Hiya! Just a quick reminder for you – planning a camping or road trip (or even while out wandering) sometimes requires a little bit of effort and attention. But no worries! I’m here to help you in any way I can.
No matter if we are RV travelers or out car camping alone, these camping apps will help you find your way.
14 Camping Apps To Help You Find Your Way
Table of Contents
Camping apps are essential for a great road trip!
Unless I want a really hot shower, when it comes to my camping experience, I keep things simple. This is why I use mobile apps for planning and navigation.
In another post, Campsite Basics, we reviewed the types of campsites available across the country; now, let’s discover how to find them!
CAMPING APPS
Out Wandering Note: I personally love to roam, and over-planning can be just as exhausting as a 400-mile driving day. I also find some wanderlust magic is diminished when I spend too much time on the details. That being said, I find it easier to pour a cup of coffee each morning, spending 15 minutes looking at the area where I will most likely be for my overnight stay.
Explore that area on Google Maps. After looking at Google Maps and using these camping apps, I have an idea of what’s available and can pick my top two or three places. Then, I can either make arrangements for my stay or do it as I pull in.
14 Camping Apps To Help You Find Your Way
Feeling safe is essential to a good night’s sleep. If I have a couple of choices as backups, it will help if my first choice feels sketchy.
If I am spending less than one day somewhere, my go-to is always a truck stop like Loves or Pilot/Flying J. Safe, comfortable, and sleep is most likely guaranteed. You can also save money on gas, food and other things at these truck stops.
CAMPING APPS TO USE IN NORTH AMERICA
Every country that can be traversed in a car, van, or RV will undoubtedly have an app for travel. This makes finding places to camp and other helpful tips about the area you are in more accessible.
The following are some of my favorite apps to use while exploring the United States.
$79 per year | Boondockers Welcome is a Harvest Host Company $169 Harvest Hosts + Boondockers Welcome | iOS and Android
With over 3584 hosts worldwide, Boondockers Welcome is an excellent way to pull into an area, knowing you have a free place to stay. Most of the time, the host offers electric hookups and WiFi, and some even provide water.
From the Boondocking Welcome website: *Hosts won’t ask for money, or if they do, it’s nominal. A yearly $79 subscription is charged, however, to be able to register with hosts. If you have a host location listed, you qualify for a 50% discount on guest privileges subscription fees. Plus, every time a guest stays, you’ll earn a credit for three months of guest privileges, to be activated whenever you choose. It’s sweet if you have space to spare.
Try to explore the host listing before you subscribe to see if it is worth it for you.
Free (but they do accept donations) | iOS and Android
iOverlander is a crowdsourced directory of areas for adventure travelers and travelers. It includes many categories, such as camping, hotels, restaurants, mechanics, water and propane filling.
Each section contains details like facilities, images, dates visited and GPS locations; adding new sites and making a record of your trip is also possible.
You can share new spots with friends and fellow travelers; every feature except images will work offline. The one downside to this app is its popularity, which makes for a good chance there won’t be a spot for yourself.
Free | Desktop
As with iOverlander, FreeCampsites.net also consists of a collective database for free camping spots. Its disadvantages, however, are its user-unfriendly interface and the absence of a smartphone application.
The purpose of this platform is to share campgrounds and campsites that you have discovered. It is their belief that if we share camping information freely, we can spend less time researching campgrounds, spend less money, and spend more time camping. The more campsites we have, the more places we can camp.
$3.99 | iOS
In the United States, most public land is held in trust by the federal government and maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the United States Forest Service (National Forest Land) and available to US citizens to use and enjoy.
Free – Pro Versions | iOS and Android
The Dyrt App is a great, free app that offers reviews and tips for over 500,000 RV, tent and van campsites around the US.
With over 50,000 ranked campgrounds, you can read reviews, look at photos and videos, read reviews and then book your stay right in the app.
Commonly known as the “Airbnb of camping,” the Hipcamp App focuses on private and landowner-run campgrounds, similar to Tentrr, but without the regulated tent glamping.
Their iOS and Android apps offer features like filters for night-of camping availability and for weekend getaways. Hipcamp localities are a blend of rustic backcountry destinations and hotel-level convenience that may have you reconsidering your interpretation of camping.
Can you say, national parks road trip? Well, this app is a perfect resource for planning one! Although it has more than camping as a focus, it is one of the best camping apps to have in your toolkit.
Detailed information and maps on national parks across the country, a wealth of information on hiking trails, and popular viewpoints make this a perfect app. It even has a GPS locator that can be used with or without the internet if you are lost. This is a great planning app.
