Press kit
Facts, descriptions and images for writing about TrailBivvy. The web app at app.trailbivvy.com is public. Please describe the iPhone and Android apps as apps in beta: they are not on the App Store or Google Play yet.
Web app public · mobile apps in beta
Fact sheet
- Name
- TrailBivvy
- What it is
- Offline-first trek and bivouac planner
- Status
- Web app: public at app.trailbivvy.com since 20 October 2026. iPhone and Android apps: closed beta, not on the App Store or Google Play, no release date yet.
- Price
- Web app: TrailBivvy Pro €22.99 per year including VAT, with a 3-day free trial for new subscribers. iPhone app, planned: free download; TrailBivvy Pro yearly subscription, about CHF 18 / €23 / £20 (exact local price in the App Store), with a 3-day free trial for eligible new subscribers; safety tools free; no ads
- Platform
- Web app in the browser; iPhone, iOS 18 or later; Android phones and tablets, Wear OS watches
- Languages
- English and 33 other languages (machine-assisted, native review pending)
- Units
- Metric or US customary
- Trail catalogue
- 58 trails · Europe and the USA
- Short bivouac trips
- 27 · Switzerland
- Data
- Trail packs built from OpenStreetMap (open data, not officially surveyed); short bivouac trips in Switzerland built from open and official data
- Privacy
- No account, no analytics, no ads, no third-party SDKs; personal data stays on the device; weather through TrailBivvy’s own relay, without users’ IP addresses
- Built with
- iPhone app: Swift and SwiftUI, Apple frameworks only
- Independence
- Not affiliated with any trail association, mapping agency, park or authority
App icon
PNG, 1024 × 1024 pixels
The icon may still change before release.
Short description
TrailBivvy is an offline-first iPhone app that helps long-distance hikers answer one question at the end of the day — where could I sleep tonight? — without ever claiming that a place is legal or allowed.
Long description
TrailBivvy is an app for long treks and thru-hikes: its iPhone and Android apps are in a closed beta test, and its web app has been public at app.trailbivvy.com since 20 October 2026. Its central feature, Sleep Tonight, looks at your position, the daylight left and your own walking pace, and lists overnight options within reach: campsites, huts, shelters and village accommodation from open data and, on its short bivouac trips in Switzerland, a planned bivouac search area.
Honesty about rules is the core of the product. Rules for overnight stays vary by country, region, municipality, protected area, season and landowner, and no dataset holds all of them. TrailBivvy therefore keeps physical suitability and rules information apart, lets any known restriction win, labels missing data as unknown, and never describes a place as legal or allowed.
The app is built to work offline. Catalogue trails are built into the app as offline packs made from OpenStreetMap data. Map tiles from official national map services can be downloaded for a route corridor where the app offers offline storage for that map; whether each provider’s terms allow this is still being reviewed. It also offers stage profiles and a multi-day planner, safety tools, trip recording with GPX export, 34 languages, and metric or US units.
TrailBivvy has no account, no analytics and no ads, and personal data stays on the device. The only server TrailBivvy runs for the app is a weather relay that passes rounded positions to MET Norway without users’ IP addresses. It is an independent project, not affiliated with any trail association, mapping agency, park or authority.
Screenshots
Screenshots show the beta of the iPhone app, on trail data bundled in the app.
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Where could I sleep tonight? Map: © swisstopo · © BAFU/FOEN, cantons · Source: FOEN · © OpenStreetMap contributors Where could I sleep tonight?, Full size (PNG, 1320 × 2868 px, 1.5 MB) -
Official national maps where available Map: © swisstopo · © BAFU/FOEN, cantons · Source: FOEN · © OpenStreetMap contributors Official national maps where available, Full size (PNG, 1320 × 2868 px, 5.3 MB) -
Every stage at a glance Map: © swisstopo · © BAFU/FOEN, cantons · Source: FOEN · © OpenStreetMap contributors Every stage at a glance, Full size (PNG, 1320 × 2868 px, 1.7 MB) -
Rules explained, with sources — never guessed Rules explained, with sources — never guessed, Full size (PNG, 1320 × 2868 px, 0.6 MB) -
Download your trek before you go Download your trek before you go, Full size (PNG, 1320 × 2868 px, 0.3 MB) -
Emergency numbers, available offline Emergency numbers, available offline, Full size (PNG, 1320 × 2868 px, 0.3 MB)
Videos
A short promo video without sound, and the screen recordings it is made from. Every app screen in them is real output of the beta app on the trail data bundled in it.
Before you use them
Present the TrailBivvy iPhone app as an app in beta that is not on the App Store yet, and say that the position in the recordings is simulated. Where a map is visible, keep the map credit next to the video and do not crop the attribution in the picture: the map imagery belongs to its providers, and reusing it may need their permission. Please do not add music, a voice-over or claims that the videos do not make.
Promo video (21.5 seconds, no sound)
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Landscape, 16:9
Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 5.4 MB) -
Portrait, 9:16
Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 5.4 MB)
The text in the video is in the language of this page; the other languages are on their press pages. Read the transcript
Map: © swisstopo · © BAFU/FOEN, cantons · Source: FOEN · © OpenStreetMap contributors
Feature videos
Each one shows one feature and is edited from screen recordings of the beta app, like the promo; its transcript on the Videos page lists the edits. No sound. Titles and callouts are in the language of this page; trail data (place names, map layer titles, research notes) stays in English.
