How to open a GPX file on iPhone, Android and computer

A GPX file is a plain text file in XML format. Any text editor can show it, and that is the quickest way to know what to expect before you open it in an app. It can hold three kinds of content, and they change what appears on screen:

• A track (trk tag): the list of points someone actually walked through. It draws the continuous line of the trail.
• A route (rte tag): a series of waypoints worked out by software. The line is rougher and there are no timestamps.
• Waypoints (wpt tag): isolated pins, such as a summit or a parking lot. With no track, nothing joins them.

<gpx version="1.1" creator="My app">
  <wpt lat="45.0010" lon="6.5020">      <!-- a waypoint -->
    <name>Parking</name>
  </wpt>
  <trk>
    <name>Lake loop</name>               <!-- a track -->
    <trkseg>
      <trkpt lat="45.0010" lon="6.5020"><ele>1975</ele></trkpt>
      <trkpt lat="45.0016" lon="6.5031"><ele>1982</ele></trkpt>
      <trkpt lat="45.0024" lon="6.5047"><ele>1991</ele></trkpt>
    </trkseg>
  </trk>
</gpx>

How to check what is inside your file

On a computer, open it with TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows) and look for trkpt, one per point of the track, or rtept for a route. On iPhone, the route view in Hikez tells you in seconds: if the map shows a line, you have a track.

1. 1

   Open the Routes tab and tap +

   In Hikez, open the Routes tab: it is your library. Tap the + at the top right. When the library is empty, the Import a GPX track button does the same thing. Your GPX file is already on your iPhone, downloaded from a trail site or received by email: there is nothing else to prepare.

   

2. 2

   Pick your file in Files

   Hikez opens the iPhone Files picker. Go to wherever your GPX is stored: Recents, Downloads, iCloud Drive or another app’s folder. Tap the file to select it. You can select several, and they import together.

   

   

3. 3

   Tap Open: the route lands in your library

   Tap Open at the top right. Hikez reads the file, then the route appears in your library with its map, distance, elevation gain and maximum altitude. If the file is empty or unreadable, Hikez tells you. If the route is already in the library, it tells you that too.

   

4. 4

   Tap the route, then start navigation

   Tap the route to open it on the satellite view, with distance, elevation gain, maximum altitude and an estimated time. Tap Start navigation: you see the route name and its elevation profile, then you set off. Hikez warns you if you leave the trail.

   

   

5. 5

   Find it again any time

   The route stays in your library, so you never import the file twice. Find it in the Routes tab, or in the Start tab under Hike a saved route, which keeps your latest routes one tap away.

   

Two other entry points in the app

The Start tab offers two more ways to use a GPX file:

• Start tab, Follow a route: you pick a GPX, the app guides you and warns you if you leave the trail.
• Start tab, Import a hike: for a hike you have already done, from a GPX file, with your photos, notes and weather. It goes into your journal.

• The map without a signal. Download the offline maps for your area before you leave. In Hikez they are free: IGN in France, OpenStreetMap elsewhere.
• Tracking with the screen off. Hikez follows your position even when the screen is off, to save battery.
• The off-trail alert. If you stray from the trail, Hikez warns you.

On Android

Hikez doesn’t exist on Android, so here is what other apps’ help pages say. The principle is the same as on iPhone: install an app that reads GPX files first, then open the file from your Downloads folder or your file manager. If a compatible app is installed, Android offers it. If not, the browser shows plain text, or nothing happens.

On a computer

No software is required: an online viewer shows the track on a map. A computer is also the place to spot a file’s flaws before you leave, on a big screen: a straight line several miles long in the middle of the track means the receiver lost its signal while recording.

With Google Maps: the catch

The Google Maps app doesn’t load GPX files. Google My Maps accepts them: on a computer you create a map, click Add layer, then Import. Google’s help sets limits: 5 MB for unzipped KML and KMZ files, 40 MB for other files, and no more than 2,000 rows. My Maps shows the trail, but it doesn’t guide you and doesn’t warn you when you leave it.

With Apple Maps

As far as we can tell (October 2026), Apple Maps has no GPX import: Apple Support Community answers and user threads say the same. To see and follow a GPX file on an iPhone, use an app that reads them, such as Hikez.

On a watch or a GPS

A watch doesn’t download the file itself: it receives a course synced from the maker’s app. Import the GPX into that app, let the watch sync next to your phone, then check that the course name shows up on the watch. Do it the night before, not in the parking lot.

• Trail and route sites: a trail’s page often has a button to download the GPX.
• Tourist offices, parks and land managers: they publish the tracks of their marked trails.
• The Hikez community: hikes shared by the people you follow, with their track to grab as a GPX in one tap.
• Your own hikes: with Hikez Pro, you export your hikes as GPX to share them or open them elsewhere.