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Best RV Apps for Women

As a solo woman RVer, I rely on my camping apps to find me great places to camp, places to hike, sights to see and even places to get cheap gas. There are a lot of different campings apps out there. Some are free. Some cost money to use. Some are part of a paid membership. I’ve tried a lot of different apps over the years and these are the 11 favorite camping apps that I’ve kept on my phone and that I use the most on an almost daily basis.

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What I look for in a Camping App

I’m on an iPhone, so I look for camping and travel apps that integrate well on my phone and are easy to use. (Note: All of these apps also have Android versions.) Since I am on the move, I like apps that use my location to suggest things that are in my area. I don’t like my apps to be crowded up with a lot of advertising, so I look for apps that allow me to get the information I need without a lot of clutter.

Here are the Top Camping Apps that I use in 2025:

1. My Favorite Camping App: The Dyrt Pro

A few years ago I won a free membership to The Dyrt Pro. Typically I don’t pay for apps, but after using the paid version for a couple of years, I really appreciate the value and extra benefits that come from the paid app.

The Dyrt is a wonderful camping app. It’s a woman-owned business and has a free and paid version. I’m a PRO member, which costs about $35 per year.

My two favorite features of the PRO membership vs the free one are the ability to search for free camping and the ability to plan trips. I can use the app–for when I’m on the go and want to find a spot near me–or I can use the website for trip planning, when I want to see a bigger screen.

PRO members also have access to offline maps, which has helped me with planning when I don’t have cell service. PRO members also are eligible for discounts at some RV parks. Since I don’t tend to stay in RV parks, I haven’t used this perk yet.

You can also set alerts for sold-out campgrounds, if you’re trying to get into a popular national park or nab a holiday weekend at a popular place near your home. I tried this feature at the campground I work at, just to see how it works and it was pretty spot on.

One feature the Dyrt has – in both the free and paid versions – that I haven’t seen in other apps is the ability to upload and view videos of campgrounds. This can give a different perspective than just looking at photos.

Dyrt Pro Trip Planning feature

What I Love about The Dyrt Pro RV Camping app:

  • The ability to find free campgrounds
  • Helps plan routes and suggests places to stay
  • User reviews with photos and video
  • Works great both on the phone and on laptop
  • You can filter by the types of campgrounds, facilities, ratings, hook-ups and more
  • It shows you dump and water stations

What I don’t Love about The Dyrt Pro RV App:

  • It shows a lot of private properties that are usually much more expensive

2. Harvest Hosts RV app

I am a big fan of Harvest Hosts. Harvest Hosts is a camping membership that allows you to stay at small businesses like wineries, family farms, brew pubs, museums, golf courses and so much more. Many time these spots are more scenic then any campground I’ve stayed in.

There are several membership levels and I have the one that includes Boondockers Welcome. Boondockers Welcome allows you to park overnight for free at people’s houses. Oftentimes, homeowners will offer hook-ups and and more than one night. This option has been great for me when I’m staying in or near a city.

New in 2024, a lot of Harvest Hosts locations now have the option to stay more than one night and some offer hook-ups. Both of these usually come with an added fee, but if you’re looking for this feature, it can be well worth it.

I’ve written before about this unique way to travel and I find myself looking every time I am moving to find if there is a place to stay along my route. Harvest Hosts is a membership organization that allows you to camp for free at farms, wineries, museums, golf courses, churches and so much more.

Harvest Hosts is one of the best RV apps
Camping at an alpaca farm Harvest Host in Montana

What I Love about Harvest Hosts

  • Unique and beautiful places to stay
  • Great way to meet and support local community
  • Opportunity to buy some great products

What I don’t Love about Harvest Hosts

  • You’re expected to spend about $30 at each location
  • Sometimes you don’t want to socialize at the end of a long day of driving and you might feel obligated to chat with the host

3. iOverlander Camping and RV app

IOverlander is a free crowd-sourced app that is super useful for finding camping spots, dump stations, water, informal camp sites and free national forest and BLM camping and overnight spots.

