How to Open a GPX File on Android

Android will open a .gpx with any app that says it can read one — the trouble is that the app sending you the file often doesn't say what it is, so nothing shows up. This guide is the working sequence per source (browser, chat, email, cloud), the fix when the file lands typeless, and what following the Track looks like afterwards.

The short answer

A GPX is a text file describing a path. Android has no built-in viewer for it, so you need a navigation app installed first; then you open the file with that app. Nothing on the phone converts it for you, and nothing needs a subscription to read it.

Step 1 — Find the file after it downloads

Chrome or another browser: tap the download notification, or open Files / My Files → Downloads.
Gmail or another mail app: tap the download arrow on the attachment first — previewing it is not the same as saving it.
WhatsApp / Telegram: download the document inside the chat; it goes to the app's own Documents folder, reachable from the file manager.
Google Drive / Dropbox: use Download, not Open — the offline copy is what you want.

Step 2 — Open it with the navigation app

Tap the .gpx in the file manager and choose the app, or use Share → the app. In OffTrail the Track is imported immediately and drawn on the map in its own colour; up to five Tracks stay loaded at once, each in its own slot.

If OffTrail isn't offered

Android decides which apps to offer from the file's declared type, and plenty of apps declare nothing useful. In order of how often it is the actual cause:

The file was shared, not saved. Shared straight out of a chat or a browser, the file often arrives with a generic type and no name. Save it to Downloads first and open it from the file manager — that usually gives Android the type it needs. Whether it works depends on the file manager: some hand over the file's real name and type, others pass an anonymous reference that no app can recognise as a GPX.
When nothing in the share sheet works, import from inside the app. Open OffTrail, go to Files and tap Import GPX. The picker accepts any file regardless of what type the sender declared, so this is the route that always works — reach for it instead of fighting the share sheet.
Another app grabbed the default. Long-press the file → Open with and pick OffTrail explicitly.
It isn't a GPX. A .kml, .tcx or a zipped download will not import. Unzip it, or download the GPX version.
The file is huge. Very large Tracks are rejected rather than silently truncated; split the route or export it without every trackpoint.

Following it, offline

Riding an imported Track is the normal flow: course-up map, your position on the line, an Off Track warning with the distance back and a dashed connector when you drift, a Wrong way warning if you are going up it backwards, and automatic recording.

It also calls the next bend — which way, how sharp, and how far — on screen and out loud, on a Track you imported as much as on a route it generated. What it doesn't say is street names: the turns come from the shape of the line, not from a road database.

Before heading somewhere without coverage, download the country's offline map: map, Track, position, alerts and recording all keep working in airplane mode. The full list is on offline GPX navigation, and the preparation checklist is in navigating without internet. In the car, the same Track appears on Android Auto. Tracks from Wikiloc have their own guide, and the iPhone version of this page is here.

OffTrail is free on Google Play. No account.

Frequently asked questions