komoot - hike, bike & run Reviews

by Kaybawt

I thought this would be more useful than Garmin for planning gravel routes. I tried creating a gravel route from my house to a coffee shop just off a bike path. Taking the canal trails is actually shorter than city streets but komoot chose to map a course that was 100% busy city roads. Then I tried making a route that started and ended at the canal trail entrances so it should have mapped completely on the trail. Nope! About halfway through it jumps off the trail and onto high traffic city roads with no shoulder. LOL! The map detail seemed better than Google maps so I thought that might make komoot salvageable but I couldn’t find a way to manually plot your own course. komoot was a waste of time. Now I’m sure I’ll be getting their junk emails for the rest of my life because I signed up for an account. Yay.

by Jr314159

Usually I use ride with gps for offline bike route planning, but I'll be going on a long tour and won't have access to a computer so I thought I'd try this app for bike route planning on the go. So far I've found it does not choose bike friendly roads, in fact it routed me on a busy road with two lanes of traffic in each direction, no shoulder, and not even any sidewalks. Their help suggested I could improve routing by editing osm map data, which I did for this street, but I found even after my changes, this app continues to route on this unsafe road. I contacted support since even Google maps provides better bike-safe routing for this particular route and asked for an explanation, since as an app specializing in bike routing I would expect they'd do better. Their response: "Hi, our system is always looking for the fastest connection between your waypoints, allowed for the chosen sport. You can then customize this suggestion. On your PC you can display the Open Cycle Map to plan with cycle paths.
" So, no apology for risking my life on a dangerous road or recognition that the fastest route between two points may not be desirable for a bike. Very disappointing, especially since I already paid for their maps.

by Mr Pher

I found this app to be the easiest app for planning my bicycle rides. Unfortunately, komoot crashes during navigation on about 1 out of 7 rides. It crashes in a frozen state so it’s easy to over look the freeze and never get a warning that you are approaching your next turn. I held off reviewing komoot because their customer service seemed to be responsive and I wanted to give them a chance to address the problem. They told me I was the first person to report such a problem. This morning, I did a search and discovered that many other people have complained about similar problems. For me, I need a navigation app that will give me realizable navigation. Unfortunately, this app doesn’t offer that currently.

by Yourmom44

I heard about komoot through a Facebook group recommendation. I wanted to use it for cycle touring. It’s got a good start, but here’s where it failed me. I use Google maps bicycle feature to get a rough idea of safer routes, then use Ride With GPS to make modifications and zoom in for safer roads. This would be a really good alternative, but the map detail is VERY vague. There are no state line divisions for the US and a lot of roads and highways aren’t labeled even on full zoom. That makes it extremely hard to find obscure start and finish points. For example... I tried to make a route across my state from corner to corner and the longest diagonal route. I couldn’t find the state lines on either side and finding the furthest roads to the very tips of those corners was almost impossible. I had to open Google Maps to compare it and find the roads I was looking for. I also compared the route to the Google Map bicycle route with the same exact start and end, and Google chose much safer roads. In the Southern USA, drivers do not respect cyclist and cycling laws, and the laws aren’t enforced, so SAFETY FIRST.
It’s a handy map system, but it needs work. I’d rather put the time and effort into modifying my route with a better marked map that also allows me to view satellite imagery so I can zoom in and find large shouldered highways and back roads.

by AJP III

Neither the One Way not the Round Trip will allow me to plot the exact course I want to ride. When I get close to, or go back over an area where I have already mapped part of the route, it ignores all the intervening waypoints and replots a new course. That may be the most efficient path to ride to include all the waypoints, but that is not the route I want to take!

komoot needs a 3rd option which just follows whatever waypoints a person enters, no matter how inefficient it appears to the route finding algorithm!

Let me know when you add that option, and I will revisit komoot ! Thanks!

Update - I received a prompt reply from the developer, which was nice. There IS a way to have it plot your route, rather than “it’s” route. It is a bit cumbersome, but each time you enter the next waypoint, if you hit “Set as new end point”, it will make them sequential. However, as you are laying out the route, it will jump around, making apparent route changes. Ignore those and persevere. When you are finished, it will have plotted out your route. I have only upgraded to 3 stars, because I haven’t had a chance to use komoot on the road and further assess it.

by Pittsburgh's Own Little Bleeding Heart

I have mixed feelings about komoot. I love that it shows smaller trails that Google maps doesn't feature (dirt bike trails and such), but when I try to making a long circuitous route using them in order to pack in the miles, the route recalculates in the most nonsensical way. It renumbers the points I've added so that the second point becomes point seven (or similar); it reroutes me to take a long winding detour through a playground at the park entrance that runs near a straight sidewalk; its display of map with the route waypoints isn't functional for editing; and the whole thing is so frustrating that I never use komoot except as a reference for those smaller trails I mentioned. Bit of a waste of potential, really.