Whether you’re looking for a Walmart to overnight in, secluded forested spots, roadside pull-offs or established public and private campgrounds, iOverlander has you covered. I use iOverlander as a first stop information spot.

I read the reviews to see that others have said about the site and if it feels like it will be a safe spot for me. I also read about access because my 25 year old RV does not like bumpy steep gravel climbs and some of the places do suggest 4 wheel drive. If I determine a site looks suitable, I then try to verify the location on another app if possible.

Because it is crowd-sourced, the information is sometimes not accurate. It only took one time of following incorrect GPS coordinates down a washed out road to quickly realize I could not soley rely on iOverlander. One thing I do love about the app is this message that appears when a site has not been verified “iOverlander cannot verify if wild camping is permitted at this location. It is your responsibility to verify local laws or obtain consent before staying the night.” If I see that message and only one review, I usually move on. But if many people report staying there, then I assume it’s valid and check it out.

iOverlander is one of the best RV apps for women camping
iOverlander shows campgrounds and places to stealth overnight

What I Love About iOverlander

  • It’s free
  • Often the best source for free camping
  • Uses location so you can search what’s near you
  • In addition to camping, shows location of water, showers, dump stations and more

What I don’t Love about iOverlander

  • Because it’s user generated, sometimes the information is not accurate
  • Shows a lot of street and roadside parking, which is not my preferred way to camp

4. Campendium

Campendium is another free app that lists established and informal camping areas. I find the reviews written by fellow campers to be super helpful when deciding where to stay. The thing I appreciate the most about Campendium is the reports on cell signal. As a solo women traveling, and because I often need to work on the road, I like to stay in places where I know I will have good cell signal. Campendium lists how many bars of cell service you can receive for Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

They also list what amenities are available—like water, dump station, electric hook-ups and if tents are OK. Reviews often mention what there is to do in the area. As a solo traveler, it’s good to have all this information in one app. They also have a direct link to GPS coordinates that you can open in Apple maps, Google maps or simply copy the GPS coordinates. Campendium has become the app I’ve come to use the most for finding established camping sites.

Campendium is one of my favorite camping apps
Campendium is one of my favorite camping apps

What I Love about Campendium

  • Icons make it easy to differentiate between public and private campgrounds
  • You can filter and sort based on a number of factors, like camping memberships and ammenties

What I Don’t Love about Campendium

  • “Bookable” campgrounds always show up first, which tend to be private RV parks, not my favorite
  • When you open the app, you’re always asked to upgrade to the paid version

5. Recreation.gov Camping App

While I don’t use this app on a daily basis, it does serve a purpose. When I stay in campgrounds, I prefer national forest, national parks, state parks and Bureau of Land management because they’re often in the woods or wild areas that I want to be in anyway. This app is essential for making reservations at those public camping areas and a great place to keep all your reservations handy when it comes time to check in.

It’s not the best search tool, however, as it only shows the public campgrounds. For example, when I search in Yuma, AZ in the app, it shows me spots in Joshua Tree National Park, more than 100 miles away.

pic of Joshua Tree in Recreation.gov camping app
Recreation.gov app

What I love about Recreation.gov

  • Great place to see all of your public campground reservations
  • You can enter into lotteries for sensitive areas
  • Can buy tickets to timed entry locations like National Parks
  • You can set availability alerts for sold out campground

What I don’t love about Recreation.gov

  • Only shows public campgrounds
  • Not the best for searching camping locations

6. HipCamp

There are a lot of people who have beautiful pieces of private property and spots for RVs to park and lots of RVers looking for an alternative place to stay. That’s where Hipcamp comes in. HipCamp gives RVers access to private land owners who rent out their property for camping.

I don’t use HipCamp a lot, but I do think it’s a great tool to have in my arsenal when needed.

