CoHunt vs BaseMap

If you're an Android hunter looking at BaseMap, here's what you need to know up front. BaseMap charges Android users the same $39.99 (Pro), $69.99 (Pro Advantage) or $99.99 (Pro Ultimate) as iOS users - for a measurably degraded version of the product. The flagship 3D Earth view is iOS-only. That isn't a third-party critique. It's BaseMap's own App Store language: "3D Earth view (iOS)", written into the in-app purchase description by BaseMap themselves.

BaseMap's stated reason for the gap, repeated across hunting forums and support replies for years, was that "Google doesn't license their 3D maps for mobile apps such as ours." That excuse stopped being true on May 22, 2025, when Google launched the Maps 3D SDK for Android at Google I/O 2025 - free during the experimental phase, available to any Android app that wants to ship full 3D mapping. BaseMap has had nearly a year to integrate Google's free infrastructure and ship feature parity. They have not. The most recently shipped BaseMap feature in 2026 is a "GearDrop" mini-game with hint videos (version 6.3.0). They shipped a scavenger hunt instead of fixing Android 3D.

CoHunt is the opposite. $24.99 a year, flat. Full 3D maps on iOS and Android, identical on every device. Plus encrypted messaging, Bluetooth mesh and Meshtastic LoRa for off-grid coordination, a built-in ballistics calculator, Tractive GPS dog tracking, Spypoint trail-camera AI, and Nordic property boundaries (Sweden, Norway, Finland) on top of full US and New Zealand coverage. No platform tax. No mini-game. Built in Idaho and Norway by hunters who actually use Android phones in the field.

The Android Tax

BaseMap's pricing is the same regardless of which phone you carry:

• BaseMap Pro - $39.99/year
• BaseMap Pro Advantage - $69.99/year (adds Global Rescue field-advisory subscription)
• BaseMap Pro Ultimate - $99.99/year (adds Global Rescue + the Mobile HuntPlanner with draw odds, harvest data and season dates)

What you actually get is not the same. Here's what BaseMap's own App Store in-app purchase description says about the Pro tier benefits:

That parenthetical "(iOS)" is the entire wedge. BaseMap themselves marked one of their headline Pro-tier features as iOS-only. An Android hunter pays $39.99 (or $69.99, or $99.99) and gets a hi-res aerial tilt instead of the full Apple Maps 3D Earth view - for the exact same price.

The excuse used to be Google's fault. Then it wasn't.

Until 2025, BaseMap's response on Rokslide and in support tickets was consistent: "Currently Google doesn't license their 3D maps for mobile apps such as ours. We do have 3D on iOS devices because we are using Apple Maps for that service. 3D on Android is something that we are currently working towards."

It was a defensible excuse. Google really hadn't shipped a public 3D Maps SDK for Android. Other Android hunting apps used third-party 3D engines or skipped 3D altogether.

Then on May 22, 2025, at Google I/O 2025, Google announced the Maps 3D SDK for Android. From the Google Maps Platform announcement: a fully-featured 3D mapping API for Android apps, free during the experimental phase, with the same photorealistic 3D tile data that powers Google Earth on the web. The exact thing BaseMap had been saying was unavailable. Available. For free.

That was almost a year ago.

What BaseMap shipped in the eleven months since

The most recent BaseMap update, version 6.3.0 (released April 2026), introduces a feature called "GearDrop" - a gamified mini-game with hint videos. It is, by BaseMap's own release notes, a scavenger-hunt-style engagement mechanic. It is not a mapping feature. It is not Android 3D. It is a game inside a hunting app.

This is not a slip in priorities. It's a statement of priorities. The eleven months between Google's free Android 3D SDK launch and the GearDrop release were the window in which BaseMap could have closed the platform parity gap. They chose not to. The excuse expired and they kept the tax.

