Groundwind Beta

Groundwind and the apps you already carry

Use it beside onX and Windy.

Most of us already have onX or iHunter for the land and Windy for the weather, and they cover the whole map. Groundwind is your active hunt partner on the spot you're hunting. It helps you make better decisions when it counts, with the wind at head height on your ground and where your scent goes on it. Here's what each app does, so you can see where it fits.

Checked 9 October 2026 against each app's own pages. Apps change every season, so if one has, tell us at hello@groundwind.app.

What each one does

Swipe the table for the other apps. Tap a name for what we checked.

What you need Groundwind onX Hunt HuntStand HuntWise iHunter Windy
The wind
Forecast wind at your spot YesHRDPS 2.5 km YesXweather, nearest station Yeshourly, 72 h Yeshourly, 15 days Yeswith signal, basic Yesa dozen models, HRDPS too
Wind at head heightbent by the hills, the trees and the lake Yes In partterrain in the forecast Not found Not found Not found Not found
Thermalsair draining at dusk, rising once the sun is on the slope Yes Not found Not found Not found Not found Not found
Scent cone Yesfollows the ground wind Not found Yesstraight downwind Yesfrom the forecast Not found Not found
The whole party's scent at once Yes Not found Not found Not found Not found Not found
Your wind checks correct it Yes Not found Not found Not found Not found Not found
The land
Who owns the land Not found YesUS, Crown land in Canada YesUS, Canada lines In partUS only YesCrown land Not found
Bush thickness and sight lines Yesfrom LiDAR In partviewshed, Elite on the web In parttree cover Not found Not found Not found
Where it works In partbuilt spot by spot YesUS and Canada YesUS, most of Canada In partUS, less in Canada YesCanada Yeseverywhere
Out there
Maps with no signal Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Not found
Wind with no signal Yessaved, or by satellite text In parton a satellite phone plan In partsaved each day Not found Not found Not found
A year free in the beta US$34.99 to 99.99 free, or US$34.99 to 99.99 free, or US$59.99 to 119.99 free, or CA$14.99 to 44.99 a province free, or US$24.99

Every app starts from a forecast.

So does Groundwind. A forecast is worked out for 10 m up over open ground, and the other apps here show it to you at a pin, from a weather model or the nearest station. Groundwind takes the 2.5 km HD forecast and solves it over the 1 m LiDAR ground and every stand of trees, down to head height, and draws your scent on that. Then your wind checks adapt it to the spot, and a puff or two in, it's the wind where you're standing. How the wind model works.

A calm dawn: the forecast, then the ground wind
Your scent goes with the ground wind

onX Hunt

onX Maps, Montana · Premium US$34.99, Elite US$99.99 a year

  • Keep it forWho owns the land across the US, Crown land and parcels in Canada, polished offline maps, and the Elite terrain tools.
  • Groundwind addsThe wind at head height on your ground, a scent cone on it, thermals, and the wind checks that correct it.
What we checked
  • onX's weather comes from Xweather. The wind on a waypoint is from the nearest weather station, and Optimal Wind colours each waypoint green, yellow or red against the winds you've said suit it. The Wind Calendar gives seven days at sunrise, midday and sunset (onX help; onX help).
  • onX says its forecasts account for elevation, slope aspect and water (onX). We found no wind drawn over the ground or under the trees, and no scent cone.
  • The weather needs a connection. On a phone plan with satellite data, T-Mobile's in the US or Rogers' in Canada, it comes in by satellite (onX).
  • In Canada the Land Data layer shows Crown land, provincial forests and parks, and private parcels where they're available, without owners' names (onX help).
  • In the Canadian App Store, Premium covers one state or Canada for CA$34.99 a year (App Store). A viewshed tool comes with Elite, on the desktop web map (onX).

HuntStand

GSM Outdoors · free, Pro US$34.99, Ultimate US$99.99 a year

  • Keep it forProperty lines in the US and most of Canada for little money, offline maps, your stands and cameras, and a free scent cone for planning the sit.
  • Groundwind addsA cone that bends with the ridge, the trees and the evening drainage, the whole party's scent at once, and your own wind checks.
What we checked
  • HuntZone is free. Tap a spot and it shows the forecast wind hour by hour, up to 72 hours ahead, with a scent cone projected downwind (App Store; HuntStand's guide). We found nothing saying the wind or the cone bends with the ground or the trees, and HuntStand doesn't name its weather model.
  • Pro adds property lines, with owners' names across the US, and boundaries and Crown land in most of Canada. A Tree Cover layer and LiDAR terrain maps came in 2025 (HuntStand help).
  • Its help pages have iPhone users tap Download Weather each day to keep the forecast for when there's no signal (HuntStand help, 2023).
  • Pro is US$34.99 a year on HuntStand's site and US$29.99 in the App Store listing (HuntStand).
  • ScoutLook, the app with the ScentCone, merged into HuntStand in 2019 and isn't sold any more (HuntStand).

