Handy GPS

A fully featured, great value hiking GPS for the real world. No signup required.

Handy GPS: Your Ultimate Hiking Companion

"Handy GPS" is a powerful and user-friendly navigation tool for outdoor enthusiasts, designed for hiking, biking, boating, and more. It operates offline, supports multiple coordinate systems, and includes extensive features like waypoints, track logs, and elevation profiles. Perfect for both casual adventurers and professionals in various fields, it ensures you stay on track during your outdoor activities. Enjoy a dependable navigation experience without ads or subscriptions.
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App stats

Users: 23,881
20
Rating: 4.31
(583)
Version: 42.8 (Last updated: 2024-11-16)
Creation date: 2012-08-22
Price: 10.99
Permissions
Location: approximate location (network-based), precise location (GPS and network-based)
Photos/Media/Files: read the contents of your USB storage, modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Storage: read the contents of your USB storage, modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Camera: take pictures and videos
Microphone: record audio
Other:
  • view network connections
  • control flashlight
  • full network access
  • run at startup
  • control vibration
  • prevent device from sleeping
  • modify system settings

Ranking

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App summary

The perfect companion for your next outdoor adventure. Seek, find, record and return home with Handy GPS.

This app is a powerful navigation tool designed for outdoors sports like hiking, bushwalking, tramping, mountain biking, kayaking, boating, horse trail riding, geocaching. Its also useful for surveying, mining, archaeology, and forestry applications. Its simple to use and works even in the remotest back country since it doesn't require network connectivity. It allows you to work in UTM or lat/lon coordinates so you can even use it with your paper maps.

NOTE: Allow the app to always use GPS, and turn off battery optimisation for the app to reliably record tracklogs when the phone screen is off.

BASE FEATURES:
* Shows your current coordinates, altitude, speed, direction of travel, and distance travelled in metric, imperial/US, or nautical units.
* Can store your current location as a waypoint, and record a track log to show where you've been on a map.
* Data can be imported from and exported to KML and GPX files.
* Allows manual entry of waypoints in UTM, MGRS and lat/lon coords.
* Can guide you to a waypoint using the "Goto" screen, and optionally sound an alert when when you're getting close.
* Has a compass page which works on devices with magnetic field sensors.
* Automatically computes the local geoid offset to improve altitude accuracy
* Supports the world-wide WGS84 datum along with the common Australian datums and map grids (AGD66, AGD84, AMG, GDA94, and MGA). You can also use WGS84 for NAD83 maps in the US.
* Shows GPS satellite locations and signal strengths graphically.
* Can display simple or MGRS grid references.
* Can compute waypoint-to-waypoint distance and direction.
* Includes an optional timer line to record walk duration and compute your average speed.
* Thoroughly tested by the developer on many off-track walks

EXTRA FEATURES IN THIS VERSION:
* No ads, no subscriptions, and nothing more to pay after your initial purchase.
* Unlimited number of waypoints and track log points.
* Email or SMS your location to a friend as a clickable map link.
* Email your waypoints and tracklogs as KML or GPX file.
* Supports common datums such as NAD83 (US), OSGB36 (UK), NZTM2000 (NZ), SAD69 (South America) and ED50 (Europe), and you can configure your own custom datums, including local grid systems.
* UK grid refs with two letter prefixes can be shown if OSGB datum selected.
* Elevation profile.
* GPS averaging mode.
* Take photos and record voice memos, geo-located with KML files for easy viewing on a PC.
* Geo-tag photos, and/or have the coordinates and bearing "burnt" into the image.
* Sun rise and set times.
* Export data to CSV file.
* Create waypoint by triangulation, or projecting using an entered distance and bearing.
* Compute length, area, and elevation change for tracklog.
* Offline map support by downloading tiles from map tile servers, or using own map images.
* Compute calories.
* Optional background image.
* Optional location sharing on web.
* Spoken distance and direction guidance on goto page.


PERMISSIONS: (1) GPS, to show your location, (2) Network access, to load maps, (3) SD card access, to load and store waypoints, (4) Camera access, for taking pics, (5) Prevent phone from sleeping, so proximity alarm works, (6) Control flashlight, to allow flashlight use, (7) Record audio for voice memos.


DISCLAIMER: You use this app at your own risk. The developer accepts no responsibility for you getting lost or injured as a result of using this app. Batteries in mobile devices can go flat. For extended and remote hikes, a battery bank and an alternative method of navigation such as a paper map and compass are recommended for safety.

User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Google Play Store does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • Reliable and effective for GPS navigation and tracking.
  • Helpful for outdoor activities like hiking, backpacking, and fishing.
  • Excellent support from developers, responding quickly to user inquiries.
  • Accurate in displaying coordinates and distances.
  • Regular updates improving functionality and features.
Cons
  • Recent updates have caused usability issues, such as difficulties navigating back to the main screen.
  • Some users report freezing issues, particularly in remote areas.
  • Changes to data security have made it harder to import/export tracks easily.
  • Waypoints do not persist across sessions, causing inconvenience to users.
  • Limited satellite imagery display in some locations.
Most mentioned
  • Accuracy of the GPS tracking.
  • Quality of customer support.
  • Usability in outdoor navigation.
  • Recent updates affecting app performance.
  • Issues with managing waypoints.
User reviews
Please add feature to measure distance without adding waypoint in map like Google Earth
by amritansh mandloi, 2024-10-01

Handy GPS continues to be a very satisfactory ad helpful application, and has steadily been improved since 2016. It is reliable, effective and practical. Happy to continue to give the app 5 stars.
by Ian Armitage, 2023-08-04

Great app, turns your phone into a Garmin! As a geologist, I've used many gps devices, Geospatial software packages, and mapping platforms; and this app has everything you need to complete the task. I mostly use this for hiking, backpacking, and marking my favorite fishing spots, and it excels at that as well. Plus the offline maps are easy to download. The developers will respond to emails when you have questions, which is phenomenal! Don't waste your money gps device, just buy the app.
by Ee Cc, 2023-03-27
View all user reviews

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