Recommended GPS Walking Tracker Apps: 2 Apps Tested & Reviewed 2026

MapMyWalk

A serious workout-tracking app. It's built more for running, we'd say.

It records distance and time, including your route via GPS. It's interesting that elevation gain is recorded too, though we weren't entirely sure how accurate that was (it probably depends on the precision of the tracker you're using).

For runners, this type of app is likely a must-have — you'll want to record when you ran, on what course and distance, and in what time. We personally use a different app called Runtrip for that instead of this one.

On the other hand, when we think purely about walking, we do want to record distance and step count, but personally we weren't so sure we needed the route (GPS) recorded as well. That said, this is probably just because we tend to walk the same places every day — for people who walk around all sorts of different places day to day, it's likely genuinely useful. In Japan, the "Ino Tadataka enthusiast" crowd, for example, would probably enjoy looking back at records like this later.

ALKOO

A real, GPS-based tracking app. What's interesting about it is that if you specify a target step count, it automatically generates a loop route showing how to walk around and back to your current location. You can even choose routes with more shade, which seems handy in summer (though we wondered — extracting "shade" seems difficult; how accurate is that, exactly?).

It also comes loaded with walking routes for sightseeing spots around Japan, and we thought having it navigate you through a sightseeing walk was a nice feature.

Compared to MapMyWalk, ALKOO feels better suited to walking specifically. That said, while it's well suited to walking as a deliberate hobby, it might be a bit more than you need if you simply want to log your daily walking activity.