SWR Marktcheck tried out the hiking app market leaders Komoot and Outdoor Active. But be careful: you shouldn't trust them blindly.

Komoot and Outdoor-Active: hiking apps in comparison

In the Black Forest, our testers look at the two market-leading hiking apps Komoot and Outdoor Active - each in the slightly stripped-down free version. They want to know how good route planning, navigation and usability are. Both apps offer additional information such as path conditions or gradients. Komoot also gives a level of difficulty for the hike.

Both groups choose the same route for testing. What is noticeable here: The two apps choose different routes. The Komoot route is much steeper and ends at a construction site. An alternative route is not displayed in the app. Finally, both paths come together via a detour. But just before the destination the next construction site awaits. Again, no redirection is displayed in any of the apps. Overall, our testers found the apps user-friendly, were satisfied with the route guidance and would try it again.

Problems with hiking routes from the Internet

It wasn't until the beginning of June that a major operation took place in Austria in which 99 students and eight teachers had to be rescued from the mountains. They had relied on a route from the Internet that was described as comfortable, but is no longer listed in official hiking guides. In hiking apps, routes are also often created by a community and usually uploaded without checking. This also leads to problems in the Wutach Gorge. Here, partially closed routes are still displayed in the apps, which some hikers then rely on and ignore local closures. Cases that occur again and again and that can end in injuries or even death.

Nature also suffers

Hiking trails are not only closed because of dangers, but also to protect nature and animals, as hikers can, for example, disturb rare animal species when they are breeding. Martin Schwenninger, ranger of the Wutach Gorge, searches the Internet for outdated routes and updates or blocks them.

He advises people who want to travel safely and not harm nature to pay attention to the signs in addition to the app and to use common sense. In general, he also likes hiking apps.

This video is an excerpt from the SWR Marktcheck program from June 14, 2022: https://youtu.be/DVydbkU4YZg

Source: SWR Marktcheck , author: David Luding

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