The photo up top is the first trip I ever recorded in OutPack. I'd snuck out at short notice to catch the snow before it went, pitched in the last of the light, and woke to a blizzard rattling the flysheet. Cold as anything, and worth every minute.
OutPack has lived in the browser since the start, because that's where planning happens: the night before, at the kitchen table, gear list open and the forecast checked one more time. But that first trip is the whole point of it. The plan gets used on the hill, and the only computer that comes along is the one in your pocket. So I built the phone app. It's out now on the App Store and Google Play, and I want to be plain about how it fits with the free web app.
The same OutPack, shaped for a pocket
I didn't want to make a cut-down companion. This is a first-class OutPack experience, designed and polished for the phone rather than squeezed into it. The pack you built is there, base and worn weight to the gram. The route with its distance and climb. The forecast beside each day's plan. There are things only a phone can sensibly do too: scan a food barcode in the supermarket, check off your gear at the trailhead, or pull up the plan when the laptop is miles away.
The pack and the plan — weight to the gram, and the forecast beside each day.
Here for the long haul
OutPack is a passion project. I want it to hold the story of my own adventures: quiet solo nights, trips with friends, and days out with family. I am building it for the long term, so those routes, packs and little notes are still there long after the boots have dried.
It has never really been built alone. People using OutPack have spotted bugs, guided features, and found better ways through things that felt obvious only to me. The app is richer for it. Mobile is new and will have rough edges too, so I would be mega grateful if you told me when something breaks or ought to work differently. Thank you to everyone who has helped shape it so far.
One purchase, not another subscription
I feel the subscription fatigue too. A few pounds here and there soon becomes a long list of things quietly billing every month. I have worked hard to keep OutPack's running costs down, and I don't want it to become another rent payment for your own gear list.
So the web app stays free, same as it has always been, and the phone app is one purchase, yours for good. No subscription. It also raises the limits across your gear, kits, packs and trips. There are no ads and your data isn't the product. The folk who buy the app help cover the servers, maps and other costs that keep the free web app running for everyone.
Sign in with your web account and everything is already there. The 14-day trial starts on its own, with no card asked for. If the app earns its keep, unlock it once in the store, in your local currency. If it doesn't, the web app is still yours, free as ever.
Thanks for reading this far, for every bug report and idea, and for every trip trusted to OutPack. I hope the phone app earns a place in your pocket, and makes the faff before your next trip a wee bit lighter.
— Andrew
