Trail Advocate App – Open Beta

The Trail Advocate app puts this website’s trail information, trip reports and the TATopoExplorer map on your Android phone, and it keeps working when you lose cell signal on the trail. It is an open beta: everything below works and has been tested on the trail, but the app is still being developed, so expect the odd rough edge – and please tell us when you hit one.

What “open beta” means

  • It’s ready to use, but not finished. We are opening it up so more hikers can try it on more trails and phones than we can test ourselves.
  • Something may not work as expected. If it does, tap “Send feedback about the app” at the bottom of the home page and choose Problem. Tick “Include technical details” and the app sends its recent activity with your report, which helps us find the cause quickly.
  • Fixes arrive often. The app tells you when a new version is ready; “What’s new” next to Install shows what changed.

Get the app

Install it from trailadvocate.org/app, which has step-by-step instructions. The app is free and needs no account.

  • Android only (Android 7 or newer). It isn’t in Google Play: your phone will ask you to allow installing apps from your browser the first time.
  • Updates are built in. When a new version is out, the app offers it with an Install button, and you can choose Later.
  • Open it once on Wi-Fi. The first start downloads every trail’s information, info sheets, tracks and trip report photos for offline use, so give it a minute on a good connection.

Why isn’t it in Google Play or the App Store?

Trail Advocates is run by volunteers, and the app stores cost money and ongoing work that we would rather put into trails.

  • Google Play charges to sign up, and then asks for continuing upkeep to stay listed: testing rules before an app can be published, updates to meet Google’s newest requirements every year, and privacy forms to keep current. Installing from our website skips all of that, and the app still keeps itself up to date.
  • iPhone would need a completely separate version of the app, a $99-a-year Apple developer membership, and a Mac to build it on. That is more than we can justify for now. On an iPhone, the trail information and the TATopoExplorer map are still on trailadvocate.org in your browser – they just need a connection.

Trail information, with or without a signal

Everything below is stored on your phone, so it works at the trailhead with no signal.

  • Every public trail in the district, with its length, elevation gain, difficulty, usage, trailhead elevation, low and high points, tags and current alerts.
  • The trail page text: the About and Directions sections from each trail’s page on this website.
  • Find a trail by name or number, and filter by difficulty, length and elevation gain.
  • USFS info sheets, old and new, open in the app’s own viewer.
  • GPS tracks for every trail.
  • This month’s news from the home page.

The map

The Map tab is TATopoExplorer, the same map as on this website, with every current trail drawn on it.

  • View on Map from any trail page shows just that trail, with its trailheads and junctions marked.
  • Tap a trail on the map to open its trail page.
  • Your location on the map, from the phone’s GPS, which works without a cell signal.
  • The historic maps from 1916 to 1985, and the modern topo maps.
  • Download map areas for offline use from the Offline Maps menu.
  • Maps you have looked at stay available offline automatically, up to about 100 MB, so you don’t have to download an area you have already viewed.
  • When you lose signal, an Offline badge appears, and the map switches to a map you have saved for that area.

Trip reports

  • Read every trip report, with its photos, on each trail’s page, even offline. Tap one to read it in full and flip through its photos.
  • Write a trip report from the trail. The title fills itself in, road and bug conditions are one tap each, and you can add up to 3 photos straight from your phone.
  • No signal? Write it anyway. The report is saved on your phone and sent by itself as soon as you have a connection again, and the app tells you when it has gone.
  • Reports from the app are reviewed before they appear on the website, just like reports sent from the website.

Tell us what you think

  • Send feedback from inside the app. Tap “Send feedback about the app” at the bottom of the home page to tell us what you think, suggest an improvement, or report a problem.
  • Your name and email are optional. Leave your email if you’d like a reply; it isn’t shown anywhere.
  • Technical details help us fix problems. The app can include its version, your Android version and phone model, and the page you were on. You can see exactly what is sent, and untick it if you prefer.
  • Works offline too. Like trip reports, feedback written without signal is sent as soon as you have a connection.

Always up to date

  • Each time you open the app with a connection, it brings its copy up to date with this website. Only what has changed is downloaded, and there is a Refresh link to update at any time.
  • You always know what you’re looking at. The top of the screen shows when the copy was last updated, or an Offline label with the date of the copy you are seeing.