Yellowstone National Park has updated its app to help you explore the park.

The interpretive wizards at Yellowstone National Park have released a new and improved app to make your visit to the park more efficient than ever before. The Yellowstone app not only helps you explore Yellowstone, but lets you log your memories within the app.

This free app digitally guides you through the world’s first national park based on an interactive  map or by topic. That approach allows you to explore the natural or cultural stories that align with their location. In addition, you can find information regarding events, lodging, eateries, shopping areas, and services throughout the park.

A recent addition to the app are self-guided tours, which include audio stories that let you explore the park at your own pace. This feature is a work in progress, as the National Park Service continues to develop audio tours for portions of the park.

You’ll also find slide stories that provide information on bears and staying safe if you encounter some, bison, elk, the “plumbing” of Old Faithful Geyser, the unique “thermophiles” that reside in thermal areas of the park, and even a primer on the “Supervolcano” that created Yellowstone. Some contain audio, so you can listen to bison grunting, hissing fumaroles, and gurgling mudpots.

One area of the app lets you check real-time eruption predictions for six of Yellowstone’s geysers: Daisy, Riverside, Old Faithful, Grand, Castle, and Great Fountain. You also can monitor campground availability and closures, and even lodging availability. While real-time updates require an internet connection, users can download offline content by following these steps:

1.     Download the App.

2.     In the app, select the “Settings” option.

3.     Tap the choice “Download offline content”.

This will allow for the majority of the app to work without the need for an internet connection. 

Also offered online are features such as the option to save your favorite locations in advance and be notified when you get near the area, photo collages you can create to capture memories, and accessibility tools/information.

As the NPS Yellowstone app continues to grow, some of the features to be added include:

●      Trailheads: Details on more than 100 trailheads. The interactive maps allow you to see the trails that already have been added and get details on the trails that depart from each trailhead.

●      Audio tours: Interpretive audio tours covering locations throughout the park.

●      Hydrothermal feature information: The park’s geology team has been cataloging features that will be added into the app.

●      Interpretive stories: More interpretive content can be explored from the home screen and sites; this is a new feature added to select parts of the park.

These new experience-enhancing features are entering the platform continuously and can be found on the homepage of the app and downloaded as offline content.

Recent updates include:

• Hydrothermal feature information around the Upper Geyser Basin, Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin, Fountain Paint Pot, and Artists' Paintpots.
• Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin audio tour: Explore this wondrous geyser basin via more than 25 stops with the help of this audio tour.
• Fountain Paint Pot audio tour: Explore all the hydrothermal features found in Yellowstone during this 8-stop self-guided tour.
• Most trailheads around the park (Search the app for "trails.")

The app is available for free download on the App Store and on Google Play.