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Guide

User guide (mobile app)

Markus
2026-10-03
Machine translated

This guide covers Trailmap's native mobile app "Trailmap", which is available for iOS and Android devices. A separate guide for the web version that runs in a browser can be found here. Many functions are the same as in the web version, so it's worth getting to know that too.

The mobile app is optimised for phone use and navigation out in the terrain: it has big buttons, touch gestures and many functions that the web version lacks — among them turn-by-turn navigation, ride recording, turning the map by compass, offline maps and keeping the screen on. On the other hand it lacks some of the web version's functions, such as creating your own raster maps and the OSM mapping tools.

Tutorial videos for the app can be found on Trailmap's YouTube channel (TrailmapSuomi, in Finnish). Inside the app you'll also find the Quick guide, which you can open from the info button in the top right corner of the map view. Route drawing has its own guide too, which you can open in route drawing mode from the "..." menu in the bottom right.

General information about the app

The main view is the map. Along its bottom edge is the bottom bar, from which you can get to the app's other views: your own routes, ride recording / navigation, and settings. Route drawing, adding places and opening tracks all happen directly in the map view.

Main viewMain view

Right at the start it's worth noticing the shortcut button on the left edge of the map: by default there's always a button there that quickly switches the traditional topographic map on and off. This lets you conveniently alternate between Trailmap's default map and the country's own topographic map: in Finland that's the MML topographic map, and in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Spain each country's national topographic map. The shortcut buttons are covered in more detail below.

The web version and the mobile app play well together: when you plan a route in the web version, for instance, it's immediately available in the mobile app — as long as you're logged in to both with the same user account.

The app's maps and route drawing cover the whole of Europe. The most detailed maps are in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia: there Trailmap's default map is a so-called hybrid map, which combines OpenStreetMap's roads and trails with the map data of each country's national mapping agency. The traditional topographic map is available for the same countries and for Spain (see "Maps and countries" below).

The app is available in six languages: Finnish, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Estonian. The first time you start it, the app picks the language from your phone's language settings. If the phone's language isn't one of these, the app opens in English. You can change the language at any time from the top row of the Settings tab, "Language" (a globe icon with the language code, e.g. "EN"). The language you choose is kept even if your phone's language setting changes. If you're logged in, your choice is also saved to your user account, so that, for example, emails from Trailmap arrive in the language you chose. Voice prompts are spoken in the same language as the app (see "Navigation").

The app adapts to your phone's screen size and to its display and text size settings (Display Zoom and Text Size on iPhone, Display size and Font size on Android). The map buttons are sized so they fit on the screen even with an enlarged display, and on a tablet they don't grow too big.

User account

You can log in from the "Settings" tab in the bottom bar. You can log in with Google or Apple sign-in, or with an email and password. Note: creating a new account with email is done in the app's web version; in the mobile app you can log in to an account that already exists. Google and Apple sign-in create an account automatically.

Logging in isn't compulsory, but saving your own routes or places and syncing tracks to devices do require it. The "Account details" page in Settings shows your username and the status of your subscription, and you can delete your user account there if you wish.

Note: connections to devices and services (Garmin Connect, Wahoo, Suunto, Strava) are set up in the app's web version. Once a connection has been set up, you can use it in the mobile app (e.g. sync routes to Garmin and Wahoo devices with the star marking, or view your Strava activities).

Subscriptions: Navi and Plus

Most of the maps and the basic use of the app are free. There are two paid subscription levels: Navi and Plus. Subscriptions can be bought directly in the mobile app through the app store (App Store on iOS, Google Play on Android). The Plus subscription can also be taken out in the app's web version. Subscriptions apply to both the web and the mobile version of the app. A subscription can be bought for 3-month or 12-month periods, and all of them include a free trial.

Navi gives you the basic mobile navigation functions: navigation along a track, map turning, keeping the screen on, offline maps, and importing tracks onto the map (GPX/KML). It also lets you save and sync routes (up to 3 routes and 3 tracks), export GPX files and share.

Plus unlocks everything on top of Navi, including voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, an unlimited number of routes and tracks, syncing routes to Garmin and Wahoo devices, all your Strava activities, the "My places" function and route collections.

You manage your subscription on the "Account details" page: there you can see the purchase date, the period type and the end date, and manage or restore your purchases. A Navi subscription can be upgraded to Plus in the same app store.

