FOG vs Fog of World

Fog of World started this category in 2012 and it is still a good app. If you are hunting for a Fog of World alternative, here is what each app actually does, checked against their own site and store listing.

The short answer

Fog of World is the original. Ollix launched it in 2012, and their site describes it as the first app to bring the fog of war idea to the real world. It runs on iOS and Android. You pay for it up front, and it can sync your data to your own cloud storage, so the same fog shows up on more than one device.

FOG is newer. It is free to explore, so you can walk for a week and watch streets appear before you decide anything. There is one purchase, 5.99 USD, and no subscription. Nothing syncs, because nothing leaves the phone.

If you want your fog on several devices, or you want to hand-correct GPS drift, buy Fog of World. If you want to try before paying, and you want your location history to stay on the handset, FOG is the closer fit.

What Fog of World does, from its own listing

These are things stated on fogofworld.app and on its App Store listing. Nothing here is guessed.

• Records your tracks and maps travel, including while the app is running in the background.
• Shows everywhere you have been on one map at the same time.
• Syncs your data with iCloud, Dropbox and OneDrive, so tracks appear on all of your devices.
• Imports tracks from GPX and KML files.
• Track editing, described on their site as correcting GPS drift and filling in the gaps.
• Multiple databases for organising separate journeys.
• Snapshot backup and restore.
• Achievements and progress sharing.
• An offline reverse geocoding database.
• No user accounts. Their site says your data is saved only on your device, and that only you can access it.
• Thirteen interface languages listed.
• Their site says Apple featured it as App of the Day in 137 countries.

On price, it is a paid app rather than a free one. The US App Store listing showed 30.00 USD when this page was written, with no in-app purchases listed, and their site mentions a 30 day money back guarantee for the Android version. Prices move and vary by country, so check their current listing before you buy.

Side by side

Only rows we could verify for both apps are included. Where a detail was not stated publicly, it is not in this table.

Pick Fog of World if

There are real reasons to buy the original, and pretending otherwise would waste your time.

• You want the same fog on a phone and a tablet. Fog of World syncs through your own cloud account. FOG has no sync of any kind, so a second device starts from scratch.
• Your old data is in KML. Fog of World imports KML as well as GPX. FOG reads GPX and Google Timeline exports, not KML.
• You want to clean up your tracks. Correcting drift and filling gaps is a stated Fog of World feature. FOG has no track editor. What you walked is what you get.
• You want separate maps for separate trips. Fog of World has multiple databases for exactly that.
• You want years of development behind the thing. It invented the category in 2012 and has been maintained ever since. That is not nothing.
• You read best in a language other than English. Their listing names thirteen.

Pick FOG if

FOG covers the same core idea, a world hidden under fog that you burn away by walking, and makes a few different calls about how it should work.

• You want to see it work before you pay. FOG is free to explore. Walk, watch the streets clear, decide later. The 5.99 USD purchase unlocks unlimited ranks, every character, and history import. One payment, no subscription, and there never will be one.
• You do not want your map anywhere but your phone. No account, no sign-up, no cloud, no analytics, no ads, no tracking. The map never leaves the device, and you can export your own data whenever you want it.
• You have years of Google Timeline sitting in an export. Feed it in and those past walks appear on the map straight away, alongside GPX files from a watch or another app.
• You want places, not just area. FOG counts 241 countries, 3,390 regions and 7,342 named places, and the only way to collect one is to physically stand in it.
• You want to know how much of your own city you have actually walked. For any city you have set foot in, FOG shows the percentage you have lit up. It is a humbling number.
• You like a ladder. Ranks climb with the area you cover: Wanderer, Scout, Pathfinder, Explorer, Voyager.

Background exploring works in both apps. FOG keeps revealing with the app closed and the screen off, on foot, on a run, or on a bike, anywhere on Earth.

Moving your history across

If you are switching, the real question is whether your old fog comes with you. FOG reads GPX files and Google Timeline exports, both part of the paid unlock, so any history you can get into one of those formats lands on the map immediately. Whether Fog of World can export your existing data as GPX is not something we can confirm from its public listing, so check their current listing or their user guide before you assume it.

If you have Google Location History switched on, the simpler route is to pull your Google Timeline export and import that instead. It does not depend on the other app at all, and it usually covers more ground than you expect.

You do not have to choose today either. FOG costs nothing to install and run, so you can walk with both for a fortnight and keep whichever map you find yourself opening. That is easier to judge from your own streets than from any comparison table, including this one.

Questions people actually ask

Start with a dark map.

FOG is free to explore. No account, no subscription, and your map never leaves your phone.

free to explore · one purchase unlocks everything · never a subscription