AllStays Camp & RV: Camping

Review by eFreeware

Planning a camping trip usually means juggling several tabs: one map for the route, another for campground listings, a third for fuel stops and dump stations, and a weather check on top. The information exists, but it rarely sits in one place, and the moment you drive out of signal range, half of it disappears. That is the gap AllStays Camp & RV is built to close.

It comes from the developer appexgroup and sits in the Travel & Local category on Google Play. The premise is straightforward: a single directory of campgrounds, RV parks and roadside services for the US and Canada, with filters and offline lookup so the details are still there when the network is not. It has been installed more than 50,000 times and holds a 4.6 average from 663 ratings, which suggests it has found an audience among people who travel this way regularly.

Built for campers who plan their stops

The app is aimed at people traveling by RV, van or tent who want to know what is ahead before they commit to a route. The developer lists 34,000 campgrounds across the US and Canada, spanning national parks, military famcamps, public land and private operations, including hike-in, boat-in and off-road spots. That range matters if your trips mix established parks with more remote overnight stops.

It also suits travelers who care about what surrounds a campsite rather than just the site itself. The catalog extends to grocery stores, casinos, rest areas, truck stops, dump stations, RV rentals and repair services, with more than 500,000 map pins across North America in total. If your idea of a good day involves a shower, a fuel stop and a place to empty tanks without a detour, that breadth is the appeal.

I would not frame this as a hiking or backcountry navigation tool. The developer positions it around finding and filtering places and services, and the outdoor guide side is about campsite amenities rather than trails. It reads as a trip-planning and road reference for campers and RVers, not a replacement for a dedicated trail map.

Searching a very large catalog

The core of the app is a map that adds points as you scroll, so the view fills in as you move across a region rather than loading everything at once. You can filter by type and by more than 30 amenities, which the developer says opens up hundreds of possibilities. If you only want tent sites, or only places with overnight parking, the filters are how you get there.

The catalog covers campgrounds that other directories may miss, along with practical extras such as fuel, rest areas, repairs, tunnels and even road grades and inclines. Road conditions, emergencies and state laws also get quick reference sections. Those are the details that tend to matter on a long drive, and having them in the same place as the campground list is the point of the app.

Weather comes through a NOAA forecast pulled by GPS, so you can check conditions for where you are rather than where you started. Reviews and photos are handled through web searches that draw on multiple sources instead of a single database, and you can add your own reviews. That approach casts a wider net than an in-app review system, though it also means the quality of what you find depends on what is already published out there.

Working without a signal

Offline lookup is one of the app's main selling points. Searching by type, state and city works without service, so the information is available when there is none. For anyone who has driven through a stretch of the West with no bars and no idea what is in the next town, that is a meaningful feature rather than a marketing line.

Maps need an internet connection to load into memory, so the offline side is about having the data available once it is there.

The coverage area is the US and Canada only. That is a deliberate scope rather than an oversight, and it keeps the directory focused, but it does mean the app has nothing to offer once you cross into Mexico or head overseas.

What the free version gives you

The app is free to download and contains no ads, which is a welcome combination in a category where free often means clutter. There are in-app purchases, with a subscription tier rather than one-off unlocks. You can start without paying and still see all the camping icons, basic campground information and the campgrounds around your current position.

It includes one-touch availability checks and booking at more than 4,500 public campgrounds, the ability to add and view campground reviews, map markers that show whether a place takes RVs or tents or is hike-in or dispersed, map filtering by type and more than 30 amenities, and offline maps with thousands of additional places.

That split is worth understanding before you install. If you only need a quick answer about campgrounds around you, the free version covers it.

How it compares with the alternatives

The obvious comparison is a general mapping app. Those are excellent at getting you from one address to another and increasingly good at showing nearby businesses, but they are not built around camping. They will not tell you whether a site takes an RV, whether it is hike-in or dispersed, or where the nearest dump station is. AllStays Camp & RV is narrower by design and deeper on the details that campers actually weigh.

A second alternative is a single-network campground booking service. Those tend to be strong on the properties they represent and silent on everything else, which is fine if you already know which chain or park system you want. AllStays takes the opposite approach: a wide catalog of 34,000 campgrounds plus the surrounding services, with booking handled for a subset of public campgrounds rather than as the main event.

Then there is the paper or PDF directory, still common among long-distance RVers. It never runs out of battery and it does not care about signal, but it cannot filter by amenity, it does not update, and it will not show you what is around your current position. The app is the more flexible option as long as you accept that maps need to be loaded while you have a connection.

Finally, there are free community campground maps. They can be surprisingly good in popular regions, but coverage thins out in exactly the places where you most want a reliable answer. The developer's claim to include campgrounds not available elsewhere is the pitch against those tools, and the breadth of the pin count is the supporting argument.

Small details that shape daily use

A few practical points are worth flagging before you commit. The app was released in May 2025 and was last updated in September 2026, and the most recent change adds registration through Google and Apple sign-in. That is a housekeeping improvement rather than a feature, but smoother account setup is the kind of thing that matters on the first day of a trip rather than the tenth.

The content rating is Everyone, and the app is free with no ads, so there is nothing here that will surprise a family sharing a tablet in the car.

The app has been reviewed by outlets including the NY Times, MacNewsWorld, appadvice.com and Womans Day, and has appeared in App Store featured picks and been cited in Harvard Business Review. Those are the developer's selections and worth reading as such, but they line up with the install and rating numbers: this is a well-established tool rather than a new experiment.

A strong fit for RV and road-trip planners

AllStays Camp & RV suits a specific kind of traveler: someone covering long distances in the US or Canada who wants campgrounds, services and road information in one place, and who is willing to pay for the planning tools. The free tier is enough to see what is around you, and the subscription is what turns it into a route-planning companion with filters, booking and offline maps.

The limits are clear and mostly structural. Coverage stops at the US and Canada border, maps need a connection to load, and the features most people will want for a serious trip sit behind the subscription. None of that is hidden, and each point is stated plainly.

If your trips are local and occasional, the free version will likely answer your questions. Either way, the 4.6 average from 663 ratings suggests the app has been doing this well enough for a good number of people to keep it installed.

What's new in version 13.1

Get ready for your next adventure with the latest and greatest version of AllStays. Happy camping! Love the app? Don’t forget to leave us a review on the Play Store. Your feedback keeps us motivated to keep improving. In this version, you will enjoy a new and improved user registration experience with google and apple sign in.