The main view and the bottom bar

The bottom bar has four tabs:

  1. Map: The main map view, where route drawing, navigation and the map functions happen.
  2. Routes: Your own route library. It contains the sub-tabs Routes, Collections, Tracks (the tracks open on the map), GPX (importing files) and Strava (your own Strava activities).
  3. Record / Navigate: The title changes with the situation. If a route or a single track (e.g. a GPX file) has been opened on the map, the tab is "Navigate" and starts route navigation; otherwise it's "Record" and starts ride recording.
  4. Settings: Language, logging in, account, map settings and information about the app.

The map view's buttons

In the bottom right of the map are the zoom buttons, the location button and the search button (magnifying glass). The location button's colour shows its state: grey (location off), red (location on, no GPS fix), green (the camera follows your position) and orange (you've moved the map away from your position — press it to resume following). Above the location button is the compass button for turning the map (see below).

In the bottom left of the map are the map settings button and the shortcut buttons (up to 5 quick functions of your own choosing). The bottom left corner also has a sun button that keeps the screen on (a Navi function). In the top right corner is the info button, which opens the Quick guide or the Map legend.

When there are routes or tracks on the map, a button appears on the right edge for hiding them momentarily. From the "+" quick menu on the same edge you can add a place or take a photo (a Plus function, see "Places and photos").

Shortcut buttons

The shortcut buttons are buttons on the left edge of the map that give you one-tap access to the most important map options without opening the map settings. They're especially useful on a phone, letting you use the functions that matter to you smoothly and quickly. Shown by default is the "Topographic map on/off" button, with which you can quickly alternate between Trailmap's default map and the traditional topographic map. This button is always first, and it works in the countries where a topographic map is available (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia and Spain).

You can choose yourself which buttons (up to 5) appear on the edge: open the map settings and choose "Shortcut buttons". The options include Aerial, Overlay maps, Overlay map on/off, High contrast, MML ways, Simple map, Places (POI), Photos and Own profile. Finland-specific options such as MML ways only appear when the map is in Finland. All the same options are also in the map settings, but as shortcuts they're quicker to use out in the terrain.

Context menu (long press)

Pressing and holding the map opens a context menu at that spot. From it you can add a place of your own (Plus), see the spot's OpenStreetMap information and coordinates, open the spot in Google Maps, or create a route from your current position to that point ("Route here"). While drawing a route, the menu has "Add route place" instead of the option for your own place (see "Route places"). Note: unlike the web version, the mobile app has no Google Street View and no OSM editing (only viewing OSM history).

The search button opens the search view, where you can search for places and addresses ("Search for a place or address..."). You can limit the search area with tabs: the current country, World or Map area. Results can be sorted by relevance or distance, and each result shows its distance from your position (or from the centre of the map). Before you type a search term, you see your recent searches.

When you choose a search result, the map moves to the place and a context menu opens there. Its "Route here" option gives you a route from your current position to the place you searched for: the app turns on location if needed and asks for the routing profile. If there's already a route on the map, the app asks whether to add the place as the route's next point or start a new route.

Search also works while drawing a route ("Search the map" in the bottom bar's "..." menu) and during navigation ("Search the map" in the Actions menu). While drawing a route, "Route here" adds the place as the route's next waypoint; if the route is empty, it starts from your current position.

Map turning and following

The mobile app's map can turn to match your direction — one of the most important differences from the web version. Pressing the compass button cycles through three states:

  1. No turning: the map stays north up.
  2. Compass orientation: the map turns according to the device's compass (where you're pointing it).
  3. Direction of travel (GPS): the map turns according to the direction you're moving.

Map turning is a Navi function. In the settings you can fine-tune it, for example how the GPS heading is stabilised while you're standing still and whether the direction arrow is shown. If you move the map away from your position with your finger, a "Recenter" button appears at the top of the map, which makes the camera follow your position again.

The sun button keeps the screen on (Navi). During navigation the screen stays on automatically.

Route drawing

You start route drawing from the map view, and first you choose the routing profile.

Route drawing modeRoute drawing mode

You edit the route with touch gestures:

When you zoom in close, sections of the route that run along the same road in both directions are drawn side by side, so you can select and edit exactly the pass you want.

The status bar at the bottom of the route shows the route's details (length, ascent, warnings, difficulty and the number of route places) and the Save and Share buttons (send to device, link to the route and GPX file). The "..." menu has GPX import, Reverse route, Add to start, Crop, Route places, Summary, Instructions (Quick guide), Search the map and Remove from map. The profile button changes the routing profile, and the switch next to it turns "Follow roads & paths" routing on or off. You can undo an edit with the "undo" button.

