Garmin Explore™
For adventure seekers, explorers and outdoor enthusiasts, the Garmin Explore ecosystem offers a complete mobile navigation solution that — when paired with compatible Garmin devices1 — lets you map, track and navigate your trek from anywhere with unlimited cloud storage.
Garmin Explore provides basic trip planning or viewing of maps you’ve preloaded on your device. Or you can use the mobile app to pair your smart device via Bluetooth® technology2 with a compatible Garmin GPS device1, so you can do and see even more.
Access Online Connectivity
Garmin Explore provides free online access to a wide range of additional capabilities. For example, you can download detailed topographic maps, color aerial imagery and other navigation aids directly to your mobile device. The maps and navigation data loaded onto your device can be used anywhere, anytime — even when you’re out beyond the reach of cellphone towers or internet connections.
Organize Your Data with Collections
Review and edit your waypoints, tracks, routes, and activities in your library. Add them to a collection to keep all the recorded data from a certain trip together in one place. For example, if you’re taking a long trip, you can plan different waypoints, tracks and routes for each day of the trip and combine them into one collection.
Your Mobile Cloud Connection
The Garmin Explore app will send and store the waypoints, planned routes, GPS tracks and Garmin activities you've recorded in the cloud, allowing you to access and use that data on the Garmin Explore web site to plan or review your adventures. You can also sync your cloud-stored data with a compatible Garmin device. A Garmin account is needed to store your data in the cloud. Your activities (e.g., runs, walks, hikes, etc.) include data such as distance, pace, activity time, location, etc. that were recorded by your device.
More Off-grid Capability with inReach® Technology
Use Garmin Explore with your inReach enabled devices, such as the GPSMAP® 66i navigator and satellite communicator, to turn your mobile device into a true off-the-grid satellite companion. In an emergency, you can trigger an interactive SOS to the GEOS 24/7 emergency response team. Two-way messaging and LiveTrack location tracking via the 100% global Iridium® satellite network let you stay in contact globally. The Garmin Explore app allows you to access your phone’s contact list for easier messaging and sharing when connected.
What You Get with Garmin Explore
• Unlimited map downloads; access topographic maps, USGS quad sheets and more
• Aerial imagery
• Waypoints, tracking and route navigation
• High-detail GPS trip logging and location sharing
• Unlimited cloud storage of routes, waypoints, tracks, and activities
• Online trip planning
1 explore.garmin.com/appcompatibility
2 explore.garmin.com/bluetoothrequirements
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Category : Maps & Navigation
Reviews (24)
Hot garbage. Stalled while trying to update inReach Mini 2 over BT, had to use a PC instead. Incompatible with original full size InReach so I still have to have Earthmate installed too. (two apps for similar devices from the same company)
If you have ever used the old app (earthmate), this one is worse in every way. It's constantly complaining that it doesn't have Internet access. I feel like it shouldn't be surprised, since the inreach devices advertise that they work where cell phones don't.
App gives no option to download to SD card. So internal memory only. Very limiting. Please fix! Thanks. **Note... You need to download the maps for this app to work. It's totally offline** Great app. Works well with my Garmin Instinct and Fenix and syncs between them seemlessly in the back country. Great to have on the trails for digital navigation. Not as clean as paper maps but pretty convenient with all the layers. Actually very similar to the InReach app.
App drains my battery even when not using the app (sitting at home with my inReach turned off). Unacceptable for a backcountry app where my phone battery needs to last as long as possible.
I cannot for the life of me find (or even create) the contact 'MapShare' in my messaging contacts list. It IS on my InReach Mini 2 device itself, but not in this app. I want to easily send message and progress updates to my share page from here, but cannot. Is there a solution to this? Or am I missing something?
Updated review: still 3 stars. It seems Garmin Explore now supports editing courses, but the experience is far from good. It gets really confused by sidewalks next to roads and depending on where exactly you tap (sidewalk vs. road) that may produce unintended long detours on a course because it can't jump from a sidewalk to a road next to it. It would go out a long way to an arbitrary place where it can cross a road or just jump from a sidewalk to a road. That adds a lot of extra turns.
The app was great. Then it updated, requires me to login again and after I sign in it says "check connection, something wrong". Password is fine, works on the web perfectly. I tried changing the login server in advanced settings from Australia to US, still doesn't work. Basically I can't get in on the mobile app. 🤷♂️ What happened?
Great start but way behind locus maps. You should implement more poi and symbols on the map with filters to make it usable. Sat maps could be also a plus.
All of a sudden my phone was running hot and my battery draining, even after rebooting it. I then discovered that this app was responsible for 95% of my battery drain even when I never opened it! Not a good idea to have an app that will kill your battery a few hours into a hike. Obviously, it's deleted now, since it wasn't useful anyway.
Crashes every time you zoom to a useful scale. It's hard to imagine releasing an app this bad. Makes me want to return my new InReach.
Good app. It's comfortable to create a course and check topoactive maps with this app. I'm new in Garmin ecosystem with 7 fenix solar, i love it.
I tried to create a route from waypoints but I can only seem to create waypoints or a route, not a route from waypoints. Am I missing something? Also could you add an option to work in decimal minutes? The app only currently seems to work in decimal degrees. What is the best device to navigate along a route I create, telling me the direction of the next waypoint relative to my direction of travel? I was wondering about the instinct watch.
Good: Course editor and waypoints management directly from the mobile phone. Exports to GPX. Bad: No online (up-to-date) maps.
Worthless...literally serves ZERO PURPOSE with Garmin Instinct...do not download.. Update 9 may 22...STILL WORTHLESS...had my watch switched out due to malfunctions and new watch is equally as worthless...DO NOT DOWNLOAD
Duplicate of Connect but map is good. Garmin should just take the notifications manager out of this app and let Connect handle that. Everytime I install new apps I need to go to notification settings in both apps to mute notifications from the newly installed app to not get notified at my watch . I do like the map though because routes on my Garmin 945 doesn't work
Very very high background battery use, 16 hours of the day and 134% of battery used since last full charge. Restricted its usage and now my phone charge will last the whole day and doesn't get hot while using. Not sure if a bug or what
Not sure why all the bad reviews. This app does everything it says and more. Syncs perfectly with my instinct solar tactical, was able to navigate with my watch, and also set courses on my phone. All of it was effortlessly synced on watch and the explore app. Love it.
You have to TURN OFF Wi-fi and cell access to get this to pair on an Android 12 device. After 2 days of unsuccessfully trying to connect an InReach Mini 2 to this app (following video and online instructions which show steps that aren't on the app), I turned off connectivity and it paired. A very frustrating bug.
Great to use with my Fenix 6 pro gps watch. However my wife's Vivoactive 4 says not supported. Her watch is new why isn't it supported by this app?
This app works well for me my only problem is the maps are not clear when you are zoomed in, this needs to be fixed so you can see what your looking at and not looking at at a blur.
Can't get map I need. Can't add my own. Not worth using bacause of this and ruins the interaction with my Garmin watch. Very disappointing.
Would give 5 stars. The course making feature and sync is fantastic except it will stop syncing to my watch and then Garmin connect will fail to sync. A watch reboot is the only fix i could find.
Worked great in the beginning but now I can't zoom in on certain areas on the map. The screen goes white, still shows my wavepoints though
Terrible with Inreach Mini 2. To register my device, I had to juggle the app, a web site, and the device. Why can't the app get the IMEI from the device over Bluetooth and send it to the web service automatically? Software updates don't work: app says version 3.15 is available but device has version 3.10, and app is not sending an update to the device. The app should allow remote control of everything that can be done with buttons on the device, but it does not.