other vanlifers and know when help / information is needed. Annndddd it just keeps getting better!!

by Ashskeudv

Sēkr makes planning a camping trip so easy! Wish it was around sooner! It has all the different types of camping on the map, with cell coverage map overlays and member-reported cell signal at the campsites. I also love browsing the events to find new fun activities to do outside.

by Awe.some_chick

Sēkr gets better by the day! Finding places to stay, shower, etc has become difficult since Covid started. The Van Life app is on its way to cover more ground and help us vanlifers find the things we need along the way. Big shout out to Natalia and the team she works with!

by Robb1234S

Huge strides in improvements over the years, if you tried Sēkr in the past and it wasn’t to your liking.... try it again. The team over there has poured their heart and souls into creating a one of a kind van community via an app. Thank you to every connection and free campsite Sēkr has led me to ❤️

by Amandalilien

Went on a road trip and Sēkr was super helpful. We were car camping in our Subaru and it was great for helping us find a safe spot to park for the night and it helped us find WiFi so we could get some work done. I would definitely recommend Sēkr for my other road tripping friends.

by Ryan "Slixs"

Sēkr has already came in clutch. In our recent trip to Joshua Tree it helped us find a place to sleep. While there are other apps for you to use this one does so much more than that. Some of the ones I love are the ability to make new connections, attend events, or just read reviews of sleeping spots and plan trips.

by Good Vibes Investments

We’ve been traveling on our van for three months and we use Sēkr every single day to find spots where to sleep, get groceries, gas and any other information we need on our daily basis. And the best part is the community, been able to connect with other van lifers is adding great experiences to our adventure. We absolutely recommend it.

by Backcountry_boogie

The this app app has quickly become my go to for travel. The incorporation of pre planning via destination/location pins, ability to connect real-time with other users within proximity, and the community forum for events and travel / self help resources is fantastic. Never feel alone while traveling again!

by Wherewefeelfree

We have used Sēkr multiple times to get ourselves out of binds when it comes to safe places to park and camp in a pinch. Obviously super helpful when it comes to planning good spots, but even more so for the last minute needs. Only thing I’d like to see more of is written reviews on every location (i.e if you add a location or add a rating to a location we’d like to know a little about it too!)

by Mayla11

They keep making improvements to Sēkr! By far the best app for traveling and camping. You can choose free or paid camping, stealth or campsites... people even put their driveways here for a safe place to camp while in a city. I stayed at one in Virginia that was gorgeous. I’ve met new friends here too! The social feature allows people to post events like a potluck or an outdoor movie night. We just attended one last night near Schooliepalooza

by Politicallyactiveyoungster

I am a brand new baby vanlifer, and I got the apps iOverlander, Freeroam, and Sêkr, to try them all out and see which ones I would keep.
I recently got rid of both iOverlander and Freeroam — they just don’t do it for me like this one! Even though they are technically the “big competition“, the interface of Sêkr and the feature for finding nearby fellow vehicle dwellers are UNBEATABLE!
I would recommend Sēkr first to anyone starting to look into vehicle dwelling, or ever weekend trips!

by Ig123

Sēkr is helping us explore further afield and with way less “what if it’s full?” anxiety. It’s hard to be spontaneous when you have to always book ahead because of the sudden surge in camping. Now we can easily find remote spots and ‘back yards.’ Maybe even make new friends along the way :)

by Vanlifeappfail

I’ve contacted the creator of Sēkr several times explaining that Sēkr doesn’t load for many of us even though we are doing everything correctly. The van life app seems to have their clique and apparently are not interested in fixing the issues (or they may just lack the knowledge to fix the issues) and allow others to enjoy the benefits of Sēkr... surprising considering many of these reviews accused them of taking advantage of the van lifestyle by charging money for free services... it’s too bad these young hipsters driving around in vans are just that...

by Honest Vanlifer

I have been so excited to finally get to use the van life app. I feel like it’s very OVERPRICED. I can’t believe that all this information (places to stay) that can be found for free, is being sold and presented the way it is. I just don’t see the value here... The whole vanlife community is about giving and paying it forward, for other like minded vanlifers. This yearly/monthly subscription does not go along with the whole meaning of Vanlife. We are all connected on Instagram, why not just meet up that way?
The whole thing just rubs me the wrong way.

by Tiffoto

Man, I’m sorry but this is a major disappointment. It was so buggy and useless that I just deleted it from my phone. Also, I find the vanlifers in my area to be a very dangerous feature for a single female traveler. There is no vetting users whatsoever. Anyone can know I am within a few miles of them. Police can use it to track us.

Found FreeRoam which is what Sēkr should have been more like. I highly suggest people check that app out. As disappointing as Sēkr is, that one does not disappoint and all of the features are free.

by Thag250

The biggest surprise to me was that when searching for other members you couldn’t go to their instagram page to find out a little more about them. You are required to give your instagram when signing up- if this isn’t accessible for other members- why?

I was excited for this- thinking it would be a great way to meet other lifers around us, but it just gives a rough mileage from you (no actual general location) and a sparsely filled out(from the members I saw) profile page with a tiny avatar.