The routing profiles are the same as in the web version: On foot, Mountain bike, Gravel, Road bike and Winter (under the Winter profile you choose Cross-country skiing or Winter MTB). Each profile has additional settings, e.g. technicality and avoiding asphalt or big roads. You can also use a track opened on the map or a GPX file as the basis for a route ("Convert to route"). The Gravel profile's settings also let you avoid driveways ("Avoid driveways").

If a section of the route can't be routed, it's shown as a straight line and the app tells you why: "Routing failed temporarily" (try again later) or "Part of the route could not be routed" (no route for that section can be found on the map).

Route places

Route places are points of interest that belong to a route, e.g. a summit, a water point, a ford, a gate or a café. They're saved with the route, shown on the map and included in the GPX file and on devices. They aren't waypoints, so they don't affect which way the route goes. The function is the same as in the web version, whose user guide has a more detailed description, including what Garmin, Wahoo and Suunto devices show of the places.

While drawing a route you can add a place in two ways:

First choose a type (e.g. summit, water point, gate or bike service) and then optionally give a name (up to 30 characters), a description and a link (URL). A place without a name is shown with the name of its type. A place is "on the route" when it's no more than 25 metres from the route line, and the window shows "Position on the route", i.e. the distance from the start of the route (e.g. 12.4 km). A place further away is "beside the route" ("Not on the route"). On the map, places on the route are shown in blue and places beside the route in red. If the route passes the same spot several times (e.g. an out-and-back route), the window lists each pass with its own distance, and you can use the checkboxes to choose on which passes the place is included.

Editing: move a place by dragging its icon. Tapping the icon opens a menu with Edit and Delete. You can see all the route's places in distance order under "Route places" in the bottom bar's "..." menu (or via the "PLACES" badge in the status bar when the route has places). Tapping a row moves the map to the place. If a change to the route moves it away from a place, the app tells you "A route change affected … route places", and the affected places are highlighted in the list. Check them, as the app doesn't move places automatically.

Outside route drawing, for example during navigation, route places are shown on the map, and tapping an icon shows the place's details and its position on the route. Places are saved when you save the route. When you send the route to a device, the places on the route are sent along with it as course points. If the places can't be read for some reason, the app tells you: "Route sent to the device, but its places could not be read – they are missing from the device".

Restoring a saved route's path

Map data and routing change all the time, so opening a saved route for editing could change the way it goes even if you didn't change anything yourself. That's why the app compares the opened route with its saved path. If the routing has changed, the app restores the saved path by adding the waypoints needed. A notification then appears at the top of the screen, e.g. "Saved path restored — 2 waypoints added." and, if relevant, "Route length changed by +0.3 km." The added waypoints pulse orange for a moment so you can see where the fix was made, and the saved route is shown on the map as a track for comparison.

The notification disappears when you press "OK" or start editing the route. The check takes a moment after the route is opened: meanwhile saving, sharing and sending to a device wait, and the app shows "Updating route" or "The route is still being checked. Try again in a moment." You'll find more background in the web version's user guide.

Saving a route

In the route saving view you give a name and a description, choose the activity type and the visibility (Private, Public or Published), and you can mark the route for device syncing. The route summary shows the distance, ascent and descent, road types, road surfaces, warnings and the elevation profile.

Note: long and complicated routes are often best planned in the web version, where editing on a big screen is smoother.

Route navigation is the mobile app's key additional function, and the web version doesn't have it. Navigation requires a Navi subscription for basic navigation and a Plus subscription for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation.

The Navigate tab and the start viewThe Navigate tab and the start view

Open a route on the map and start navigation from the "Navigate" tab in the bottom bar or from the "Navigate" button in the route view. During navigation the map turns with your direction of travel and the screen stays on. The instruction banner at the top of the screen shows the coming turn (e.g. "Left", "Sharp right"), the distance to the next turn and the distance remaining. The banner changes colour so that the early warning, the turn itself and the finish stand out clearly. When there's no turn coming up, the top of the screen shows the recording gauges (distance and time). Tapping the gauges briefly shows the next turn and the distance to it. If you leave the route, you get a warning ("Off route"), and a notification when you get back on it ("Back on route"). If you're on the route but going the wrong way, the app warns "Wrong direction" both on screen and by voice. On sections of the route where no turn instructions can be calculated (e.g. a straight line), guidance pauses ("No guidance, follow the map") and resumes automatically ("Guidance resumed").