HipCamp
A HipCamp in Arizona

What I love about HipCamp

  • Provides an alternative when public campgrounds are sold out
  • Can often find places in towns or communities where campgrounds are hard to find

What I don’t love about HipCamp

  • Prices seem to be higher than other campgrounds

7. All Trails

All Trails is wonderful for finding good hiking and biking trails nearby. You can either use your current location or enter a city or park and plan your hiking ahead of time. The free version has lots of great features such as searching for trails and filtering by things such as dog-friendly or hiking/biking. The paid version allows you to follow along your hiking route, even if you don’t have cell signal. This can be invaluable for solo hikers worried about getting lost. (Like me!)

AllTrails hiking app
AllTrails is a great app to find hiking trails

What I love about All Trails

  • I’ve found so many hiking trails I never would have found otherwise
  • I love the real time location on the maps, so you

What I don’t love about All Trails

  • Many of the best features require paid plan

8. GasBuddy

With gas prices so high right now, this is an app I’ve used more this year than ever before. Gas Buddy shows you in real time the gas prices of stations in your area. I was surprised to find that sometimes the bigger towns don’t necessarily have the best gas prices. Saving $.20 gallon adds up when you only get 10-12 MPG.

Gasbuddy App
GasBuddy helps you find the best gas prices

What I love about Gas Buddy

  • Real time gas prices added by users
  • Gas stations also have user reviews

What I don’t love about Gas Buddy

  • When you’re driving, sometimes it’s hard to tell if gas station is behind you or in the direction you’re heading.

9. Google Maps

Maybe this is a no-brainer. Most of us likely use Google Maps so often, we don’t even think of it as an RV app. I use Google maps to research and plan trips and use it as a second source for step by step navigation.

One of my favorite features of Google is that I can bookmark spots that I want to check out in the future. If someone tells me about a great camping spot or I read about a really cool boondocking site online, I can save it as “Want to go” or “favorite.”

I also love that the Google maps app allows me to follow my friends and fellow nomads in real time by sharing our location. I also share my location with trusted friends and family members, so they can keep an eye on me from afar.

I usually prefer my RV GPS for step by step navigation because I can enter in the dimensions of my RV and the screen size is bigger and easier to follow, but Google maps is a good back-up.

Google Maps is a must-have camping app
Google maps showing some of my “Want to Go” places and the location of a friend.

What I love about Google Maps

  • Allows me to save favorite places
  • Provides good navigation

What I don’t love about Google Maps

  • Can sometimes send you down roads not suitable for RV travel

10. Altimeter

Altimeter is a fun app that I use to see what elevation I’m at. It also shows your GPS coordinates and has a compass feature. I’m always curious what elevation I’m at, so I check this app pretty regularly. That’s it. It’s pretty simple. And totally free.

Altimeter is one of my favorite camping apps.

What I love about Altimeter

  • Very basic and easy to use

What I don’t love about Altimeter

  • Pop-up ads on the free version

11. Wind Alert App

As nomads, we need to keep a close eye on the weather. Driving in the wind and ice can be dangerous. Freezing temps can destroy our water lines. There are a lot of different weather apps out there and I have a few different ones. While I check the weather app on my iPhone regularly, when I need to know what the wind conditions are going to be, I depend on the Wind Alert App.

I like it because it shows wind speed and direction and you can look ahead and see what the wind forecast is going to be. You can also set up alerts to get notifications based on criteria you set up. And it’s free!

Wind Alert app is great to track weather while driving.

What I love about Wind Alert App

  • Shows real time wind speeds and direction
  • You can toggle the time to see what the wind forecast is going to be in the future

What I don’t love about Storm Radar

  • You have to upgrade to Plus or Pro to get certain features like winter weather advisories and forecasted rain accumulation
  • Those annoying ads across the bottom

Conclusion: My Favorite Camping Apps

There you have it, these are my most-used camping apps for 2025. Each of them serves a bit of a different purpose or complements another app. These are great camping apps for women RVers, campers and vanlifers.

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