The legalese says basically anything you put on the site is complete fair game for the developers to use as much or in any way they like.

And speaking of content, there was none?!

It appears to just be a way to financially support the traveling lifestyle of the developers. I currently don’t see a single thing here worth paying for

by Outtoseetheworld

I was so stoked about Sēkr and it had so much potential had they done it properly.

Driving into it the only way you can use Sēkr is if you sign in with Instagram. I was okay with that, but it gets annoying that you have to login every time. I don’t love that you have to pay “premium” to use anything on Sēkr . Doesn’t really fit the mindset of the audience using Sēkr . Everything is blocked off and is pretty useless if you don’t have a subscription.

I’ve downloaded Sēkr 5 times now and giving it a new shot hoping for dramatic changes. Nothing changed. There is no depth to Sēkr it’s just four pages and usually there’s only 1-2 other user near you so no one really uses it. I think I’m done with it unless it changes.

It’s really disappointing to see an app made to bring together the vanlife community and gatherings be centered around the specks of your van and monetizing the resources.

by Widakahicness

No instagram account= no entry, therefore I’m out. Maybe that is silly of me, to be this critical, as lots of apps force you to sign in/up for a profile, but was pretty frustrating to get stuck there with no other option than to go to instagram and sign up for an account there. Also, I would prefer to sign up for an instagram account when I actually want one not to gain access to another app that I thought would give me beta on good places to camp on the road- nothing to do with taking pictures!!

by Sarahvanessako

I’ve been a full time van dweller for 1.5+ years and have used iOverlander, Wikicamps and other apps. This one is by far the least informative, and has so many annoying bugs that force you to force quit Sēkr and restart it. Even in the city, Sēkr is by far the worst source of information. I know for a fact the only spot here in my area that is recommended is NOT allowed for overnight camping . Because there are so few users on Sēkr , it just doesn’t get updated I guess. Even ioverlander is far better, despite lacking the online community aspect. I was excited when I first heard about Sēkr but it seems like the creators have yet to take any feedback into consideration and for that reason, I’ll be deleting it again. Maybe years from now it’ll finally be better - if another app doesn’t catch up and surpass this one first.
Needless to say, though it was long awaited, the vanlife app does NOT live up to the hype :(

by UncleAlan

Sēkr is a great idea! Paying or asking what your asking, I don’t see the value. I just went on a 4000 mile trip in our van, your app worked great in the city, but who needs this information in the city? I need this information in the woods, on the side of a mountain in the desert, on the coast at the lakes. Every time I tried it all I see is it spinning looking for a connection. My suggestion get some help with this, it’s a great idea just need some professional help. Looking forward to seeing the next version. Suggest lowering the price, get real.

by Bbahrman

Map is slow to load and doesn’t work very well. No way to filter locations. The subscription fee of about $35/year seems a bit steep, it is free to use the location finding features but at that point I would stick with one of the other long time standards.

When telling people about Sēkr I learned about another up and coming app for RV Boondocking, I am holding out a grain of hope for Vanlife App but will probably use the other app as it is more feature rich with a communal chat and location filtering, all for free with no ads.

by Stephen Vosloo

This is like our favorite “overland” app but 10 X better — feature packed, super clean design and intuitive. Everything that you want in one place. The social feature will be a game changer in this space. Living as nomads constantly traveling and moving around it’s super hard to find community. Sēkr is going to help knit people together and make it that much easier for us to connect with one another. Just. Get. Out. There.

by Drewmangator

Finally, an app that solves the need of connecting with others in their vans. In the past we would miss others in our area because we didn’t know they were there until days later. We can now host events, share our location so that we can join others in our proximity when we want and locate campsites or spots to complete our van chores. Sēkr really feels like it’s invested in the Vanlife community and shares values that will improve all of those that are in it.

by Frenchyinavan

I’m really excited about this awesome app! We finally have a way to connect with each other, and find the best camping spots! Sēkr is made by Vanlifers for vanlifers, and I can’t wait to see it grow! Also it promotes leave no trace which I think is extremely important. Can’t wait to connect with you all on Sēkr !

by JTDanforth

The VanLife App is an incredible tool, taking the most basic travel/camping apps and expanding on them. This isn’t an app to find a campsite, it’s a connection to the nomadic community we love. The ability to connect with others and share experiences on the road is going to change the way we travel. While providing resources like bathroom spots, dump stations, campgrounds, water fills, laundromats and so much more, Sēkr is a one stop shop for anyone on the road. Thanks to the team behind this project for providing us with a tool that we can truly use!

by ZachM9923

I decided to give the subscription a try and I am SO glad that I did. The map alone (offered in the free version) is amazingly informative and user friendly. On top of that, the social media aspect of it is a super cool feature. We use it all the time to connect with others on the road. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

by Grinols

I’m so excited to finally be able to download Sēkr! I love being able to store my resources for camping, dumping, finding water, etc. and know that together we are building a platform that helps each other on the road. I love that you get this for free!
However, my FAVORITE thing (and WELL worth the upgrade) is the connection I’ve been finding on here.
I am solo in my van and was able to immediately connect with two other vanlifers nearby. The community is what makes this life incredible!