Garmin Explore™

3.4
3.15K reviews
1M+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

Map, Track, Sync, and Share Your Trek From Anywhere
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
The Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Garmin is under license.
Updated on
Mar 19, 2024

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
This app may share these data types with third parties
App activity and App info and performance
This app may collect these data types
Personal info
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

3.5
3K reviews
Nick Daleo
May 22, 2020
Phone app is difficult to create waypoints or routes on. The web page is amazing! The the only other issue that I have is that when you sync your collections from the app to your watch, it doesn't group the waypoints in their respective collections. For example, have a collection labeled "hunting" that has various waypoints. But when I sync it to my fenix 6x, it puts all those waypoints with other random saved locations in my watch. I'd like them to be grouped like they are on the app.
45 people found this review helpful
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A Google user
March 4, 2020
Just bought the Garmin Marq Adventurer, downloaded Garmin Explorer to my Android phone, Synced between them. Problem is when I set up new Waypoints and sync to the Adventurer, they don't transfer! Also, you can't save maps to your SD card - SERIOUSLY!!! I used to test software for a living and this is a joke! Here's an idea for the developers - make this so it works on a computer and not just phones. It would be MUCH more user friendly having a large screen to plan out routes. UPDATE: I was able to finally get the Waypoints to transfer but ONLY after I added them to a Collection in Explorer. Might be nice if they had instructions that mention this (or maybe I just missed it somewhere).
54 people found this review helpful
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Garmin
March 20, 2020
Tony, try the Explore website for large screen planning - https://explore.garmin.com/, I agree a larger map and pointing device make for faster route creation. Glad you were able to sync waypoints. I will add your request for maps on an SD card and review instructions for adding data to a collection for syncing. Chip Noble Product Manager Garmin
Jake0055
May 14, 2020
Horrible documentation (non-existent?) and not at all intuitive. It took me forever to figure out that you can't sync ROUTES to Instinct. They have to be TRACKS. Even if you have a collection selected for sync under Devices on the explore.garmin site, you have to select that collection in this app and tell it to sync. Click on the device icon in this app, go to collection manager, and select what collections to sync. Syncing for inReach much more straightforward. Layer selections suck...The end.
52 people found this review helpful
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What's new

🐛 Bug fixes and improvements