How to import a GPX file into OsmAnd
OsmAnd reads a GPX file the same way most mapping apps do — a track goes in, a line comes out on the map. What sets it apart is not the import step, it is what sits underneath the line once it is there: OsmAnd is built around maps downloaded to the phone in advance, region by region, so the track and the ground it crosses can both be looked at with no connection at all.
The short answer
On an iPhone, the direct route is the share sheet: open the .gpx file in Files, in an email, or straight from the export action of whatever app recorded the hike, tap share, and pick OsmAnd from the row of apps offered. OsmAnd reads the points and adds the track to its map.
The same file can also be brought in from inside OsmAnd itself, through its own track-import option, which is the better path when the file is sitting in a folder rather than arriving as a share.
Where the GPX file comes from in the first place
OsmAnd only has a track once some other app hands it one as a file — it is not the thing that recorded your hike unless you used it to record in the first place. Most recording apps write the points they logged, coordinates, elevation and usually a timestamp per point, into a single .gpx file through an export or share action. TrailCam can export a single route or a whole history this way, in GPX 1.1, the version OsmAnd and the rest of the mapping world expect.
Getting it into OsmAnd
From an iPhone, through the share sheet
Find the .gpx file wherever it landed, tap the share icon, and look for OsmAnd among the apps offered. Tapping it hands the file straight across, and the track appears on the map without a separate upload step.
From inside the app
OsmAnd keeps imported and recorded tracks together in one place, with its own option to bring a file in from storage. This is the more comfortable route when there is a folder of GPX files to work through rather than a single one arriving by email.
Why people reach for OsmAnd specifically
Most mapping apps stream map tiles as you scroll, which means the base map is only there if there is a connection to fetch it with. OsmAnd's whole approach runs the other way: download the map for a region while you still have Wi-Fi, and it stays on the phone afterwards, track or no track, connection or no connection. Bringing a recorded route in ahead of a trip, over a map already downloaded, is the specific pairing OsmAnd is built for.
What actually lands in OsmAnd
A GPX file can hold a track, a route or bare waypoints, and only a track — an ordered, timestamped list of points — carries what OsmAnd needs to show a distance and an elevation profile alongside the line. A route with no timestamps still imports as a line on the map, just without those figures attached.
Anything the format has no field for stays behind. Photos, video clips and voice notes captured along the original walk are separate files with no place inside a GPX; importing brings the shape of the route across, not the moments recorded on it. Keep the original recording as the master copy if those matter to you.
Things that trip people up
- The track appears but the map around it is blank — that region has not been downloaded yet. The track itself imported fine; the base map is a separate download OsmAnd is built to let you fetch in advance.
- Elevation looks different from the app that recorded it — OsmAnd can draw its own elevation profile from terrain data rather than the raw values in the file, so a changed number reflects a different source, not a mistake in either tool.
- Nothing happens when the file is tapped on iPhone — check the extension is still .gpx. Some email clients rewrite attachments as .txt, which stops iOS from offering apps that handle the format in the share sheet.
- A long walk imports as several separate lines rather than one — this usually means the original file had multiple track segments, often from the recording being paused and resumed, and each segment can come in as its own object.
Why bother moving it at all
A route already walked is a useful thing to have sitting on a map you can trust to still be there without a signal — checking where a trail actually went last time, on a map downloaded before you lost coverage, rather than trying to remember it. Carrying the GPX file across is what makes that possible; a screenshot of a line is not something OsmAnd, or anything else, can build on.
TrailCam records the route on an iPhone in the background, with or without a connection, and exports it afterwards as GPX 1.1 or CSV, either for a single walk or the whole history at once — the file this entire process starts from. Export is part of the optional TrailCam Pro upgrade; the app itself is free to download.
Questions
- Does OsmAnd need an internet connection to show an imported GPX track?
- No, provided the map for that area was downloaded beforehand. The track itself imports as a file either way; it is the map underneath it that needs a prior download to be visible offline.
- Does importing a GPX file into OsmAnd bring my photos and videos with it?
- No. GPX is a coordinate format with no field for embedded media. Photos, video clips and voice notes stay outside the file; only the route geometry comes across on import.
- Why does the elevation on my track look different once it is in OsmAnd?
- OsmAnd can substitute its own terrain-model elevation for the values stored in the file, so a different total reflects a different data source, not an error in either app.
Recording your own routes
TrailCam is an iPhone app that records your route with GPS, keeps video clips, photos and voice notes pinned to the spot where you took them, and exports the result as GPX 1.1 or CSV. It is free to download.