bergfex: Hiking & Tracking

What it does

bergfex is a feature-rich app designed for outdoor enthusiasts. Its core function is to provide detailed maps, route planning, and GPS tracking for a wide range of activities, including hiking, cycling, ski touring, and running. Users can discover over 200,000 existing tours or plan their own, track their adventures live, and save their experiences to review later.

Where it shines

Where bergfex truly stands out is in its powerful and detailed mapping capabilities. During the onboarding, it immediately demonstrates its various map layers, including offline functionality (00:06). The route planning is intuitive; users can simply tap a start and end point on the map to get a detailed route with stats like distance, ascent, and estimated duration (01:36). The live tracking interface is also clear, providing essential data at a glance while an activity is in progress (01:53).

UX highlights

Interactive Onboarding: The initial carousel uses animated mini-demos to showcase features, which is far more engaging than static text (00:00-00:27).
Consolidated Tour Details: Tour detail screens cleverly combine a map and media view with a comprehensive, scrollable panel below that includes elevation, waypoints, and ratings (03:49).
Flexible Route Planning: The app allows for both 'Road network' routing along known paths and 'Free planning' for direct point-to-point routes (01:23).
Granular Customization: The settings menu offers deep control over map appearance, allowing users to customize track colors, opacity, and width for different contexts (06:43).
Contextual Actions: On the map, tapping a point of interest or a saved route brings up a simple bottom sheet with relevant actions like 'Planning' or 'Search', reducing clutter (02:29).
Clear Statistics: The statistics page provides a clean, visual breakdown of activity by month, covering key metrics like distance, ascent, and duration (06:06).

Monetization & growth

bergfex presents its monetization strategy early in the user journey. After signing up, the user is shown a 'Welcome offer' paywall for the PRO version (00:56). The offer highlights a 21% discount for the first year. The paywall uses a feature comparison table to clearly articulate the advantages of the paid plan, such as Offline Maps, Hybrid Maps, and an ad-free experience (01:01). This is a soft paywall, as the user can close it to access the free version of the app. The 'PRO' label is also used throughout the UI to denote premium features, encouraging upgrades.

Who it’s for

This app is clearly built for serious outdoor enthusiasts and planners. From casual hikers and cyclists to dedicated trail runners and ski tourers, anyone who needs reliable mapping and tracking will find value here. The deep customization options and detailed tour information suggest a focus on users who are data-driven and want a high degree of control over their planning and tracking experience. It's less for the casual stroller and more for the intentional adventurer.

Notes & opportunities

The app is incredibly feature-dense, which is great for power users but could be slightly overwhelming for beginners. While the onboarding demonstrates features, it doesn't guide the user through their first planning or tracking session. A small, guided tutorial on planning their first hike could improve activation. Additionally, the sign-up process (00:43) has four fields plus a checkbox, which could be streamlined, perhaps by using social logins more prominently to reduce initial friction.