by Gage Oberle

As a whole, komoot works great. But I've done about 15-20 bike tours, and have run into a couple issues. 1: when komoot routes, it sometimes takes extra long, complicated routes over a simple one. 2: it sometimes doesn't recognize when fences exist. So it tries to take me on a path that's on the opposite side of the fence I'm on. And when it does that, it struggles to route anything else, because it thinks that's the optimal path. 3: it sometimes doesn't give you the best route in terms of safety. At times, it tries to take me onto larger, faster roads. Which aren't the safest when on a bike.

But those are the very few issues I've had.

Great otherwise

by Chuckji

I find it very hard to mark out easy routes. When I set a start point on the map it takes me back one page to click on the destination input box, which takes me to yet another page before finally going back to the map. When returning to the map, my start point is not displayed and it appears to have forgotten it. It hasn’t but it feels that way. The biggest text is “Plan New Route” which reinforces the feeling that I’ve lost my starting point. At the top of the page in smaller print is the text “Tap the map to add a point”.
I guess this structure is useful if you have no idea where you are going, only know places of interest, etc.
When I want to follow a specific route with the goal of creating a route for my bike computer, komoot often redraws the route to a shorter path which is not what I wasn’t. Maybe this isn’t the right app for what I want, I get that. But it shouldn’t be so difficult to do something easy.

by Dsulli

Been using komoot for a few years now and it directs me to the best route for biking just fine, for the most part. Directions may not always be the best (sending me down a pedestrian walkway instead of a road) but it gets the job done. But PLEASE remove all of the confirmation notifications when I'm trying to delete a route or trip once a ride is over. I use komoot to get me from point A to point B and it's incredibly annoying to confirm over and over that I don't need to save what I just did EVERY time. If I mistakenly delete what I think is an important route, was it really that important? komoot is above Google maps for bike routes but the "extras" weigh it down and muddy the experience.

by Rey-K

I am one of those people where planning out my adventure is half the fun. this app makes it easy to pick a starting point and end point and add waypoints along the way. I say it needs some refinement because sometimes the map is a little difficult to zoom in and out accurately and sometimes has a hard time guessing how to connect a couple way points such as if you are wanting to do attach a lake-loop mid hike, sometimes it connects your way points in a way that takes you a quarter of the way around the lake and then a quarter of the way around the lake the other way, but these are really the only problems iv run into. Great app, fun to plan trips on!

by Ut Bike Rider

Pros: it works well. The reason I downloaded is for its voice navigation along a user defined route ... the only app I’ve found that does so without an annual subscription. Most can only navigate a route it calculates. The mapping tool online works well and is easy to use. Save a created route and it automatically becomes available in the mobile app. Routes created elsewhere can be imported and edited.

Cons: when importing a gpx route, it can get altered by this app if the route goes someplace not on Open Street Maps, which this app uses. The good news is you can edit Open Street maps yourself to correct the map. Nitpicking: voice navigation below a mile is given in feet instead of tenths of a mile. Example: 3900 feet instead of .8 miles.

by Ferengii

We were on a bike & boat cycling trip on the Danube River last summer/autumn. Although we received daily paper route maps, I had also downloaded this app route maps. We used the this app map routes and never got lost or made a wrong turn. When we met with other riders at the end of the day, they expressed frustrations at missing turns and getting lost. Subsequently, we had a number of riders who followed us to avoid getting lost. The this app app was really easy to use and many of the other riders downloaded komoot and let me know how much it improved their bike touring experience. We continued using this app on our ride around Lake Constance and our ride across Austria as part of our overall bike tour. While there are other similar apps, this one doesn’t require subscriptions and is really easy to use. I can’t imagine bike touring without this app!

by @pasq

My favorite planning and mapping app so far. Routes are simple to create and edit, and best of all, they automatically show up on my Garmin! Then when I complete my rides they are logged on Garmin, this app and a couple of other popular services that I don’t need to mention. I paid to unlock my regions and it was well worth it. I would recommend komoot to anyone who likes to go out and discover…

Note: I do most of my heavy duty planning on my computer because I find it easier to use my mouse and see everything on a larger screen. komoot is a nice complement to the web service though, especially when you’re out on the road somewhere.

