5 of the best apps for virtually enhanced adventures

Name all the stars above your tent, find out which bird is singing outside in the morning, and keep up with wilderness first aid best practise

We’re generally fans out of getting outdoors AWAY from screens and electronics, but there’s no question that sometimes apps can be really useful and convenient.

Here are our five essential downloads for your summer adventures:

1. Star Chart – Free

If you like kicking back and star-gazing when camping out in the wilderness, but can only pick out the Plough at a push, you’ll love this augmented reality app. Point your smartphone at the patch of sky you’re interested in and it will name all the stars, planets, and constellations. You can also search for particular stars or planets.

 

2. Hill Lists – £1.99

A simple app which lists all the Munros, Welsh 3000s, Wainwrights, Irish 900s and many lesser-known peak lists like the Donalds, HuMPs, Deweys and Nuttalls. Simply find peaks in a list, tap ‘climbed’ and it logs the date you bagged it. There are 7454 hills in total, enough to keep you busy for a lifetime. Developer Graham says let him know if you run out of peaks to bag!

 

3. The Photographer’s Ephemeris – £8.99

Plan perfect outdoor photography shots. The map-centric sun and moon calculator works out how the light will fall on the land at any time day or night for any location on earth. Search for any place name and position the pin. You can even determine when the sun or moon will be visible from behind nearby hills and mountains.

 

4. Bird Song ID – £3.99

Shazam for birds. Record a bird singing and use Automatic Recognition to identify it. You don’t need internet connection or mobile network, and it’s surprisingly accurate, though not quite every time — works best in areas where there isn’t background noise,  when only one bird is singing and you’re reasonably close.

 

5. Wilderness First Aid – £0.99

It’s not always easy to remember what to do in the stress of an emergency. This quick-reference app offers easily-accessible and simple step-by-step guidance to most outdoor first aid scenarios with colour artwork to illustrate techniques. Downloadable for use offline so you can take it travelling and into extreme environments.

 

OAG