Trail Sense icon

Trail Sense

Kyle Corry
Maps & Navigation
Version
8.1.0
Size
12.7 MB
Requires
Android API 23+
4.8 / 5 · 3,389 ratings 0 downloads

Updated Sep 22, 2026

Quick answer

Use your phone's sensors to assist with wilderness treks

F-Droid repository metadata

Explore beyond the reaches of the Internet with Trail Sense.

  • Designed for hiking, backpacking, camping, and geocaching
  • Place beacons and navigate to them
  • Use as a compass (only available on devices with a compass sensor)
  • Follow paths
  • Retrace your steps with backtrack
  • Use a photo as a map
  • Plan what to pack
  • Be alerted before the sun sets
  • Predict the weather (only available on devices with a barometer sensor)
  • Use your phone as a flashlight
  • And much more!

Trail Sense is a tool, and just like any other tool that you bring into the wilderness, it's essential to have backup equipment and skills. This app is intended for information purposes only and the accuracy of the predictions and sensors is determined by a number of factors, including calibration, sensor quality, external sources, etc. Use at your own risk, always have backup tools (ex. compass), and stay safe.

This app also does not, and will never, use the Internet - all information in Trail Sense comes directly from your phone's sensors, and no data will leave Trail Sense.

COMMON ISSUES

  • No compass: If your phone does not have a compass sensor, there is nothing I can do to make it work because that is hardware. You will still be able to use other features of Trail Sense.
  • No weather: The Weather tool is only available if your phone has a barometer sensor.

Found an issue or want a new feature? Contact me at [email protected] or create a new issue on GitHub: github.com/kylecorry31/Trail-Sense

I'm the only developer of Trail Sense, so I will do my best to help out with issues - but I have a limited device selection to test on.

PERMISSIONS

  • Notifications: Allows Trail Sense to display notifications (backtrack, weather, sunset alerts, astronomy events, water boil timer, etc)
  • Location: Allows Trail Sense to retrieve your location for navigation, weather (sea level calibration), and astronomy.
  • Background location: Allows Trail Sense to retrieve your location for sunset alerts while in the background. On some devices, this will also improve the reliability of backtrack and weather monitor.
  • Physical activity: Allows Trail Sense to use your phone's pedometer for distance calculation.
  • Camera: Allows Trail Sense to use your camera on the sighting compass, clinometer, and for taking photos used by the Cloud Scanner, QR Code Scanner, and Photo maps.
  • Alarms & reminders: Allows Trail Sense to post a notification at an exact time. This is used by the Clock tool (when updating system time) and Sunset and Sunrise Alerts.

Links

  • Privacy policy: https://kylecorry.com/Trail-Sense/#privacy
  • FAQ: https://github.com/kylecorry31/Trail-Sense#faq
  • Trail Sense is available under the MIT License: https://opensource.org/license/mit/

Screenshots

Trail Sense screenshot 1
Trail Sense screenshot 2
Trail Sense screenshot 3
Trail Sense screenshot 4
Trail Sense screenshot 5
Trail Sense screenshot 6
Trail Sense screenshot 7
Trail Sense screenshot 8
Trail Sense screenshot 9
Trail Sense screenshot 10

What’s new

Offline Maps
- Automatically detect corners of new photo maps
- Add setting to use external trail map files

Pedometer
- Show hourly step count history, pace, and active time
- Add option to use active or elapsed time for average pace

Astronomy
- Render accurate icons for moon and eclipses

Field Guide
- Add Record Sighting quick action

Survival Guide
- Content updates

Misc
- Improve Material 3 Expressive support
- Location input fields allow selecting a location on the map
- Bug fixes

How to install

  1. Download the APK from the button at the top of this page.
  2. Allow “Install unknown apps” for your browser or file manager only, not for every app.
  3. Open the downloaded file and confirm the installation.
  4. If installation fails with “App not installed,” remove an earlier build of the same app first. A signature conflict is the usual cause.

Data safety

  • Every file is checked against its published SHA-256 before it is listed.
  • Files are scanned for malware on every update.
  • The permissions each app requests are listed on its own page.
  • Read the full safety policy for how we test, flag, and delist files.

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