Why this happened - the corporate context

BaseMap is independently owned (no PE, no conglomerate parent) but the corporate context tells a story:

• $2 million in funding, raised in September 2018 from Imagen Capital Partners. No follow-on round in over six years.
• Roughly 11–12 employees. Smallest engineering footprint of the four major US hunting apps.
• January 24, 2024: BaseMap acquired HuntScore, the draw-odds and harvest-analytics startup, for the Mobile HuntPlanner product.
• March 18, 2025: BaseMap promoted Matthew Habiger to CEO. Habiger had been the CEO of HuntScore before BaseMap acquired it. Within roughly fourteen months of being acquired, the acquired company's CEO was running the entire combined business.
• 2026: ships a mini-game.

None of those facts is damning on its own. Together, they describe a small team with limited engineering capacity that has been routing what bandwidth it has into HuntPlanner integration and engagement gimmicks rather than into closing the iOS/Android parity gap that BaseMap's own marketing copy admits exists.

That's not a story about whether BaseMap is a good or bad company. It's a story about whether you, the Android hunter paying $99.99 a year, are likely to see Android 3D parity any time soon. You aren't.

Quick Comparison Overview

Why Hunters Switch to CoHunt

Same price, same app, on every device

$24.99/year on iOS. $24.99/year on Android. Identical 3D terrain visualization on both. There is no platform tier and no degraded experience for Android users. Built with Mapbox, the 3D maps render the same on every device - and the rest of the feature set (offline maps, encrypted messaging, ballistics, dog tracking) is identical too. Whatever phone you hunt with is fine.

Real off-grid coordination

BaseMap's group features are real-time location sharing only - and that requires a cellular connection. There is no in-app messaging, no group chat, no off-grid mesh. CoHunt is built off-grid first:

• Offline maps download fully and run with no signal
• End-to-end encrypted chat, peer-to-peer, never stored on a server
• Bluetooth mesh messaging via BLE - chat and positions hop hunter-to-hunter with no cell, no WiFi, no internet
• Meshtastic LoRa radio integration - small, cheap LoRa nodes mesh together over kilometres of forest. No other hunting app integrates with Meshtastic.

A built-in ballistics calculator

BaseMap has no ballistics calculator at any tier. CoHunt includes a full one - any caliber, automatic correction for wind, temperature, humidity, altitude and atmospheric pressure, with DOPE card PDF export. Replaces a separate paid ballistics app.

GPS dog tracking

BaseMap doesn't integrate with any GPS dog collar system. CoHunt supports Tractive GPS dog tracking in real time, shared with the entire hunting group. Essential for bird hunters, hound hunters and houndsmen.

Spypoint trail cameras with AI species detection

BaseMap's trail camera integration is basic. CoHunt includes deep Spypoint integration with AI-powered species filters, a real camera dashboard (battery, signal, temperature), photo and video gallery, time-of-day filtering and automatic camera placement on your map.

75% lower cost

$24.99/year vs $99.99/year for BaseMap Pro Ultimate is a $75/year saving per hunter. Even compared to BaseMap Pro at $39.99, CoHunt is roughly 38% cheaper - and includes all the modern features (encrypted messaging, off-grid mesh, ballistics, dog tracking) that BaseMap doesn't offer at any tier.

Privacy by default

BaseMap's published privacy policy explicitly enables targeted advertising via network advertisers, states that BaseMap does not honor browser Do Not Track signals ("Our systems do not currently recognize browser 'do-not-track' requests"), and requests Facebook-account information that includes data the user has chosen to keep non-public. CoHunt requires no account, collects zero personal data, runs no targeted advertising, and has published a transparency report stating it has never received a government data request.

International coverage in one plan

BaseMap covers all 50 US states with private parcel data and government lands. CoHunt covers the United States, Sweden, Norway, Finland and New Zealand in a single $24.99 plan. If you ever hunt outside the US, BaseMap stops at the border.

What BaseMap Still Has

Being straight about what BaseMap offers that CoHunt doesn't:

• Laser rangefinder (LRF) Bluetooth integration. BaseMap pairs with compatible Bluetooth rangefinders so you can drop a marker at the ranged distance. CoHunt does not currently support Bluetooth rangefinder pairing. If you've built your hunt workflow around a Bluetooth LRF, BaseMap has the integration today.
• HuntPlanner draw odds and harvest analytics. The Pro Ultimate tier includes BaseMap's HuntScore-powered draw odds, harvest data and season dates. Useful for Western tag hunters working draw strategies across multiple states.
• Global Rescue field-advisory bundle. Pro Advantage and Pro Ultimate bundle a Global Rescue subscription for emergency field advisory and evacuation services. If you're already paying Global Rescue separately, the bundle has real value.

