Polarsteps Review: Offline Route Tracking on 4% Battery a Day, and Plus at €29.99 a Year

Polarsteps is a travel app that quietly records where you go, plots it on a map and lets you add photos and notes along the way, so friends and family can follow the trip from their sofa. At the end it can turn the whole thing into a hardback book. Made in Amsterdam, it says more than 20 million travellers have used it.

We like it for two specific reasons: it uses about 4% of your battery for a full day of background tracking, and it keeps tracking with no internet connection, which is exactly when you are somewhere interesting. Here is our Polarsteps review: what is free, what Polarsteps Plus adds, how the privacy settings work and whether the Travel Book is worth it.

Offer detail	What you get
Promo Code	None needed. We found no official public Polarsteps code
Welcome offer	No sign-up offer; planning, tracking, sharing and following are free, and Plus has no free trial
Who qualifies	Anyone with a Polarsteps account; Plus is bought in the iOS or Android app
Key terms	Plus is €8.99 a month or €29.99 a year (prices vary by region); the 20% Travel Book discount is for annual subscribers only; unused time is not refunded unless the law requires it
How to claim	Download the app, open settings, choose Polarsteps Plus and pick monthly or yearly

Polarsteps at a glance

• Owner: Polarsteps B.V., Amsterdam
• Launched: 2015, by a founding team of four
• Platforms: iPhone, Android and the web, with trips synced between phone and laptop
• Free plan: yes; planning, tracking, journaling, sharing and following are free, with no adverts
• Paid from: Polarsteps Plus, €8.99 a month or €29.99 a year (about £7.58 or £25.27); Travel Books priced per book
• Offline use: yes; route tracking and editing steps work offline
• Ratings: Google Play 4.8 from 191k reviews; Trustpilot 4.8/5 from 3,772 reviews

Our verdict

Polarsteps does one thing better than anyone: it records a trip without asking you to remember to record it. The free app is complete, ad-free and gentle on your battery, and the sharing settings are sensible by default. Plus is a pleasant extra rather than a necessity. The main costs are optional ones: the Travel Book, which reviewers love but which is priced as a keepsake, and Plus if you want 3D maps and step statistics.

Pros

• Automatic route tracking that works offline and uses about 4% battery a day
• Free and ad-free, with no limit on trips or itineraries
• Family can follow without downloading the app or creating an account
• Sensible privacy defaults: trips visible to followers only, and new followers need approval
• Travel Books are highly rated, with a lay-flat option
• Plus does not take features away from free users

Cons

• On iPhone, the app only syncs while it is open on screen
• Adding spots and activities to a planned trip needs a connection
• Plus has no free trial, and the yearly plan is the only one with the book discount
• Travel Books are not cheap
• Some Android users report heavy processor use and device issues

What Polarsteps does and who it is for

Polarsteps has two halves. The planner lets you sketch a route, add stays and activities, forward booking emails and use an AI itinerary builder. The tracker is the heart of it: switch it on, put your phone in your pocket and it records your route in the background. Each stop becomes a “step”, to which you add photos, videos and a few lines of text. Followers get updates and can comment.

Where it earns its place:

• A three-month gap year through South America. Your parents in Leicester can see you have reached La Paz without a nightly WhatsApp, and your route builds itself while you are on a 14-hour bus with no signal.
• A North Coast 500 road trip. At the end you have a map of every stop and a tally of miles driven, plus a reel you can share with friends.
• A honeymoon in Japan. Add a step at each ryokan and temple, then order a lay-flat book when you get home instead of an album nobody gets round to making.

It is less useful for a weekend city break, where a handful of photos says the same thing.

Is Polarsteps free? Free vs Plus

Yes. Polarsteps’ help centre says planning, tracking, sharing and following others’ trips are “all completely free”, and the app is ad-free. Polarsteps earns money from Travel Books, Polarsteps Plus and small affiliate commissions on bookings made through it.

Polarsteps Plus adds:

• 3D maps and extra map styles
• Step statistics, including elevation
• Play mode to replay a trip
• Up to 10 Travel Buddies on a shared trip, instead of 5
• 20% off Travel Books, on the yearly plan only

Polarsteps says Plus will not limit the free experience.

Polarsteps price: Plus plans and the cheapest way to pay

Polarsteps lists Plus in euros on its own site and says prices may vary by country; the price shown in your app is the one you pay. Sterling and dollar figures below are conversions.

Polarsteps Plus	UK price	US$	€
Monthly	about £7.58	about $10.10	€8.99
Yearly	about £25.27	about $33.68	€29.99
Travel Book	Priced by style and page count in the app	Varies	Varies

The cheapest way to pay. Most people need nothing at all. If you plan to order a Travel Book anyway, the yearly plan can pay for itself through the 20% discount on a large book, so subscribe before ordering. Three months on the monthly plan cost almost as much as a full year, so monthly only suits a single short trip.

Travel Books. There are two styles: Premium, a hardback with a semi-matte finish for books of up to 400 pages, and Lay-Flat Premium, with thicker paper and a spine that opens flat, for up to 120 pages. The app shows the price before you order, and the help centre explains how to cut pages to bring it down. Polarsteps says it uses a sustainably certified printer, which it admits comes with “a higher price tag”.

