National Park Service Reviews

by Fish Not Phones

Loving the concept behind NationalParkService. It makes a lot of our hopes and dreams of visiting all these places seem within our reach. But there are some serious quality of life issues with NationalParkService, some previously mentioned in other reviews. The BIGGEST problem is users cannot add locations to their favorites/visited places directly from the map. We are forced to scroll through 500 line items to find our places, when simply clicking it from the map view would be really easy and more fun.

Please consider making the map more interactive. People interested in this stuff ARE MAP NERDS and we need to be able to click on things in the map, and play with filters to find what we want a little easier. GREAT EFFORT SO FAR! God bless America!

by Kibfqiis

I love NationalParkService layout and the picture banners for each location however, the descriptions for each park are extremely limited. For the Great Smoky Mountains park for example, it would be great to see a list of all of the majors trails, waterfalls, lookout areas and campgrounds each with their own photos, description and location on a map. Without being able to see the individual interest points within the park, all NationalParkService really does is show you where the park itself is along with amenities. Mapping the amenities would be helpful as well. Lastly, having a satellite option of the map would be even more helpful.

by Reuben From LAX

What surprises me is the high average rating NationalParkService gets.
Some poor decisions include:
You can see parks on a map but you cannot navigate to a park by touching on that map. Any recent graduate in computer programming can implement that in a day or two.
Enter a park name while a filter is applied, for example, Wyoming state, and the list will show completion for the names matching the text you enter, even if outside that state. After you select the suggested name NationalParkService tells you there is no such park (nless you clear the filters).
Check various links for more details and it will send you to Safari (why not open an in-app browser?)

by Casey486

Overall, it’s pretty handy (and beautiful!). PLEASE add an option to upload the various park passes, such as Access, Senior, etc. (and to add more than 1 pass per app for families that may be traveling with various elderly, disabled, 4th graders, etc., without every single family member needing to have NationalParkService ). I understand verification of identity can still be requested on site (ID, driver’s license), but in the 21st century, who still carries around a physical copy of every card acquired through the years? I always keep my driver’s license, a debit card, and a credit card on me, but that’s it! I would hate to miss the opportunity to visit a park with my lifetime pass because I don’t still carry around the 20+ physical cards I’ve accumulated over the years. I keep my own digital copy of my pass (and have proof of identity), but I don’t know if the entrances will accept this in lieu of the physical card.

by Girl Geeks Rock

NationalParkService looks like it’s going to be great but it’s still definitely under construction. I looked at Pictured Rocks national lakeshore. There is no park map. And under things to see or things to do there is no mention of the rock formations! That is why most people come to the park. The trails are to places with cool rock formations. Also disappointed that the only trails listed are those which are less than one mile. I hope that’s not a theme throughout NationalParkService . Need to highlight the amazing geology of the parks.

by Taker1

Since the passport app went away, this is a great alternative to keeping track of what parks you wish to visit, which you have been to, and spots to locate passport stamps. Another big plus is being able to download park data so you can access it offline or without data in some of the more remote areas. One of the features I really enjoy is the create a postcard where you can upload photos and get a little logo and park name over your images, the drawback to this (for me so far) has been NationalParkService doesn’t load your entire camera roll so you can’t access older photos. Hopefully the next update fixes this, but otherwise rejoice! An up to date app with all your park needs is here!

by Whitebare7

Love having NationalParkService and there is a ton of great information that’s easy to access. In addition to the big miss of adding parks to a list directly from the park, my biggest issue is the the inconsistencies with the park closures and visitor center hours! I’ve gone to multiple parks this summer and noticed NationalParkService will have completely different hours than what actual locations have. Perhaps the rangers can verify and have the developers update to reflect current hours. Obviously, things are a bit wonky with COVID, but it is frustrating. Even a ‘call for current hours’ would be better I think.

by SavvyChris

Great start to NationalParkService . I appreciate it, but there needs to be more things that make it user-friendly.

-I should be able to add a park to my visited list from the park info itself. Right now there’s a star to add it to your favorites list. It would be easy to add a checkmark or something similar. So that it would immediately go onto a “Parks I have visited” list.
-there should also be a wish list, again with an icon that you click that immediately put that park into the wish list.
-any of these lists should be able to be looked at in map form. This way I can easily plan a road trip.
-you should be able to sort on the map parks according to type… National Park versus national seashore versus historic monument.
-once you’ve gone through the intro opening pages you should not have to go through it again.

I’ll post if I come up with others, but I really do appreciate NationalParkService and look forward to using it more and more!

by Agave Deserti

NationalParkService looks great for the first release.
A couple things that would seem intuitive but aren’t included in the initial release.
You can’t see a map without entering a location in the search box.
I can’t check off a park I’ve been to when I’m visiting the park location.
When visiting a park on NationalParkService the map only shows up when you click on Visitor Center or Places to Go->Sites. How’s about a simple Map icon?

by Salbatcat

There are a few things that could use an update. I love the photo idea where it places the NPS logo in the corner, but it can take forever to go thru my photos to pick an old one. Please add the option to select photos from your Albums. I have all my photos in Albums and it would be so much faster to find a photo if I could access them. And the logo needs to have more pixels, it is blurry when added to photo.

And it would be nice to be able to add a park to ones visited while you have that park open.

