We don’t need to banish screens - we just need to tame them.

That glowing slab of distraction can be a compass, a field guide, a stargazer…even a portable toilet-locator before someone detonates in the woods.

These 14 tried and tested apps don’t trap kids indoors scrolling. Quite the opposite. They launch them out the front door, helping us find trails, name birds, chase clouds, and spot planets before bedtime.

And maybe the most important bit? Showing our kids that phones don’t have to own us. With common sense and a pinch of purpose, these little rectangles can become digital pocket knives for wilder and more wonder-full lives.

Komoot
Free or from £3.99 per region (iOS & Android)

Komoot is the adventure GPS for people who still manage to get lost in car parks. It plans and tracks hiking, biking, or running routes with and interface that’s slick and idiot-proof. We even used it to plot our Unicorn Route. Whether you’re mapping the local woods or searching for a user-generated weekend epic, it’s the best offline companion since Kendal Mint Cake. There’s a solid free version, or you can unlock specific or groups of regions. For the full bells and whistles (like I have) go for the premium pass.

AllTrails
Free or from £35.99/year for AllTrails+ (iOS & Android)

AllTrails is Komoot’s over-excited cousin, the one who’s been everywhere and brought back receipts. With over 60 million users and 400,000 trails worldwide, it’s the biggest outdoor app on Earth. You can filter by distance, difficulty, kid-friendliness, dog-friendliness (basically any excuse you’ve ever used to not go outside). The sheer scale is both a gift and a curse: sometimes it feels like standing at a buffet with too many good options. Still, the crowd wisdom is gold so if you like to scout routes through other people’s footprints, this is your place.

OS Maps
Free or £34.99/year (iOS & Android)

OS Maps is the granddaddy of navigation, born from the paper maps your dad refused to fold properly and now re-engineered for the smartphone age. It’s built on Ordnance Survey’s legendary cartography, so every stile, stream and suspiciously steep contour is exactly where it should be. The interface isn’t flashy, but it’s solid and precise, perfect for dads who secretly enjoy knowing grid references.

Wildling
Free (iOS & Android)

Wildling is a full-blown invitation for families to rewild their weekend and I’ve used it to find places to find nature experiences on my doorstep. It’s stacked with thousands of places to explore across the UK, and thanks to smart hook-ups with the RSPB, Marine Conservation Society and Forestry England, it feels like someone handed you the keys to the countryside. I caught up with founder Ant Rawlins recently: the man oozes passion and really knows his onions when it comes to getting people off sofas and into the wild.

Go Jauntly
Free or from £20.99/year (iOS & Android)

This UK centric walking app is community driven and full of heart and trails. It’s particularly brilliant for city dwellers hunting for nature among the concrete, turning seemingly familiar places into microadventures (see their fresh National Trust ‘Naturehood’ collab).  The new Amble Anywhere feature (for paid users) automatically builds circular, AI-driven routes wherever you are: a lazy dad’s dream.

Seek by iNaturalist
Free (iOS & Android)

Seek turns users into wildlife detectives. Whether you’re in the garden or the wild this superb free app flips every “ew, what’s that?” into a learning moment. Point your camera at a bug, plant or suspicious patch of moss and boom: instant ID, complete with bite-sized factoids. We’ve used it to spot everything from a two spined spider in Australia to red admiral butterflies in a Gloucestershire woodland. Themed challenges also pop up through the year, so there’s always something new to chase. Only missing feature? David Attenborough whispering the facts through your phone speaker.

Merlin Bird ID
Free (iOS & Android)

Merlin is essentially Shazam for birds. Hold up your phone, hit record, and it’ll tell you exactly who’s singing in the trees. One short spring recording picked up nine separate chirps and warbles. I was genuinely blown away. The app lets you dig deeper into each species and slowly learn their calls, turning every walk into a wildlife quiz for you and the kids . It’s simple, fast, and after a week you’ll never hear “background noise” the same way again.

Seagrass Spotter
Free (iOS & Android)

A few years back I ran an incredible project in Australia restoring crayweed off the coast of Sydney, and Seagrass Spotter taps straight into that energy. Next time you’re snorkelling, paddling or beachcombing, open the app and log what you see (or don’t see). Every sighting helps scientists map and protect these underwater meadows, the lungs of the ocean. It’s citizen science with sand between your toes and a brilliant way to turn family beach days into something that matters.

CloudSpotter
Free (iOS & Android)

CloudSpotting is like Pokémon Go for daydreamers. Point your phone skyward and it’ll tell you whether that drifting blob is a cumulus or a mammatus We’ve used it flat on our backs in a skatepark and once in the supermarket car park waiting for the rain to stop. It’s delightfully pointless, which is exactly the point. The perfect companion to an ancient artform: doing nothing, looking up, and arguing over whether that one looks like a dragon or a farting elephant.

Geocaching
Free (iOS & Android)

Geocaching is what happens when Google Maps meets pirate treasure. You use your phone to hunt down hidden caches in real-world spots all over the world: under benches, behind trees, wedged in rock cracks, and log your find like a modern-day buccaneer. Kids lose their minds for it: they’re not just walking, they’re on a mission. The loot? Could be a plastic frog or rubber duck, but it feels like the crown jewels.

SkyView Lite
Free (iOS & Android)

SkyView Lite is your personal pocket observatory, a cosmic cheat sheet that identifies stars, constellations, planets, satellites and the occasional chunk of space junk whizzing overhead. Everything’s stored on your device, so it still works when the only connection you’ve got is to the universe itself. It’s genius on camping missions when the sky’s clearer than a monk’s conscience.

What3Words
Free (iOS & Android)

What3Words has divided the entire planet into 3-metre squares and given each one a unique three word address, meaning you can now tell someone you’re at banana.hammock.testicles instead of “somewhere near the car park.” It’s brilliant for micro-adventures, lost-child recovery, and proving to your partner you did, in fact, find that “secret” swimming spot. It works entirely offline once downloaded, so it’s ideal for forest walks, wild camps and anywhere 4G fears to tread. 

Windy
Free or £22.99/year for Premium (iOS & Android)

Windy is a full-blown weather cockpit tracking not just rain, but wind speeds, storms, pressure systems and radar data with the precision of a German train timetable. I’ve trusted it on film shoots all over the world, and it’s very rarely let me down. For dads who love a forecast (and the comforting illusion of control), Windy’s as close as you’ll get to having the weather gods on speed dial.

The Toilet Map
Free website

My family have become self declared masters of the bush poo. But sometimes, when squatting for the squits calls for the cold comfort of a metal loo bowl, you need a public toilet. If only there was an app for th…

The Toilet Map is the UK’s biggest database of public loos, with over 14,000 facilities. Powered by open data and civic duty you can add, edit or rate toilets like Yelp for your bowels. Let’s face it, no adventure truly ends at the summit… it ends when someone shouts, “I need a poo!”