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Where could I sleep tonight?
29.4 seconds · no sound · Places within reach before dark
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 29.4 s, 5.7 MB): Where could I sleep tonight? Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 29.4 s, 5.7 MB): Where could I sleep tonight? Read the transcript: Where could I sleep tonight? -
Rules explained, with sources
29.9 seconds · no sound · Where each answer comes from, and where there is none
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 29.9 s, 5.8 MB): Rules explained, with sources Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 29.9 s, 5.8 MB): Rules explained, with sources Read the transcript: Rules explained, with sources -
Short bivouac trips in Switzerland
29.3 seconds · no sound · Two days, one night, bus stop to bus stop
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 29.3 s, 5.7 MB): Short bivouac trips in Switzerland Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 29.3 s, 5.7 MB): Short bivouac trips in Switzerland Read the transcript: Short bivouac trips in Switzerland -
Official national maps, where available
28.5 seconds · no sound · swisstopo in Switzerland, with the source always named
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 28.5 s, 5.5 MB): Official national maps, where available Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 28.5 s, 5.5 MB): Official national maps, where available Read the transcript: Official national maps, where available -
Download your trek before you go
29.5 seconds · no sound · Maps and trail data on your iPhone for when there is no signal
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 29.5 s, 5.8 MB): Download your trek before you go Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 29.5 s, 5.7 MB): Download your trek before you go Read the transcript: Download your trek before you go -
Every stage at a glance
29.9 seconds · no sound · From the trail catalogue to your day: stages, profiles, splits and multi-day plans
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 29.9 s, 5.8 MB): Every stage at a glance Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 29.9 s, 5.8 MB): Every stage at a glance Read the transcript: Every stage at a glance -
Navigate, with off-route alerts
22.6 seconds · no sound · Progress to the end of the stage, and a warning when you leave the trail
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 22.6 s, 4.4 MB): Navigate, with off-route alerts Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 22.6 s, 4.4 MB): Navigate, with off-route alerts Read the transcript: Navigate, with off-route alerts -
Safety tools that work offline
29.5 seconds · no sound · Emergency numbers with their sources, your position in several formats and the nearest help, from data on your iPhone
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 29.5 s, 5.7 MB): Safety tools that work offline Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 29.5 s, 5.7 MB): Safety tools that work offline Read the transcript: Safety tools that work offline -
Weather at the stage's high point
27.7 seconds · no sound · A real MET Norway forecast, recorded on 1 Oct 2026 — dated, cached and credited in the app
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 27.7 s, 5.4 MB): Weather at the stage's high point Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 27.7 s, 5.4 MB): Weather at the stage's high point Read the transcript: Weather at the stage's high point -
Private by design
28.5 seconds · no sound · No account, no ads, no analytics, no tracking — and what leaves your iPhone, spelled out
Landscape, 16:9 — Download (MP4, 1920 × 1080 px, 28.5 s, 5.5 MB): Private by design Portrait, 9:16 — Download (MP4, 1080 × 1920 px, 28.5 s, 5.5 MB): Private by design Read the transcript: Private by design
Screen recordings
Recorded in the beta app on an iPhone simulator, on the trail data bundled in the app, with a simulated position and time and without a weather forecast. Pauses where nothing moves were shortened; motion plays at normal speed.
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The map on the Via Alpina
Screen recording: the Via Alpina stage Kandersteg – Adelboden on the swisstopo map, with the route, huts, water points, official protected zones and the simulated position; the map zooms in and pans along the route.
Download (MP4, 600 × 1304 px, 7.4 s, 0.9 MB) -
Sleep Tonight on a short bivouac trip
Screen recording: Sleep Tonight, planned from a simulated position, lists a mountain hotel and the trip’s planned bivouac area with arrival times; the area’s details show that the terrain is not assessed, the rules status “Caution” with the date of the checks, and the official layers checked with their sources.
Download (MP4, 600 × 1304 px, 10.5 s, 0.8 MB) -
A stage and its elevation profile
Screen recording: “Find my current stage” opens the Via Alpina stage Lauterbrunnen – Griesalp over the Sefinenfurgge; a finger slides along the elevation profile and the distance, elevation and gradient appear under it.
Download (MP4, 600 × 1304 px, 7.7 s, 0.6 MB) -
The trail catalogue
Screen recording: the trail catalogue with its region and type filters; choosing short bivouac trips lists the two-day trips in the Alps, each with its start and end stop.
Download (MP4, 600 × 1304 px, 9.3 s, 0.5 MB) -
The Safety screen
Screen recording: the Safety screen with the emergency numbers for Switzerland, then the position, which the app marks in red as simulated, not a real position.
Download (MP4, 600 × 1304 px, 6.5 s, 0.4 MB)
A note on wording
Please do not describe TrailBivvy as showing where camping is legal, allowed or safe — it deliberately makes no such claim. Where screenshots contain map imagery, it belongs to the map provider (for example “© swisstopo”); reusing it may need the provider’s permission. Keep the credit visible and do not crop the map attribution.