At Wave Application we believe that going outside and making memories is one of the best ways to spend our free time. To do that, technology comes in handy to take the most of any of our trips so we have shortlisted and tested the best 5 apps in the market to do outdoor sports with friends or alone and enjoy a wonderful day in nature.
View Ranger
Is there anything better when doing outdoor sports than sharing the beautiful views of the incredible surroundings with your friends? View Ranger app thinks that knowing the environment can improve our experience and brings us the augmented reality to our excursions. With its feature Skyline, we can focus with the smartphone camera lakes, mountains, trails and routes and the app lets us know in real time the name of each peak or lake and will locate us exactly in the geography of the place. In this way those of us who are not experts of the place can conquer the best spots and learn the best routes to reach them.
In addition to the augmented reality, the maps and geolocation of this app use official sources and channels of rescue stations. Among its options, you can see information on ski slopes, hiking and road routes in natural environments. It is free on Android and iOS.
Wisuki
Aloha surfers! If you are a surf adventurer and love kitesurfing, sailing, surfing or windsurfing, our personal recommendation is Wisuki. It is an app that combines the typical data sources of each beach or tourist area to surf and presents them in a list, so we can quickly decide where to go with our board each morning. The app is designed by experts and has all the desirable features, plus a graphic map in which we can take a quick look at the conditions of a specific beach.
Wisuki has information about wind, tide, weather, water temperature, twilight time and wind direction, all updated hourly. What we also love is that it adds some interesting facts that can help us decide where to go, depending on how beautiful is the beach, how entertaining or how accessible it is. It is definitely worth for practicing water sports. It is free on Android and iOS.
Strava
We believe that playing sports is a rewarding experience both before and after going out, so that is why measuring your performance is a great way to feel proud and want to repeat the next weekend. Strava is one of the best apps to measure your performance in outdoor sports, the miles you have completed, the intensity, your heart rate (if you have a wearable to measure it) the altitude and all factors you need to know to be satisfied with your route.
Once you have used the application several times, the algorithm of Strava makes a specific plan for you, according to your tastes and your possibilities, so that you take a personal trainer on your smartphone. It is a very useful part for those who enjoy the self-improvement and are encouraged to try more and more hiking routes or bike more intense.
In addition, if you have a competitive side or like to learn from other users, the application has a social network in which you can share your opinions on different hiking or bike routes, share tips, pictures or just presume of your personal marks. It is free on iOS and Android.
FitStar
In the field of virtual personal trainers, we like to highlight FitStar, because it combines exercises at home with outdoor activities in which you can enjoy nature, exercise and doing sport in a group. This application displays several training programs for lessons that you can complete to level up, with videos, comments and suggestions to become a true outdoor athlete with confidence and without fear of not being able to continue with the route.
What is characteristic of this tool is that you can evaluate each exercise based on its intensity and whether it has been interesting to you. Thus, the application will learn from your tastes and can adjust your exercises to you. It has a free version on Android and a Premium one with more features.
Mountain Project
Leave the map aside because we introduce you to the top of the mountain trekking applications. Mountain Project has surprised us by its huge catalog of hiking trails, more than one hundred thousand around the world, updated according to the weather conditions, the intensity and duration of the route and the advice of thousands of travellers from all over the world.
If you are thinking of using your mountain boots soon, this app will take you anywhere with all the information available. Mountain Project has an intro screen where you can select the area in where you are going to practice hiking, climbing, biking or any other outdoor activity. Once you have chosen your crags to conquer, it has a map with geolocation to find the routes that you can download to use without internet, for example if you are traveling in another country, interesting spots to see and where to stop to enjoy the views.
Mountain project is also interactive, so whether you do sports with friends or not, it has recommendations of other users like the footwear and the clothes that you should wear and updated weather information in real time so you do not be surprised by a flood. You can also contribute with the community posting your best pics of your route and your personal thoughts and tips about it. It’s free on Android and iOS.
Pablo Clemente Pérez 