Trailforks: Offline Bike Maps Reviews

by Chilyard4

I have used Trail for years. It had more trails, more accurate trails, and a better GPS than most other this app apps. I used Trail for most new rides I went on, until they decided to put up a pay wall for basically every useful feature. I understand that they need to monetize their app, but their strategy of blocking every useful feature is the deal breaker for me. I have deleted Trail and will be using their arch-nemesis, MTB Project, until they update and change how they monetize Trail .

***update***
I still don’t use Trail for the above reasoning, but their app just happened to show up when I searched for something else. They are obviously filtering out the majority of the reviews, which just happen to be the negative reviews, to improve their overall rating in Trail Store. This is a misleading and unethical tactic and really reflects the values of the company itself.

by Baggggggggggggggggggggggg

App Just updated so now you basically can’t use Trail without paying to upgrade. I’m so tired of being nickel and dimed every time I turn around. Trailforks= uninstalled.

by Dmcd7788

For years Trail was a free app, and I loved it. It did exactly what I needed. It helped me when I was turned aroun on a mountain, and it offered insight into this app regions that I was unfamiliar with. I would continue to use Trail , but the trailforks creators/ owners have decided that it was necessary to impose a monthly subscription fee for open use of the features, that fee being $3/ mont.
Although the fee seems insignificant enough, it is also irksome enough to discourage me from using it any longer. I could understand a one time fee for the services, but to me a monthly subscription that ads up to $36 a year for an app is a little excessive. I understand there has been a lot of work preformed on Trail , but most of that new work has little to do with a core group of mountain bike based users. Perhaps you could consider allowing advertisers to buy space on Trail to pay for the expense of a bunch of unnecessary features, or you could just get rid of them all together & turn Trail back to just a biking app again.

by Carl123

Apps like this one wind up with avg review grades of 2-3 stars because they were getting five stars a few years ago and now get one star (excluding self promotion reviews). Apps can switch to pay if they want, but doing so by monetizing both user-supplied data along with selling user data is easily the sleaziest swindle I’ve seen in a while. It’s sad that the developers have so little self respect. Money is good, but have a little dignity.

by Twyla_mique

Even to get my own city they want me to pay for pro. It used to be a good app but now that they make you pay to use it, I don’t use it enough to justify paying monthly for it. If they charged a buck or two for Trail I’d maybe consider it, but not a monthly fee. Trail is totally useless now. And it didn’t even default to my home city and wants me to pay to get that. I’m removing Trail and finding something else.

by Kelbad

I signed up for outside plus to see what it was all about. A big reason was to get Trailforks pro access.
After logging in to Trailforks using my outside plus credentials, Trail keeps prompting me to purchase a Trailforks pro.

I followed the help screen suggestion Settings/ Restore Pro subscription. This does not work.
Throws an error, “unable to restore pro subscription”.
So trying to use Trail immediately after purchasing outside+Does not work. No functionality is active in Trail .
I can go into the website using my iPhone, but it is a very painful experience.

by Torh88

App is pointless. I downloaded pro in a pinch trying to navigate our way out of the woods before dark on some poorly marked trails. My card was charged and got the Apple receipt, however nothing changed with Trail and it stayed at the grey screen still prompting to upgrade to pro. It’s been days later and still won’t let me see anything different from the free version.
I just requested a refund from Apple.

After the third time of trying to write this review and it glitching out I had to write this in notes and paste it over. Just bad.

by Brownpow37

Used Trail a lot back when it was free. Completely unusable now. There are other this app maps out there that do the same thing but don’t charge for the basic service. So long, Trailforks, maybe one day you’ll come back around after listening to the people’s voice.

by Chris Hasslingerrr

Unreasonable annual fee for crowd sourced data app with limited features.

by Kmac -apple

Tried Trail only to have various trails marked with large no trespassing we prosecute. Nothing like riding up 3 mile hill to work a traverse across a ridge line to find you need to turn back time and time again.

