The wind is whispering through the trees, the air hangs thick with pine fragrance, and you just whipped out your phone. Don’t feel guilty about logging on when you’re out in nature! There are more and more apps out there that can seriously enhance your outdoor experience, rather than distract from it — whether you need a map that still works offline, an audio guide for your earbuds, or help to figure out whether you just stepped in poison ivy or a harmless shrub.
1. Bivy
A bivy is a lightweight personal shelter you can carry around while backpacking. Consider the free Bivy app a lightweight outdoor adventure guidebook. You can pull up the app when you’re in a new area looking for a good hike, climb, or paddle. Better yet, you can use the app to record and share your adventures with fellow nature lovers.
This app also tells you when you’re off the track, which, in my experience, would be pretty darn useful. Just last weekend, my husband, kids, and I were trying to hike to a waterfall using directions my husband had found online. We followed the landmarks, walked the recommended distance, and never found a waterfall. We still aren’t sure what we did wrong. Next time, we’ll use Bivy.
2. PlantSnap Plant Identification
There are several apps out there purporting to tell you what bush or tree you’re looking at through photo recognition, but PlantSnap gets the best reviews from the most users on the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.
The developer claims that the app recognizes 90 percent of all plant and tree species on the planet, although according to reviews, it’s a bit hit-or-miss. Still, if you love to take pictures of pretty flowers and shrubs, but never know what they’re called, it’s worth a try at $3.99 on iTunes or free on Google Play.
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