Polarsteps features that matter

Tracking. Polarsteps uses free location sources such as GPS, mobile signal and Wi-Fi. Your phone must not be in aeroplane mode, but the app does not need to be open.

Battery. About 4% for a full day of background tracking, according to Polarsteps. Android’s high-accuracy mode and opening the app often push it up a little.

Offline and roaming. Tracking works without internet, and you can write steps and add photos offline; they sync when you reconnect. To avoid roaming charges, Polarsteps suggests switching off mobile data and data roaming entirely. One catch for iPhone users: syncing only happens while the app is open on screen, so followers may see updates in bursts.

Travel Together. Add Travel Buddies to one shared trip, so a couple or a group of friends builds a single journal.

Import and export. You can import GPX files from other trackers and export a copy of your data.

Is Polarsteps safe? Privacy and settings

Polarsteps gives each trip three visibility levels: Only me, Followers or Everyone. New trips default to Followers, and new accounts default to approving every follower request, so a stranger cannot see your location without your say-so. Setting a trip to Everyone makes its steps, route and statistics public on your profile, which Polarsteps itself advises against if you want full control. There are separate settings to hide your live location and your home location, and DailyStoke’s advice is to switch on both before your first trip.

Polarsteps is ad-free, and you can export a copy of your data at any time.

What users say about Polarsteps

Polarsteps scores 4.8 out of 5 from about 191,000 reviews on Google Play and 4.8 on Trustpilot from 3,772 reviews, 88% at five stars. Many Trustpilot reviews are about the printed books.

Mike W., on Google Play in August 2026: “It is the best app I have found to upload photos, add text and allow others to comment.”

Alison J. from the US, on Trustpilot in August 2026, on the book: “The hardback book is sturdy with high quality paper inside.”

Spencer C., on Google Play in August 2026, was less happy: “I noticed years ago it is a CPU hog, but didn’t think too much about it.”

Nick K., on Google Play the same month, was blunter: “Not working on Samsung Galaxy S23 ultra.”

How to get started with Polarsteps, and how to cancel

1. Download Polarsteps from the App Store or Google Play and create an account.
2. Set your profile and default privacy, and hide your home location.
3. Create a trip, choose who can see it, and switch on the Travel Tracker.
4. Add steps with photos and text as you go; they sync when you are back online.
5. Share the trip link with family; they do not need an account to follow.
6. End the trip when you get home, then preview a Travel Book if you want one.

Cancelling Plus. Cancel in your App Store or Google Play subscription settings, or in the Plus section of the Polarsteps app settings. Plus features stay until the end of the billing period, and the rest of that period is not refunded unless the law requires it.

Polarsteps vs Wanderlog vs TripIt

	Polarsteps	Wanderlog	TripIt
Free plan	Yes; tracking, journal, planning, sharing	Yes; planning, maps, collaboration	Yes; itineraries from booking emails
Paid from	€8.99 a month (Plus)	£4.99 a month (Pro, UK App Store)	£38.99 a year (Pro, UK App Store)
Best for	Recording and sharing a trip as it happens	Planning days and routes with a group	Business travel and flight logistics
Offline	Tracking and editing work offline	Pro only	Saved itineraries
Store rating	4.8 (Google Play, 191k)	4.9 (UK App Store, 3.8k)	4.8 (UK App Store, 23k)

Pick Polarsteps to record a long trip with almost no effort and keep family in the loop.

Pick Wanderlog to plan the trip in detail, especially with friends. Many travellers use both: plan in Wanderlog, track in Polarsteps. Our Wanderlog review has the details.

Pick TripIt if your trips are mostly flights and hotels for work.

Polarsteps alternatives

• FindPenguins: a similar tracker and journal with its own printed books.
• Google Maps Timeline: records where you have been, but with no journal or sharing.
• Wanderlog: stronger for planning than tracking.
• TrustedHousesitters: if your long trip needs free places to stay, house-sitting fits neatly between Polarsteps steps. See our TrustedHousesitters review.

Polarsteps FAQs

Is Polarsteps free?
Yes. Planning, tracking, sharing and following trips are free and ad-free. Plus and Travel Books are optional extras.

How much is Polarsteps Plus?
€8.99 a month or €29.99 a year on Polarsteps’ own site, about £7.58 and £25.27. Prices vary by region, and there is no free trial.

Does Polarsteps work without internet?
Yes. It tracks your route offline and lets you write steps, which sync when you reconnect. Adding spots and activities to a planned trip needs a connection.

How much battery does Polarsteps use?
About 4% for a full day of background tracking, according to Polarsteps.

Will Polarsteps use my roaming data?
Tracking uses free signals such as GPS. Switch off mobile data and data roaming if you want to avoid charges completely.

Can strangers see my location on Polarsteps?
Not by default. New trips are visible to followers only, and you approve each follower. You can also hide your live and home locations.

How much is a Polarsteps Travel Book?
The price depends on style and page count and is shown in the app before you order. Annual Plus subscribers get 20% off.

Visit Polarsteps

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