Trail GPS aps

“I'm new to owning a Smart Phone (Samsung Galaxy) and looking at a few different trail/GPS aps. Any recommendations? Maybe others are looking for or have good ideas on iphone aps?”

“I was under the mistaken impression that a smartphone was reliant on cell service for the maps to work..well that's true with Google maps but an app called Backcountry navigator claims to use an fm signal like a GPS and be able to download zip file maps. Haven't tried it, its $10.
I do use an app called GPS Status. It shows the satellite's its marking but I guess I never made the .connection. I don't like hiking with a phone as a rule but the convenience of having such a multi-use tool is appealing. Definitely want a phone with a removable battery to be useful for real backcountry travel. Also, my Garmin seems to hold satellites better and boot up quicker. My phone won't even pick them up in the house.”

“I downloaded a bunch of them, but the GPS is earring up my battery, so I won't use any I my apps.”

“Oh and autocorrect hates me...”

“I downloaded a bunch of them, but the GPS is earring up my battery, so I won't use any I my apps

I haven't tried it yet but supposedly if you put your phone in airplane mode the battery won't drain as fast.
can anyone confirm that?”

“I believe most GPS are battery "eatters" (:P) if you're not diligent with your settings. Don't know that I would want to rely on my phone for it unless I had extra batteries. As a backup it might not be a bad idea.”

“Even with extra batteries several days is tough. I stream music or radio all day and I can go thru 3 in 18 hrs. I don't use any battery saver settings tho..
I don't know how you Apple devotees get by, lol.”

“I'd stick to an actual GPS for anything more than a dayhike. That said, my friend has one of those aps (don't know the name but I just texted him asking for it) and it worked pretty well for a dayhike we went on out here recently. I'll be back with the name...”