by Dsggames

I recently arrived in San Diego and knew of only a couple of bicycle routes.I found komoot when trying to figure out how to download a route to my Garmin 530. Not only does komoot help guide you in route construction it also gives turn by turn instructions to you via the cellphone when you are riding. I had a little trouble riding through Balboa Park and got off route. komoot advised that I was off route and should be 250 feet to my right. I have given up trying to get a route to the Garmin because this program works so well.

by Ranxcerox64

I have tried more map/guidance/record where you’re going programs that I can count in the last 15 years and I wanted a program that was flexible enough to do different types of sports that was accurate that was able to on the fly building route by recording what I’m doing at the moment as well as all the basic features that should be built into a program that is able to build a route in a variety of techniques that the program supports and I’ll be honest with you this program is way over my head in that it does way more than I needed to do having said that it’s the first program that is able to do what I wanted to do that is for the level that I’m working it is easy to find those features and it executes them wonderfully I am most excited about their version of building a route on the fly by recording what’s going on I’ve tried a lot of apps that have said they did it but there was always a problem. It finally works and works well I couldn’t be happier

by Fletchy71

Used it twice for two 75km rides in Denmark, including sections of single track, as well as 32km MTB ride through single track.

At first, it seemed to simple when compared to RideWithGPS. My first impression was “this looks too basic”. Then after playing with it.. I realized its UI didn’t need a lot of fuss. It just works.

Planning a route just involves clicking waypoint/breadcrumbs along the map.

The MTB area I go has some complex “Figure 8” that crosses back over the existing route already ridden! I learned in these maze-like paths, I simply needed to add more waypoints/breadcrumbs to prevent the route from recalculating to an alternate route. Easy.

Finding this app hard to fault as a route planner for the Elemnt Bolt.

One feature I would like is the ability to edit a planned route or a tour (logged ride) in the same way. For example:

In a planned route, I can edit the route, but I can’t add photos or journal the ride.

On a tour that I have ridden, I can add photos and notes to journal my ride... but I can’t edit the route. Of course that makes sense if you want to track your exact workout/trip.

But I like sharing routes with others.. and I don’t think they need to see that I rode 300m off route to go to the bathroom, or I decided to adventure off trail to a neighboring village which isn’t on the course.

Loving komoot ! Works great with the Bolt. Highly recommended!

by Doc2b88

I ´ve tried many apps for creating individual Mountainbike routes at home and use the navigation system offline because of the lack of connection in the Austrian Mountains and mostly got disappointed . But komoot fulfills all my criterias for guidet Mountainbike fun. Even if I take a wrong turn in the woods ,it finds an alternative track to guide me safely to my chosen destination! I am glad i found komoot! It is soo much more fun to ride the mountains without having fear to get possibly lost or head all the way back uphill if you took the wrong turn. Thank you this app !!!

by Dirtbetty

komoot is outstanding for navigation in a new trail network. Instead of having to pull my phone out at 57 junctions to see which turn I should take on Trailforks, my phone just tells me! I can keep it in my hip pocket with the speaker turned up and hear it clearly. Or you could use the Apple Watch app, but I’m still running Strava on that for now and until I decide which app I like better for fitness features. Definitely worth the $30 premium fee if you like to ride a new areas where you are unfamiliar with the trails.

by RodMTBikes

I use komoot for 2 purposes

1. Mountain biking: I can discover local trails as well as plan my own tours. this app works on Garmin edge bike GPS which means that whenever I plan a route on the Mac or iPad it’s automatically there on my bike GPS (through the connection with the phone, or as offline route if you decide to download it - all without the need to connect anything physically). They also now added an e-bike specific toggle. I have both an enduro MTB (Canyon Strive) and an electric MTB (Specialized Turbo Levo) so this is great.

2. Hiking: as a family we like to hike, and I like the thought of getting the kids to become used to being outside and liking the outdoors. Through COVID it’s been a savior. I can easily research trails in different locations and can quickly come up with say a 2 hour hike that will have some cool highlights like a river crossing bridge or other. It let’s you filter by difficulty level and time for the hike, so choosing becomes easy. It has information on elevation and the premium subscription let’s me see weather forecast for the chosen trail, which is awesome!

Overall this is trail discovery, planning and navigation at its best

by Citrussqueeze

Pros- komoot makes it very easy to plan rides. I like that I can see the miles and elevation gains before I leave my house. It’s nice knowing what I’m getting into for the trip. I also like that I can download the maps after I plan the ride. You can still use the gps directions even when you don’t have service.