Trailforks do you do any due diligence on these maps?

by Wolfman Cometh

Used it for years, was the best this app map system in existence. Now they want a monthly subscription for anything worthwhile. Too much $ since there are other apps available with 95% of the same content for free.

by RTR2009

I did the free trial of the Trailforks app and was amazed at the gall to charge $36 per year for what is a mostly useless and buggy product. I came into it with high hopes (the website is GREAT…especially on desktop), but after using it on a few rides didn’t even bother using it because it felt mostly pointless. It never got my location right. Sometimes it would have me on the complete opposite side of a ridge, once it even put me in the middle of a housing development at the base of a cuesta. I ruled out a hardware issue, because other GPS-based apps on my phone pinpointed my position down to a few meters. So, that right there makes it useless on the this app. It has limited-to-no pre-planning value. The desktop site is much better for planning and researching. App is ok for getting a quick snapshot of a this app on mobile, because it is slightly better than the mobile site in that regards, but only slightly. And finally, this app reports and other user data are outdated on just about every this app around here; most drop off around 2019, which seems to coincide with the imposition of the subscription fee. So, once users were forced to pay for access, they became alienated, and what is necessarily a user-driven information base (and also the most important asset of the platform) has stagnated as a result. Bottom line, Trail is barely even worthy of free use, let alone $36/year. Disappointed.

by Ovivivicyxtz

I still would have loved the option to pay for an upgraded version, or understood increased marketing on this platform first before making the majority of Trail only available through payment, however, I have to appreciate the concept of being ad free. Trail really does have it all, which is why we’ve become spoiled :-). After further research and seeing the 50% off for those who adopt Trail early in the first 30 days, I’ll give it a try. It says that the 50% off remains in effect for as long as you keep Trail , not just a one time thing. I hope that remains true.

Additionally I truly appreciate the access to the emergency option even in the free mode. Keeping in mind that it can be used 6 times, you have had great insight into the needs of your customers. Trail really saved the day when the school took our kids out cross country skiing and needed a faster route back to the bus for some kids.

Trail is certainly worth the extra investment in my opinion. Thanks for all you do!

by Player14625896525$4

Trail does the trick for finding trails around me. There are plenty of locations around me listed on the map and often, they have helpful little paragraph blurbs that describe the area and which parts are good for what. Filtering trails by popularity instead of difficulty is also a great way to know what trails to hit first if it's my first time somewhere.

That said, there is one flaw that's fatal for picking a this app network on the map. As soon as you zoom out a certain amount, the red squares with black text remain full size and they totally hinder my ability to see any actual trails on the map. They go away when you zoom in close enough, but when I want to pick a this app network to visit, I effectively can't zoom out over my state and compare my options. Just look at Massachusetts and you'll see towns like Grafton are literally covered by a wall of red squares. This makes exploring a new state or area extremely tedious on the map. If the red squares and text disappeared or got smaller when you zoomed out a bit, the map would be a lot more usable for that purpose.

by Zombified1984

Hands down the best MTB app out there!

by Abigailbatblue

straightforward UX, clear this app descriptions, and easy to read maps, all for the cost of a cup of coffee a month.

by Hiker Midnight

this app Forks is awesome for finding mountain bike rides. Plus all the trails are rated with elevation profiles, so you’re never stuck on a this app that’s too hard or too easy. Love Trail!

by Typarcell

We are not in this world to just get free stuff. To have a company grow and make good apps we need to pay for them.

by Nickname673918374

I’m trying to get into shape, starting out with an eBike. It’s tough finding interesting places to ride! Trail makes it so easy. I really love it!

by MVP_Everyday

Trail is completely worth the annual expense, it’s also worth upgrading to Outside+ which allows you premium access to both this app Forks and Gaia GPS. I do work for the company but I still believe it’s value is completely legitimate.

by Cdawgg42

I was directed to Trail by a buddy of mine who is an avid mountain biker. He said that Trail was amazing and i need to get it. I was super excited to get it. However I now have it and it just stays on the load screen forever. I want to give Trail a try and a higher rating so please please please fix the bug so I can enjoy it.

by Utahdog

So I downloaded my region, but when I get in the backcountry and am in Airplane Mode I get a gray screen with only the trails marked. There is no topography and when there is you can only zoom in so far. I like the other things about Trail, but the offline mapping is worthless. MTB Project shows detailed topography even when offline. From a mapping standpoint MTB Project is far superior.

by Sambalbei

Love Trail for its ability to have you discover new trails and finding your location within this app systems.