$9.99 | iOS
The AllStays connection branches out from other camping apps. The Allstays Camp & RV app focuses on road trip-friendly assistance like rest areas, Walmart parking lots and over 37,000 RV parks, layered within its vast database of RV and tent camping options.
The information isn’t packaged into one app but six separate apps that contain a range of information that vary in price from $1 to $10 on the App Store.
The Campendium App is an RV and tenting database for campgrounds offering a robust filtering system to get you to the exact type of campground you are searching for. Listings are updated regularly, but advertisements across the app sometimes make it feel diluted.
The app filters public land and overnight parking, offering a great way to plan ahead and still be on the go. Increasing reviews do provide a look-see into what campers have experienced.
Check out the Campendium sister app Roadtrippers | iOS and Android
Free | iOS
This app specializes in gathering data on free camping areas, mostly dispersed and without hookups or other amenities. The more than 500 current listings continue to grow and provide details from real campers on their experiences at each place.
As with most of these apps, there is a lot more listing availability the further west of the Mississippi you travel.
Free | iOS
American Park Network, Ford, and LL Bean teamed up to make this app one of the most excellent campsite apps you can find. Oh, Ranger! is a handy app that offers an extensive database of US public land and includes every national, state and local park.
Oh, Ranger! even incorporates national forests and places that are federally managed. Choose what activity you are interested in, and the app will even search for the campsite that best suits your adventure needs, too!
Free | iOS
Chimani is an award-winning app with the great distinction of being the most downloaded camping app in the US. It boasts the ability to guide you in all 419 National Parks in the United States.
Something unique: When you download this app, you can digitally make a” “passport.”” Each time you visit a park, you collect badges and points. If you really like a particular park, you can sign up for its news feed to receive daily information so you can know what’s happening before you arrive.
Starts at $99/year | iOS and Android
Harvest Hosts has been my go-to app and a personal favorite as of late. This mobile and desktop app does a great job of enlisting the help of its users and travelers to scout out new places to stay. It’s easy to use, and they are constantly adding and updating new sites.
Harvest Hosts offers unlimited overnight stays at over 5018+ incredible locations (plus 437+ golf courses with a Golf+ upgrade) across North America.
Wineries, farms, breweries, museums, private property and more.
I’ve had the pleasure of staying at farms, museums, private homes, wineries, and much more along the way. It’s a great app and relatively inexpensive if you use it.
The Harvest Host app has an added bonus, too. Not only will you find a great place to overnight, but you can also partake in many experiences, like seeing behind the scenes at a milk farm or catching a local band at one of the many wineries and breweries.
Three More Travel Apps
Three more mobile travel apps worth mentioning are Google Maps, Roadside America, and Avenza Maps.
Free | Desktop and mobile GPS mapping service
Google Maps is the best and most well-known app when you need step-by-step instructions, and it works great for finding overnight spots. Just switch to the satellite view to search for backroads or locations in the forest or near lakes. It’s great when you want to find your spot and not deal with crowds, but gates and fences are complex to view on the map, and sometimes you may need to back up with no accessibility.
Basic full-feature app: $2.99 for one region of 7; optional in-app purchase: $6.99 more if you wish to have access to all seven areas, or $1.99 per region separately | iOS
Roadside America provides access to the “research” targets of potentially great places to explore as well as directions to the crazy places you’ve read about.
Tips, stories, maps, directions, and photos – recommendations between two points can be found and filtered.
Share and view the places you saved on your iPhone and iPad. iOS 12.3 or higher is required.
Free Basic – Team Pricing | iOS | Google Play
Looking for maps around you but don’t want to rely on internet connectivity? The Avenza Maps app might be the solution for you. With access to over 1 million maps, you can download and access them offline on your device.
Simply let the app know your location, and it will find the best maps in your area for any activity. Let Avenza Maps do the work for you, and never miss an adventure again!
Whether I’m road-tripping or just wandering off the beaten path, I’ve got a go-to mobile app that always comes in handy.
Be sure to download one or more of these popular camping apps before you head out to help find federal lands, private campgrounds, or even a Walmart parking lot to rest.
They’re totally essential and will help you save time to have the most fun time along the way!
Happy Wandering!
~Kirsti
Hi, I’m Kirsti.
My blog, Kirsti Out Wandering, is a guide for unique experiences. I explore less popular areas to uncover a destination’s culture and hidden potential.
From the perspective of a curious wanderer, I seek the potential rather than the obvious.