If you're a draw-odds power user, an LRF user, or a Global Rescue subscriber, BaseMap may genuinely fit. For most hunters, none of those are worth the iOS-only 3D, the targeted advertising, the lack of off-grid messaging, or the $75/year cost difference.

Common Questions

Is CoHunt's Android 3D actually as good as iOS?

Yes. CoHunt uses Mapbox 3D terrain on both platforms - the same SDK, the same rendering, the same data. There is no degraded Android experience and no "tilt instead of full 3D" workaround. iOS and Android hunters see identical maps.

Can I import my existing BaseMap waypoints?

Yes. CoHunt supports standard GPX import and export. Waypoints, tracks and hunt areas can be transferred between apps. The two apps speak the same coordinate format.

Does CoHunt integrate with Bluetooth laser rangefinders?

Not today. BaseMap does - that's a real BaseMap-only feature. CoHunt's range workflow is the built-in ballistics calculator with manual range entry, wind, temperature and altitude correction, and DOPE PDF export. For most hunters that's a more useful set of tools than the LRF marker drop. For LRF power users, BaseMap is still the choice.

What about BaseMap's HuntPlanner draw odds?

HuntPlanner is genuinely BaseMap's strongest feature in 2026 - they bought HuntScore in January 2024 specifically to acquire that capability. CoHunt does not currently include draw-odds analytics. If your hunting season revolves around Western draw applications, BaseMap Pro Ultimate at $99.99 may still earn its place. For most hunters who don't apply to multiple draws every year, the $75/year saving on CoHunt is the better trade.

Does CoHunt have web or desktop access?

Not today. Both BaseMap and onX have desktop browser apps; CoHunt is mobile-first (iOS and Android). If desktop hunt planning is critical to how you scout, BaseMap still has that surface.

Why should I care about platform parity?

Because hunting parties don't all use the same phone. If your team is mixed iOS and Android - and most teams are - BaseMap creates an asymmetric experience where some hunters get full 3D and others don't, even though everyone is paying the same price. CoHunt's identical-on-every-device approach means the hunter on a Pixel sees exactly what the hunter on an iPhone sees. Group coordination is easier when everyone is looking at the same map.

How to Switch

1. Export your BaseMap data as GPX - waypoints, tracks, hunt areas. Keep a local copy.
2. Install CoHunt from the App Store or Google Play. No account required.
3. Import your GPX files. Property boundaries appear automatically across the US (and the four other countries CoHunt covers).
4. Pre-download offline maps for your hunting grounds - and notice that the 3D terrain looks identical whether you're on iOS or Android.
5. Pair your hunting party via QR contact share. Real-time tracking, encrypted chat and waypoint sharing come on automatically.
6. If you run Meshtastic LoRa nodes, pair them via Bluetooth for off-grid messaging across kilometres of terrain.
7. Cancel BaseMap at the end of your billing period - and keep $75/year per hunter in your own pocket.

The Bottom Line

BaseMap's iOS-only 3D was forgivable in 2018. It was defensible in 2024. It is indefensible in 2026 - eleven months after Google made the fix free. The fact that BaseMap shipped a mini-game in version 6.3.0 instead of closing the platform parity gap tells you everything you need to know about where Android hunters sit on the priority list. They sit on the bill, not the roadmap.

CoHunt is $24.99/year, with full 3D on every device, encrypted off-grid messaging that BaseMap doesn't have at any tier, a built-in ballistics calculator, GPS dog tracking, and property data for five countries. It costs 75% less than BaseMap Pro Ultimate and works the same on the cheapest Android in your hunting party as on the latest iPhone.

If you carry an Android phone into the woods, the choice is straightforward.