Most of the major navigation apps are free, so when you see one that costs money you expect it to be good.
Well, inRoute Route Planner, which is $3.99/month or $29.99/year, is in the words of one reviewer “the best routing app out there!” Carl Reese, a record-setting long-distance motorcyclist, says that he has “used InRoute for planning six world record attempts” and that “no weather app gives you more information, period.” In short, it has a ton of features that you won’t find in Google Maps.
It’s probably not worth the money if you just need directions from point A to point B, but if you’re going on a long road trip, it can be a huge help. You start by inputting a destination, just like Google Maps. From there, you can customize your route with up to 150 stops. You can optimize for route elevation, road curviness, weather, and even sunrises and sunsets, and you can add time for layovers and times that you need to be back on the road by. You can even build in stops (like for gas or a hotel) after a set number of hours or miles.
More on inRoute Route Planner
inRoute Route Planner is available for iOS. It’s free to try for up to seven days. Here’s a full list of features, straight from the App Store:
- Voice guided navigation of up to 150 locations with automatic severe weather alerts (alerts are currently available in the US, Canada, and EU)
- Optimize waypoint order for fastest time, or manually reorder
- Import from XLSX, GPX and KML files
- Create custom routes based on weather, elevation and curviness, or build your own route from available alternates on each leg of a route
- Interactive charts showing route elevation, curviness, weather (temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed/direction, severe weather alerts), and sunrise/sunset times
- Search along a route—the whole route, every x miles/hours, or the next x miles/hours from a place—find gas, hotels, campgrounds or places to eat close to a route
- Set Departure and Layover Times—weather forecasts, road conditions (e.g. congestion), and travel times accurately reflect conditions throughout the trip
- Save your favorite routes and places, sync between devices, organize into folders, print via Airprint, and share with family and friends
- Easily add places to the map using a Dropped pin, Search, or Contacts
- Export routes to Apple Maps, Google Maps, Navigon, and Waze. Some apps use inRoute’s “Agenda Nav” feature. See the in-app FAQ for more info
- Export to GPS devices and apps compatible with GPX files
- Routes are stored on your device so you can access them even if you lose connection
More navigation apps
- Mapless: A Minimalist Navigation App That Wants You to Enjoy the Journey
- A Great, Free, Offline-Ready Navigation App