Cons- it can be tricky out figuring out how to plan your trips. There are a lot of options so it can be a bit cumbersome finding what you need. Easy to navigate once you figure it out though. Also they do charge you per area after your first download. But it’s worth the it!

by CyclistMonkeyReader

After test-mapping a long trip route, I signed up for this app's lifetime full access to all maps, then plotted two long trips and saved them in my account. The trip routes were in my account for a couple weeks, then suddenly this app deleted my account entirely the day before I was leaving on one of the trips. Thinking it was just a bug, I re-signed up, but my routes and subscription were still gone. I wrote support, and got no response. Weeks later, this app responded that they never deleted the account, have no record of my payment, nor of me having created or saved any routes, and they refuse to provide a refund. Since they are not in USA, there is no way to compel them to fix the issue or refund my payment, and they seem to know that.

by Miyataguy

The basemap is very useful for navigating gravel and woods roads, however the navigation feature is all but useless because the display is locked on 100% of the time while using. This kills the battery in my iPhone 6s in just a few hours, rendering this functionality essentially useless. If this app added the super basic option of having komoot go to sleep after a set amount of time and wake up for notifications, then I would give it a 4 or 5 star rating, but as is, I can only use komoot in non-navigation mode. This is Still useful to place yourself on the map, but it’s soooooooooooo frustrating to not be able to use the very good navigation functionality.

by 0x8BADF00D

Ride With GPS charges a monthly fee for turn-by-turn directions. komoot is free and only charges one-time fees for offline map downloads, so that’s a huge win in my book - a much more reasonable business model.

The turn-by-turn directions work great except for a couple minor issues:

- The automatic rerouting is really dumb and will get totally confused if your GPS signal isn’t great. Luckily it can be turned off, which I’d highly recommend doing.
- The voice prompts are fairly quiet and there doesn’t seem to be a way to increase the volume. I was unable to hear them when there was a lot of wind noise. They can also be hard to understand because they use an old Stephen Hawking style robot voice. I’m sure there’s a better speech synthesis library they could have used.

Other than that though, great app. If these issues get fixed I’ll definitely give it 5 stars.

by A Vulcan

When I am just looking for recommendations in an area that I am not familiar with, this app can find some excellent hiking trails and makes pretty good suggestions to stay away from cars while on foot. It does a good job tracking my progress even in offline mode so I do not need to use roaming data in a foreign country. It works less well for cycling: I have occasional trouble getting the map to follow my intended route (a loop on specific roads may require excessive waypoints), and I agree with others’ comments here—some suggested roads are heavily trafficked and would be unsafe.

by KTMathy

I have been using Strava and Garmin for years and found this on a recent trip to London where I didn’t really know the roads or routes but needed to put in some major miles. komoot guided me turn by turn around the running paths and streets of London flawlessly!!! When construction made me reroute it automatically gave me new directions to get me around the hazard and back on course.

This is a great app and any serious runner/cyclist/triathlete should have komoot in the tool kit!!!!

by Ralph8540

Just started using komoot . So far I've done one hike and one tandem bike ride. komoot has worked flawlessly both times and I really like the way it interfaces with Apple Heart and Facebook. Will put it to a more serious test later this week when I climb Mt. Yale. Only issue is power management. Because it uses my IPhone SE GPS and altimeter, two hours is about all I get. Have purchased a 5X backup battery to keep the IPhone and app energized. Hope this does the trick.

by The Shavian One

Works on my computer, phone, iPad seamlessly. Importing a route is simple, I just drag and drop. Editing is easy too. Click on a waypoint and tap remove to get rid of it; click anywhere on a map to include that location on the route. The maps are excellent, as good as Google’s are for cycling. My only suggestion to the developers is to add a an easy way to let them know when there is actually no passable road there! One comes across them occasionally.... love komoot and website!

by Jcttk

This is an awesome app compared to the others I’ve tried. I installed komoot on my iPhone and iPad, and, made a route on the iPad in ten minutes. I went to my iPhone, opened komoot , clicked on my route (yes, it was listed there without me having to synchronize or transfer), turned on my Bluetooth earphones, and listened to turn-by-turn voice navigation on my bicycle ride. I generally use georeferenced Avenza maps for my OHV dirt biking in the woods. Adding the OHV trails mapping and mode option would make komoot “6” stars! Thanks again for this one!

by Eat24fan

When you move to a new city, adapting to the climate change can be one thing. Planning a day of exploration is another. this app helped me to explore a part of my new city I would have NEVER otherwise found. Tucked between large buildings, the gardens are easy to miss. I’m so thankful for this hike, for my skill level. Thank you this app! What a blessing! I’ll be planning new routes, now, every chance I get!