You can also navigate along a track, for example a GPX file, a ride you've recorded or a Strava activity. Press "Navigate" in the track's or Strava activity's details view (or the "Navigate" tab in the bottom bar when a single track is open on the map). The app opens the track on the map and suggests a routing profile that suits the track's activity type ("Convert track to route and start navigation."). Pressing "Navigate" converts the track into a route and starts navigation.

Voice prompts come at three levels: Silent, Beep (a tone) or Speech (spoken turn instructions in the app's language). For Bluetooth headphones you can add a short pre-start delay.

Spoken prompts use the phone's own text-to-speech engine, so a voice for the app's language must be installed on the phone. The app checks this when you start navigation. If no voice is found, you get the notification "Speech voice not installed": the prompts are then spoken with a substitute voice and the wrong accent. Fix this by downloading the missing voice:

Navigation settings and controls are under the Actions button at the bottom of the screen:

The navigation Actions menuThe navigation Actions menu

The back arrow takes you out of the navigation view, but navigation and recording continue in the background. You stop recording with the "Stop" button in the Actions menu.

A more comprehensive guide to voice-guided navigation can be found in a separate guide.

Ride recording

With the mobile app you can record your own ride as a track — the web version can't do this. Recording is free (saving to your own tracks requires logging in).

Start recording from the "Record" tab in the bottom bar when no route is open on the map. Recording uses background location, so it continues even when the screen is locked. During recording the distance and time are shown, and you can pause the recording and continue later.

When you stop recording, you see a summary (distance, average speed, elapsed time) and can choose:

You can boost GPS accuracy in the GPS settings of the Actions menu ("GPS high accuracy"), which uses more battery. On longer rides, Power save in the Actions menu (Off / Basic / Max) saves battery. When you're only recording, without route guidance, the levels work like this:

When navigating a route, power save dims the screen between turns and brightens it before each turn. You'll find more on how power save works during navigation in the navigation guide, and general power saving tips in the power saving guide. Power save uses lighter-weight location tracking, so "GPS high accuracy" has no effect while it's on.

Note: always finish a recording or navigation at the end with the "Delete" button! Otherwise the recording stays on in the paused state, and you can't start a new recording or navigation until you've deleted the old one.

Offline maps

Offline maps are a mobile-only function (Navi) that lets you download a map to your device and use it without a network connection. This is useful in areas with no mobile coverage.

Open the map settings and choose "Map download". Zoom and move the map so the area you want fills the screen, choose the accuracy (Basic / Good / Best) and press "Start map download". If you like, you can also download hillshading (the "Hillshade" switch), which shows the shape of the terrain but takes up more storage space. The download's progress and the storage space used are shown on the screen, and you can stop the download ("Stop ongoing download"), in which case the part already downloaded is deleted. If the download is interrupted, e.g. because of a weak connection, the app reports "Download failed", and it's best to start the download again with a better connection.

The map that gets downloaded is the one selected in the map settings:

An area can span several countries: the app downloads each country's maps in one go. When location is on, on an Android phone the app automatically downloads the map around your position; on an iPhone it suggests downloading the area. No automatic downloads happen during recording.

Downloaded offline maps are managed on the Settings tab under "Offline map". There you can see how much storage space the maps use and, among other things, update or clear the map cache ("tile cache"), or delete just the oldest downloaded areas if your device is running low on storage.

Routes and collections

The "Routes" tab in the bottom bar shows your own route library. You can search and filter routes, and refresh the list by pulling down. From a route card you can view and edit the route, start navigation, share the route, export a GPX file, add the route to a collection or send it to a device. With the star marking the route is synced to connected Garmin and Wahoo devices (Plus); note that the device connection is set up and syncing turned on in the web version. A red star means the route is on your devices. An orange star means the route is marked for syncing but is still missing from one of the devices. "Send to device" sends the route to Garmin as a one-off. With Wahoo, routes are only transferred by star syncing. The Suunto connection can only be used in the web version.

If a device doesn't accept a route, the app tells you why: for example, the device rejected the route because it's too long or has too many points ("The device rejected the route"), or the device connection has been lost ("The device is not connected"), in which case the connection must be set up again in the web version. After a temporary error, the app retries syncing the next time you save the route.

Without a Plus subscription you can have up to 3 saved routes; beyond that, more routes require Plus. Collections are a handy way to group routes (e.g. plans for your summer holiday). Creating a new collection is a Plus function, and collections can also be shared with others.