However, the ride logging freezes or simply doesn’t upload your ride almost every other time I use it. I was hoping that this would be resolved by now.

Trail also tends to just close out for no apparent reason. Just now I lost a 20 mi ride because of this. Would easily be the best MTB app if it would run properly.

by Jimmythegeek

But Trail is incredible and I feel compelled to support the developers. What’s most useful is the ability to carry offline maps and to see location on this app as riding. Also love the ability to see the elevation view to understand the climb/descent profile and to have that tied to the position on the map as one scrubs the elevation view. Just really well done. Won’t ride without it.

by Scope Enterprise

I love the pink bike website so I thought that I would try out Trail from them. Let me tell you that Trail is amazing. I thought that and app could not have as much information as Trail has. Trail is so amazing that it has features that I did not even think that an app would have. This is an app that I would recommend any cyclist to get. If you are a mountain biker then this is your dream app.

by Popcorn Piccer

I’ve used Trail twice on remote, unfamiliar trails with no cell or data service. Both times it has helped me stay on track and even make in-ride adjustments to my route with what I consider incredible accuracy. It also seems to me that their ascent measuring is as accurate as anything else available. Great app.

by Nedjamin

I love Trail! It tracks your position on the this app and within the elevation profile so you know what’s coming at any given point (provided data and location are enabled). Used it on 3 trails yesterday and it was spot on. Thanks, developers. In the current of hastily thrown together junk apps, you’ve got a winner in my book.

by New Old Meditator

Trail is so helpful. It rates the rides, gives you the altitude and grade of the ride and where you are while on the ride. Great this app descriptions. We used it while on Sedona and helped us find our way to trails we didn’t know. Very glad to have this. Thanks so much for all the work developing and maintaining it!

by Max Ski

This is an amazing app. I first installed and used it in Whistler after a rave recommendation from a young gal in a coffee shop. And then had near local- strength intel for the rest of the visit. Then I turned it on before a ride at one of my regular trails in Seattle. It downloaded all of the US trails over the air in seconds, and gave me more route choice options. How do they make money to support their development? I would happily pay for quality like this.

by Akira Hoagland

I mountain unicycle and I don’t know to many local trails but Trail helps so much with finding a this app and seeing if it has enough tech to satisfy my needs. It’s great to read a bit about a this app and see if I want to ride it. I highly suggest Trail to anyone who MTB’s (or mountain unicycles)

by 7769aptm

This is, hands down, my favorite app on my phone. It is so user friendly. I can use it whenever, even without cell service, which happens a lot on the mountains. The maps are informative and useful. Awesome app!

by TannerKentLeeMaster99

There’s not one better app for finding mountain bike trails. I use it all the time, both in planning rides and during rides. Can’t recommend it enough to people who don’t have it. Pinkbike really hit this one out of the park.

by Mayfielder

This is a great application that I use and contribute content to regularly. I have a few suggestions that I think will make the tool even more useful.

Bike Maintenance: Trailforks knows how many miles and hours I’m logging on my specific bikes. It would be awesome if I could track my bike maintenance in Trail as a simple time stamp, bike and description. When viewing an item on the schedule show the accumulated hours and miles on the associated bike since this time stamp.

Winter this app Reports: More this app conditions specific to winter riding. I suggest: Deep/loose snow, packed snow, ice.

Map View OSM layer option: In many riding areas trails have been added to OpenStreetMap but have not been added to Trailforks yet. Being able to view OSM map data in the map view as a layer much like you can in the track editor would be a great way to research new riding areas and perhaps lead to contributed content.

by Hors Catagoire

As a new user I’d like to just study maps without being constantly reminded that my GPS is not turned on. Besides that seems like a good source of this app knowledge.

by M0n4rchrunnr

So so so critical for anyone who's recently moved or travels. Trail has completely changed my riding for the better.