>>2273411I'm not paid. I've used paper maps and a Garmin eTrex before. Alltrails is just much less of a hassle. Less time worrying about where to go - more time actually getting to enjoy my trail.
And yes, it does work in backcountry. As long as you have the downloaded offline map - preferentially with a .gpx file added to it to mark a course/trail (which alltrails depicts as a red line)- you are golden. Even if the trail is completely gone or in poor condition you can still tell roughly which direction you are supposed to head just by aiming the arrow attached to the blue dot (representing your position) along the red line.
I've gotten "lost" in all sorts of places but at least with Alltrails I know where the car is and where the view or waterfall or trail is supposed to be.
Honestly I think many people on /out/ are genx/boomer and setting their phone to airplane mode on a trail is too confusing for them.
