I've been building OutPack for coming on two years now, and it still catches me off guard that there are getting on for a thousand of you out there using it. Looking back, the feature I wanted most at the very start — and the one I've leaned on ever since — is also the humblest thing in the whole app: the checklist.
A feature I built for myself
I built the checklist for me, before anyone else was here. It's a humble thing, but it earns its keep at the worst moment — packing in a rush. Each thing gets ticked as it goes in the bag, so I know everything I planned is actually with me. And on a trip I've thought through, that's everything I need.
It's quietly on its second or third iteration now. Small improvements keep landing, because I keep using it and the rough edges keep surfacing.
Pack the way you think
Group it by kit or by category — however your head works that day. Tick things off as they go in the bag, watch the ring fill, and let the weight resolve as you go. When it reads all packed, it's because everything genuinely is.
23 of 23, all packed — grouped by category, with the weight tallied up as you go.
Print it, if that's your thing
This one wasn't mine. Print landed because someone asked for it. I've been lucky with early adopters: people generous enough to actually use OutPack, report the rough edges, and tell me what's missing. This was one of theirs.
And it's a good one. If you like a paper list — and I do, sometimes — you can shape a PDF exactly how you want it: pick the layout, choose the columns, group it, and even drop in tick boxes to check off by hand on the kitchen table.
Customising a printable PDF — layout, columns, grouping, and hand-tick boxes.
Add without losing your place
Here's a small thing I kept wanting for myself: as you check things off, you almost always realise there's one more item you want to bring. So there's a quick-add right there in the checklist — you never have to leave the list to add it, then come back and lose your thread.
"The checklist is the humblest feature in OutPack. It's also the one that gets me out the door."
A worknight on the Pentlands
Those screenshots are from a real trip — and they're a fair measure of what OutPack is for. The same planning tool that maps out a long thru-hike is the one that gets me moving when the window's short. I finished work, sorted dinner for the kids, planned the gear I wanted, and checked it all off — then I was out for a night on a hillside with my friend Bruce. Post-work, on a work night. A micro-adventure, but it counted.
I pour a lot of time into OutPack — it's a passion and a hobby as much as anything — but I'm a user of it too. So there's a particular joy when the thing I build turns out to be the thing that gets me out.
I hope the checklist helps you get out on your adventures too.
— Andrew