The best Polarsteps alternative for slow travel in 2026
Polarsteps made automatic travel tracking popular: open the app, go on holiday, get a map of your trip. For a lot of trips it's a great app.
But if you travel slowly, by bike, on foot, under sail, by paddle or in a van, you may want more: the real route you took rather than a line between stops, a way to tell the story as you go, family who hear from you without installing anything, and more say over who sees where you sleep tonight.
That's what Pebbls is made for. Here are eight reasons slow travellers choose it.
1. Your real route, not just your stops
Pebbls records the whole line you travelled, every bend of the river and every climb over the pass, with GPS tuned for long days outdoors. It keeps recording with no signal and catches up when you're back in range, so you can go properly remote.
2. A journal that tells the story
Drop pebbls as you go, with photos, notes and places, and they appear on your route where they happened. Your trip becomes an adventure journal that people can read chapter by chapter. Browse adventure journals.
3. Family follow along, no app needed
Send your journey link to the people who care. They open it in any browser, tap Follow along, and get a short message every time you post. Nobody has to install anything or make an account.
4. Free films of your chapters
Every chapter with a few pebbls and photos becomes a 3D flyby film of your route, with your photos appearing where you took them. It's made for you automatically and it's free. Watch flyby films.
5. Turn any route into a 3D video
Got a ride on Strava, a hike on Komoot or a route from your Garmin? Route to video turns it into a 3D film you can save and share, with a few moments and photos along the way. You can also draw a route on the map. It's free up to 200 km and you don't need an account. Here's how it works.
6. Privacy made for life on the road
Blur the exact spot of a pebbl, and with Explorer hide where you are until you've moved on, make a journey private so only people with the link can see it, or protect it with a password. When you're wild camping or anchored in a quiet bay, that matters.
7. Built for long journeys
Split a long trip into chapters, bring older trips in from route files (GPX), tidy your line with the track editor, and put your map on your own website with an embed code or the free WordPress plugin. Join communities for cycle touring, bikepacking, sailing, hiking, paddling and van life, collect badges for your distance, and watch your map of countries and seas fill in. Meet the explorers.
8. Free to start, honest pricing
Tracking, photos and notes, sharing, Follow along and flyby films are free, with no adverts. Explorer ($20 a year) adds live tracking (people see where you are right now), private and password-protected journeys, tracking privacy, videos in your pebbls, route downloads (GPX), more offline maps and 6 Premium films a year in Route to video. Polarsteps Plus is $34.99 a year on the US App Store; prices vary by country. See Pebbls pricing.
Pebbls works in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch, and journals are translated for your readers.
Getting started
- Download Pebbls for iPhone or Android and sign up. It takes a minute.
- Start a journey and name your first chapter.
- Put your phone in your pocket and go. Drop a pebbl whenever something's worth remembering.
- Send your journey link to the people who want to follow along.
Is Pebbls right for you?
If your trips are about the route itself (a cycle tour, a long-distance walk, a sailing voyage, a paddle down a river or months in a van), Pebbls was made for you. If you mostly hop between cities on holiday, Polarsteps may suit you just as well.
For a side-by-side table, read Pebbls vs Polarsteps: an honest comparison, or see six travel journal apps compared.
Get Pebbls free and see your next journey come to life.