Thanks - I hope these are easy fixes.

by Mrs. Mahone!!:)

NationalParkService is GREAT. One thing I wish they would change is when you click on a park, I wish there was a button to push that says “I Visited” so it is added to the list “Parks I Have Visited.” It’s a bit of a hassle to access your lists, click on the visited parks list, search for the park, and then add it to the list, and then go back to the park page or home page. I think it would be more simplified to just have a button or something that could add it to the list right away. Overall, a VERY well put together app. The layout is nice. NPS is shining as usual.

by RunninRissa12

NationalParkService is fantastic it shows pictures and allows you to make a list of places you have been or want to see. You can look at the different activities the park has to offer as well as pull trail maps. NationalParkService is really user friendly and FINALLY there’s a map tailored to where I want to go!!!! I’m just disappointed that the National Forests aren’t on here! I can name a few forests that are visit worthy: Ouachita, San Juan, Jarbidge, Superior, White Mountain, Gallatin, etc. I would have given NationalParkService 5 stars if it had the forests.

by Mom To Jr Rangers

The new National Parks App is really great, significant improvement over the previous version. The cards for each park are nice and show most of the info you need— but afaict there is no info on the Jr Ranger program. There is a section for passport stamps on each parks card, but not jr Ranger. Some parks let you print the booklet ahead of time, while others require you to be in person to get the booklet. Some parks let you mail or email the booklet and get a badge through the mail. Some do cards instead of booklets. There is a lot of info that could be added under a jr Ranger heading for each park. Having a way to track which badges you have earned would be helpful too.

Or maybe jr Ranger could get its own app!? 😃 That would make a lot of families who plan vacations around national park badges very happy.

by ADJ1223

First I must say that I am really impressed with the quality of NationalParkService! Big kudos for well-thought out functionality like the offline feature. There’s a few things I think you could improve on:
-enable adding a park to lists from its info page. It was getting tiresome searching for parks, then having to jump to lists, then back to search.
-missing newer parks like Grand Staircase-Escalante
-coordinate with others like National Forests who also do stamps to include them (ex: Red Canyon)
-break the trails down for user-friendly searches. For example, I’ve been to Pompey’s Pillar but I had no idea it was part of a trail and was frustrated when I couldn’t find it.
-add a passport stamp check-list/feature
-some stamp images don’t match up ex:Yellowstone NP, Albright Visitor Center shows Mammoth Visitor Center.

by Petoskey

Since we are big fans of the NPS, I’ve been already exploring NationalParkService looking forward to getting more familiar with it. I have NationalParkService on both my iPhone and iPad but don’t see where they automatically back up to the cloud or sync with each other. I see where there is a settings option but nothing that seems to allow for setting up anything. Otherwise, this should be wonderful app for those of us who love the National Parks. Thanks

by Bwmoore22

I really love NationalParkService; it has helped tremendously in trip planning, and the download for offline use is extremely helpful. The list capability is also especially helpful for trip planning and keeping track of which parks we have yet to visit on our quest to visit all.

It would be helpful to be able to export and/or share a list and automate downloads for parks on the list with another user.

by ERS377

This is a great app - nice work NPS!

One suggestion for the developers: it would be nice if you could filter the 423 NPS units by their ‘type’. I’d love to just see a list of the 63 National Parks or 85 National Monuments etc.

I’m working my way towards visiting all 63 National Parks and it would be helpful for me if I could browse the list of just those parks or see a map with only those parks. Scrolling through all 400+ can be cumbersome - especially on a phone.

by Press The Green Button

You totally exceeded my expectations with NationalParkService. It’s truly welcomed!! Of course, it’s a start. Those that rated lower were expecting the world then some, you can’t have all that from day one. For a v1 it’s excellent! Keep it up NPS! One thing that I did not see mentioned in the reviews I read was iCloud sync. I wish I can sync my favorites and lists with my iPad via iCloud. That would be a nice addition for a future update. Thanks for the hard work!

by Steve LaChappelle

Just downloaded NationalParkService. Been looking at it for a few mins. Love the look! I live in Tempe Az and didn’t know how much stuff was around me from the NPS. Just added a whole lot more to my bucket list!
For the profile area it would be need to have a check in area where you can keep track of all the parks and places you have been too and seen. Can’t wait to explore more with NationalParkService!
Thank you dev team and everyone else who made NationalParkService!!

by Daily Power User

I am using NationalParkService for planning daily activities while traveling in 2021 to several national parks and want to congratulate the designers, developers, and NPS on producing something that is truly useful! From park maps, to schedules of ranger-led programs, to lists of what to do and see, and much, much more. The search function is powerful and helpful to find the park of interest, with the added functionality of switching to map view to find a park -- I highly recommend NationalParkService to anyone traveling to our national parks. ( I'm using NationalParkService on the iPhone 8 running the latest iOS).

by Doug Tree Fresh

The parks that have submitted information are awesome. Being able to plan adventures and get campground info is super useful. Sadly, popular parks, like Olympic, seem to have next to nothing in their park bios and very little information about them. If this aspect changes and all parks are well documented and full of visitor information, this will be a game changer. Until then, it is fine.

by Spore11

Very useful app that has every unit of the system in one place! Very straightforward interface with things to do and important information for getting around the park! My main suggestion would be to include the official brochure maps in addition to the park tiles map: it’s usually easier to read and better highlights important locations and other features.

by RohanNagar

This is amazing - all of the NPS units in one convenient app! I’ve been waiting for something like this and it’s so helpful when planning trips.

One bug I noticed - I added Channel Islands NP to my “Parks I have Visited” list, and the image for the park in the list is gray, it’s not the header image that shows up for other parks. Maybe just a bug with this one but I’m sure it’ll get fixed soon. Thank you for this, NPS!

by J. Rizzo

This is such a wonderful app!