Handling several routes at once (Plus): press the "Edit" button in the bottom right corner of the route list and select routes by tapping the route cards. The bar at the bottom shows how many are selected, and the actions available for the selected routes are Archive (in the archive, Restore from archive), Add to collection and Delete. "Clear selection" clears the selection and "Done" finishes. Archived routes are kept and their shares keep working, but they're hidden from the route list. You can see them by choosing "Archive" among the collections in the route filter. The same filter also has "Not in a collection". You can archive a single route from the menu in its details view.

Tracks

You can import tracks onto the map from GPX and KML files in the GPX section of the "Routes" tab, or by sharing a file to Trailmap from another app. Importing a file onto the map requires a Navi subscription. In the same section you can also fetch a track shared by another user using its share code.

The rides you've recorded and the tracks you've imported are on the "Tracks" tab. A track can be opened on the map, sent to a device or used as the basis for a route ("Convert to route"). Without Plus you can have up to 3 saved tracks.

Strava activities: the Strava sub-tab of the "Routes" tab shows your own Strava activities. Choose a year and a quarter (I–IV) at the top, and the list shows that period's activities with their distance, moving time and date. Pull down to refresh the list, for example to fetch a ride you've just saved to Strava. Tapping an activity opens a preview on the map along with these buttons:

The Strava connection is set up in the app's web version, after which your activities also appear in the mobile app. Strava activities are partly a paid function: without a Plus subscription you see three activities from the selected period, and the "More activities" button tells you about the Plus subscription. Showing activities requires a network connection. You'll find more about the Strava connection in the Strava guide.

Places and photos

My places (POI) is a Plus function. You can add a new place from the map's "+" quick menu or with a long press on the map ("Add place"). You give the place a name and choose an icon (e.g. viewpoint, campfire, shelter, water point, restaurant, accommodation).

A speciality of the mobile app is taking photos with the camera: from the camera in the "+" quick menu you can take a photo, and its location is saved automatically from the photo's GPS data. After taking it you give the place a name and an icon. If you wish, you can choose "Publish as photo", which makes the photo visible to other users on the map — photos of trails, roads and scenic spots are a good fit.

Map settings

Maps and countries

In Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia, Trailmap's default map is a so-called hybrid map: it combines OpenStreetMap's roads, trails and MTB classifications with the terrain and map data of each country's national mapping agency. The map and the routing profiles work the same way in these countries as in Finland. There are a few country-specific differences: the "MML" map style and property boundaries are only available in Finland, and depth contours are available in Finland and Estonia. The hybrid maps are described in more detail in the web version's user guide and in the blog post Trailmap is now in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia.

The app switches country automatically according to where the map is, and tells you about the switch with a notification (e.g. "Country setting: Sweden"). When several countries are visible on the map, country selection buttons appear in the top left corner of the map, with which you choose whose maps and functions are in use. The selected country is also shown in the map settings title, e.g. "MAP Sweden".

Trailmap expands to the NordicsTrailmap expands to the Nordics

Settings

The map settings open from the map button in the bottom left of the map view, as a panel that slides up from the bottom. The settings are mostly the same as in the web version: profile, style (Trailmap / MML / TOPO / Other), sport (MTB / Winter / Gravel), base (Default / Aerial / Plain), overlay maps, property boundaries (Finland only), depth contours (Finland and Estonia), routes, segments, places, photos, high contrast, map elements and shortcut buttons. The MML style can only be selected in Finland. You'll find detailed descriptions of these in the web version's user guide. The menu also has the offline map download.

Segments: under "Segments" in the map settings (section "Routes, places & photos") you can highlight MTB or gravel ways on the map, or both. MTB segments show the trails that have an MTB classification in OSM in the classification colours, and gravel segments highlight the road and trail network suited to gravel riding when you look at the map zoomed out. As you zoom in, the segments fade out, because the base map shows the same ways in more detail. "Hide all" turns the segments off. The colour key is in the web version's user guide.

Unlike the web version, the mobile app can't create your own raster map layers, and it has no OSM mapping tools or "Maps for other apps" function. The ready-made raster maps and overlay maps are, however, available.

The most important differences from the web version

In short, the mobile app has these things the web version doesn't: turn-by-turn navigation, ride recording, map turning (compass / direction of travel), keeping the screen on, offline maps, taking photos with the camera as places, and landscape view in navigation. The web version, in turn, has functions the mobile app lacks: creating your own raster maps, OSM mapping tools, setting up device and service connections (Garmin, Wahoo, Suunto, Strava), sending routes to Suunto, and route planning that's smoother on a big screen. You get the best of both by using both: plan your routes in the web version and navigate out in the terrain with the mobile app.