Best GPS and Location-Based Games in 2026: 10 Games Still Worth Playing

Pokémon GO

Best for: casual players, families, Pokémon fans

Still the biggest location game. It launched in July 2016, and Scopely now runs it through its Scopely Explore studio after buying Niantic’s games in 2025. At the time of the sale, Pokémon GO had more than 20 million weekly players.

Good: easy to start, players almost everywhere, and steady events such as Community Days, raids and seasonal events. Adventure Sync counts your steps even when the app is closed.

Not so good: the catch, raid and gym loop doesn’t change much once you know it, and event tickets and raid passes add up.

Ingress

Best for: strategy players who like teamwork and territory

Ingress came first, in 2012. Two teams, the Enlightened and the Resistance, capture portals at real landmarks and link them into fields. Niantic kept Ingress when it sold its other games, and its spin-off Niantic Spatial runs it today. The app went back to the plain name “Ingress” and was still being updated in October 2026.

Good: real strategy, big coordinated events, and portals built on public art and landmarks.

Not so good: a steep learning curve and a smaller player base than at its peak.

Why some Ingress players are looking for alternatives →

Pikmin Bloom

Best for: walkers who want a gentle reason to go out

No battles and no pressure. You walk, grow Pikmin, plant flowers along your route and keep a daily journal of your walks. Scopely Explore runs it, and it passed $100 million in player spending in late 2025.

Not so good: there’s little strategy, and it can feel repetitive.

Orna

Best for: RPG fans and solo players

A full turn-based fantasy RPG that uses your real location for dungeons, monsters and towns. Northern Forge Studios has run it for eight years, and its founder says it has no stamina meters, gacha or pay-to-win walls.

Not so good: it’s mostly solo, and progress can be slow.

Monster Hunter Now

Best for: Monster Hunter fans and action players

Capcom’s monster-hunting series on a real map. Timing and weapon choice decide a fight, and a hunt takes a few minutes. Scopely Explore makes it with Capcom, and for its third anniversary the team shortened spawn cooldowns and opened Elder Dragon hunts at all hours.

Not so good: free players hit limits quickly, and the hunt-and-craft loop repeats.

Geocaching

Best for: treasure hunters, hikers and families

Geocaching started in 2000. People hide real containers and post where they are, and you go find them. Geocaching HQ counted more than 3.45 million active caches in May 2026.

Good: real things to find, often in places worth seeing, for all ages.

Not so good: many caches and features need Premium, and cache quality varies.

Which geocaching app to use →

Tripwire Recon

Best for: players who want a team capture-the-flag game

Tripwire Recon came out in March 2026. You walk to real places to capture flags for one of four New Orleans factions, such as the Vieux Carré Spectres and the Crescent City Corsairs. You can join a clan with chat and climb leaderboards, and it has an AR view and short histories of buildings you pass.

It’s new, and its player base is far smaller than the others here. Like other location games, it checks each capture against how accurate and recent your phone’s location is and how fast you’d have had to travel. That makes cheating harder, not impossible.

Disclosure: Tripwire Recon is made by Edge Orbital, the company behind Krewe of Play. That’s why it’s last and has no verdict from us.

Tripwire Recon on the App Store →