HuntWise

Sportsman Tracker · free, Pro US$59.99, Elite US$119.99 a year

  • Keep it forHuntCast's hour-by-hour hunt scores, your stands ranked by the day's wind up to 15 days out, and US landowner details.
  • Groundwind addsThe wind where you'll actually sit, under the trees and in the evening drainage, a cone that follows it, and the wind with no signal.
What we checked
  • WindCast, in Pro, ranks the stands you've saved by the forecast wind, hour by hour up to 15 days out, and draws a wind cone (HuntWise; WindCast guide). HuntWise's own 2026 review lists "no micro-thermal modeling yet" (HuntWise).
  • Its guide says not to expect WindCast without a connection (WindCast guide).
  • In Canada it has no property lines, landowner details or road layers (HuntWise).
  • HuntCast scores each hour from 1 to 10 from the weather, the moon and movement history (HuntWise).

iHunter

Inside Outside Studios, Canada · free, Pro CA$14.99 a province a year, Ontario CA$44.99

  • Keep it forYour province's regulations and WMUs, and Crown and private land layers that work offline, at a price that's hard to beat.
  • Groundwind addsEverything about the wind and your scent, and a forecast that works with no bars.
What we checked
  • iHunter shows the weather and wind for a point or a waypoint, from local weather reports, while you have signal (iHunter; App Store).
  • Ontario's Pro adds 14 land layers, General Use Crown Land and private land among them (iHunter).
  • It covers BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Yukon (App Store).

Windy

Windy.com, Czech Republic · free, Premium US$24.99 (CA$34.99) a year

  • Keep it forThe big picture before you pick a day. A dozen weather models side by side, fronts, rain and radar across the region.
  • Groundwind addsThe same HD forecast brought down to head height on your ground, your scent on it, and all of it with no signal.
What we checked
  • Windy offers HRDPS, the 2.5 km forecast Groundwind starts from, beside ECMWF at 9 km, GFS at 22 km and about a dozen more. All the models are free (Windy; Windy community).
  • Its wind is 10 m up, with levels above that, on each model's own grid. It doesn't adjust for a hillside or a stand of trees, and doesn't say it does (Windy community).
  • Its Thermals layer is the rising air glider pilots fly, not the air sliding down a slope at dusk.
  • A stations layer shows weather stations, personal ones too, with how far each model's wind was off there.
  • There's no offline mode. Work on one stopped in 2024 (Windy community).
  • Premium adds hourly steps, a 15-day outlook and more updates a day (Windy).

Each puff tunes it to where you are.

Every app on this page starts from a model, Groundwind included, and none of the others takes your reading. A puff of powder is the wind where you're standing, so Groundwind is built to listen to it. Puff, tap the way it went, and the wind around you changes to match.

Forecast toward E, 13 km/h · powder toward N
One check, and the cone follows

What a check changes

  • Right where you are. The wind within a couple of hundred metres turns to what you felt, and your scent cone swings with it. It fades over the next hour or so, more slowly if you say the wind has held.
  • Across your sit. From two or more checks Groundwind works out how the air above the trees is running against the forecast, say 50° to the left at half its speed, and carries that a couple of kilometres around you for the next few hours. Each puff in a series adds to it.
  • Out to the far ridge. Treetops you see moving in the distance turn the forecast wind for kilometres around them.
  • The kind of air. Each check is a lesson for its kind of air, like cold air draining, a lake breeze or a slot in the trees. The wind uses it wherever that air turns up, for about two weeks.

Then it keeps score. The check card shows how many of your checks the forecast got, how many the map got before your checks and how many it gets now, and the hunt log keeps that tally all season. No hunting app here publishes how often its wind matches what hunters feel at the stand. Windy comes closest, with each weather station on its map showing how far each model's wind was off there.

Where they're ahead

  • Who owns the land. Groundwind has no property lines or Crown land layers. onX, HuntStand and iHunter all have them, in Canada too.
  • Everywhere at once. They cover whole states and provinces the day you install them. Groundwind goes deep on the spot you hunt instead, with a 10 × 10 km block built around the place you ask for.
  • The app stores. They're in the App Store and Google Play. Groundwind runs in your phone's browser for now, and goes on your home screen from there.
  • Years in the field. These apps have been in hunters' pockets for years. Groundwind is a beta with one season of wind checks behind it.

See it on your own ground.

Open the beta on our spots in Ontario, Québec and the Yukon, or tell us where you hunt and we'll build a 10 × 10 km block around it.

Open the beta Request your spot

Where this comes from

Each app's own pages, read on 9 October 2026. Prices are in US dollars unless marked, before tax.