Travel map and countries visited apps, compared

There are dozens of travel map apps, and most look alike in screenshots: a world map with your countries coloured in. The real difference is how places get onto that map. Some apps ask you to tap or search every country. Some record your route live while you travel. Some read the places already saved in your photos. Pick the method first, and the choice narrows quickly.

Every fact about each app comes from its App Store listing, checked on October 26, 2026. Apps change, so check the current listing before you choose.

The seven apps at a glance

App	How places get on your map	Live route tracking	Sharing
been (Vinci Apps)	You select countries and US states, and optionally when you went	Not in its listing	Share your map as an image; compare maps with friends who use been
Visited (Arriving In High Heels)	You select countries, states, regions, and cities	Not in its listing	Share your map with friends; order a printed poster of it
Polarsteps	The app tracks your route automatically while you travel	Yes	Friends and family follow your trip; privacy controls let you choose everyone, followers, or only you
Pin Traveler	You search and pin cities, countries, and US states	Not in its listing	Share a map image or a link to a web map; follow friends; go private anytime
Skratch	You mark places, and it detects the location of photos and videos you upload	Not in its listing	Share your scratch map with friends
Stampie	You collect a stamp for each country, city, or wonder	Not in its listing	Share cards of your passport, your map, or a single stamp
Visited Countries (Flags)	It reads the dates and places saved in your photos, on your iPhone, and you add any country by hand	No; its listing says no GPS tracking	Share a stats image, never your data

"Not in its listing" means the App Store listing doesn't mention it either way.

What each app is best at

been is a long-running countries tracker. You select the countries and US states you've visited, and it shows them as a list with a ratio for each continent and as a world map. Premium Mode adds regions in more than 25 countries, cities, airports, and a chronological map.

Visited goes beyond countries: you can map states, regions, and cities, with regional maps for more than 20 countries. It also has bucket lists in more than 150 categories, travel goals, and an option to print your map as a poster.

Polarsteps is built for the trip you're on. It tracks your route automatically, lets friends and family follow along, and turns the trip into a video or a printed travel book afterwards. It also plans itineraries.

Pin Traveler is about pins rather than coloured countries. You pin cities and towns, organize them with colours, and share a link to an interactive web map. Its listing says you can pin unlimited destinations for free.

Skratch is a scratch map app with travel extras. You mark countries, cities, and attractions, add a timeline of visits, and upload photos and videos, which it places by their location. It also sells travel eSIMs.

Stampie is a passport-style journal. Each country, city, or wonder is a collectible stamp, and you add dates, notes, and photos to each one. It has home-screen widgets and a world map of your countries.

Visited Countries is the Flags map app. It builds your map from the dates and places already saved in your photos, on your iPhone, so you don't tap countries from memory. Its listing says it needs no account, uses no GPS tracking, and syncs through your own iCloud. The map, the country counter, the travel timeline, and the shareable passport are free.

How to choose

• If you want to remember every trip without typing it, pick an app that reads your photos: Visited Countries builds the map from them, and Skratch uses the photos and videos you upload.
• If you're about to travel and want people to follow along, pick live tracking: Polarsteps records your route as you go.
• If you enjoy ticking places off yourself, pick a manual tracker: been, Visited, Pin Traveler, or Stampie.
• If you want cities and regions, not only countries, check the listing: Visited, Pin Traveler, Skratch, and been (with Premium Mode) all go below country level.
• If privacy matters most, check three things before you install: whether the app needs an account, whether it tracks your location, and whether your map is public by default.

Try a map without installing anything

If you only want a map to share, the free countries visited map maker runs in your browser. Tap the countries you've been to, see your count and your share of the world, and download the map as an image for a post or a story. Nothing you tap leaves your browser.

How Visited Countries helps

Visited Countries fills in your map from the photos already on your iPhone, so the countries you forgot still show up. You add or remove any country by hand, see your count by continent, and share a stats image when you want to. There's no account and no live location tracking.