Free Survival Apps

A key tool for survival is your Smart Phone.

It's often the thing we love to avoid the most when venturing into the wild, as we seem to be stuck to them, or interrupted by them, for much of every day. So it's usually one of the biggest distractions we want to get away from when we go outdoors.

We'd definitely advise you to keep your phone off for as long as possible when WildCamping, but there's a few reasons why we think a Smart Phone is one of the best tools at your disposal:

• It can be used to contact help in an emergency (the obvious one).

• You can use it to research survival techniques and tools (knowledge is the greatest survival tool at your disposal, as it's limitless and weighs nothing).

• You can use it as a flashlight (handy if you don't have a flashlight or batteries to hand).

• You can use it to navigate, either through maps (try to download them for places you're going to, so they're available offline) and a smart compass.

• To make digital and contactless payments (useful if you're stuck somewhere and need to pay for supplies or services without cash).

• You can download endless apps to use and practice in the wild.

For the last point, we want to share some of our favorite free survival apps with you and would welcome your comments on any more that you love and trust the most, which we should consider adding to our list.

BackCountry Navigator XE (£0.00 FREE)

We love Google Maps for the car and while there are some great paid apps, including a version of BackCountry for £14.99, this app offers more than most we've tried and it's features and reliability are second to none for a free app.

Whether you prefer your maps displayed in traditional styles, topography, thunder forest, satellite or overlay vectors, where you can see multiple at the same time, it has a style to suit all terrains. What we love about it most is the ability to quickly spot sources of water, overlay a compass, save trips, add waypoints, record tracks, draw directly on the map and download them.

Useful Paracord Knots (£0.00 FREE)

At Disce Pati we love paracord (especially our own) and this app gives a huge amount of useful survival knot tying techniques, with an easy menu display to choose the right one and step by step photos and descriptions on what to do and when to use them.

Whether your looking to tie loops, lashings, hitches, friction hitches, bindings or bends then this app has a catalogue of the best ones to try out until you find your favorites. What we love about it most is that, in addition to these, you also get a list of paracord bracelets and key fobs to tie, which in a few simple steps makes you the MacGyver of the campsite or a hero to your children. Our favorite is the Mad Max paracord bracelet.

Offline Survival Manual (£0.00 FREE)

Off-grid we'd always recommend John 'Lofty' Wiseman's SAS Survival Guide (it's tiny, fits in your pocket and packs a punch of insight on to go for just over a fiver). For a just as comprehensive guide we'd recommend the Survival Manual app.

Whether it's basic medicine, shelter, water, fire, food or plants you're looking to understand, whether your trapped in the desert, sea, tropical rainforest or cold and icy conditions, or if you're needing to understand more about self defense, signaling or camouflage, then this is a great quick reference for all of your basics.

Master Survival Skills (£0.00 FREE)

Navigation techniques, camp crafting, finding water and food and extreme survival advice are just a few of the survival skills on offer here and rather than your usual text packed guides, these limit the advice to a few short steps and display some great images, to help you visualise what to do. Head to their camp crafting section and try out their range of camp shelters!

St John Ambulance First Aid (£0.00 FREE)

For most minor or major injuries the St. John Ambulance App provides you with simple emergency advice on how to treat yourself, or another casualty. Simple steps and spoken instructions, help you manage the situation and keep both hands free.

Download this app and always, always take a first aid kit with you wherever you can. It could save your life or somebody else's.

We hope you like our list and find use from the apps. If you have a few more of your own personal avorites, or have found some better ones, then please post in the comments and we'll review; who knows we may even add to our list and credit you as the source!