Sēkr Has Shut Down. What Now?
Sēkr (often typed “Sekr”), the vanlife app, has shut down. It’s no longer in the App Store, and sekr.com now shows a closure notice.
This post covers what Sēkr did, which apps cover each of those jobs now, and how to move your spots over.
What Happened to Sēkr
Sēkr started as The Van Life App and grew into a map of user-submitted campsites and waypoints, with community features built around it. It had close to 100,000 lifetime downloads and a database of nearly 100,000 campsites and waypoints.
Peace Vans took over the app at the end of 2023, rebuilt it in 2024 and added an AI road trip planner. Owner Harley Sitner wrote about that period and the search for a new team to run it. Sēkr has since closed.
What Sēkr Users Relied On
Most Sēkr users leaned on some mix of four things:
- The campsite and waypoint map: campsites and other waypoints that van lifers had found and shared
- Community hubs: chat and connection with other people on the road
- Events: meetups and gatherings
- The trip planner: the AI road trip planning tool added in the 2024 rebuild
No single app replaces all four. Here’s what to use for each.
The Best Sēkr Alternatives, by Job
For finding free campsites in the US and Canada: Dispersed (Our Pick)
Price: Free. Premium is $29.99/year.
Best for: Van lifers who camp on public land in the US and Canada and want to know the spot is actually on public land before they drive out to it.
Dispersed is built for free camping on public land in the US and Canada. In the US it has 48,800+ campsites from USFS, BLM and NPS data. 33,900+ of them are free to camp at, and 19,800+ are dispersed sites. In Canada it has 8,000+ sites from federal, provincial and territorial land data. Every site is checked against public land boundaries, so you don’t end up with pins in parking lots or on private ranches.
Free, with no subscription:
- The full map of campsites on public land in the US and Canada
- Hidden Gems: dispersed spots found and shared by other campers
- Check-ins with ratings, photos and trail reports from people who were just there
- Federal land boundary overlays
- A saved-spots list
- Adding your own Hidden Gems, check-ins and photos
Premium ($29.99/year), for going further off-grid:
- Camping roads: the forest service roads where dispersed camping is allowed along the road, digitized from 503 ranger district Motor Vehicle Use Maps. No other app has this data.
- Offline map downloads for places with no signal
- Trip planner
- Unlimited saved lists
Trade-off: Dispersed covers the US and Canada. If you’re crossing into Mexico or Central America, or you need an overnight spot in the middle of a city, use iOverlander (below) as well.
For Mexico, Latin America and urban overnights: iOverlander
Best for: Overlanders heading south of the border, and anyone who needs a place to park for the night in town.
iOverlander has more than a decade of user submissions from around the world, including wild camping, established campgrounds, water, fuel and mechanics. For a Pan-American trip it’s the obvious choice. Inside the US its pins aren’t checked against public land boundaries, and its paid tier costs $59.99–$99.99/year.
For Sēkr’s social side: Nomad Table, Reddit and local groups
Best for: Meeting other people on the road.
Dispersed doesn’t have hubs or events. For that side of van life:
- Nomad Table is an app for finding and meeting other nomads nearby.
- r/vandwellers and r/VanLife are active, helpful and open to questions from beginners.
- Regional vanlife Facebook groups and in-person gatherings are still where most meetups get organized.
Where Dispersed Doesn’t Replace Sēkr
To be clear about what Dispersed doesn’t have:
- No chat hubs or messaging between users
- No events or meetups
- No coverage outside the US and Canada
Dispersed does have community profiles, and it credits the people who add Hidden Gems and check-ins. The community side is about sharing campsites. If Sēkr was mostly a social app for you, the options above are a better fit for that part.
Moving Over from Sēkr
Sēkr has closed, so saved spots can’t be exported. The fastest way to get them back is your camera roll. If your phone saved locations with your photos, every campsite picture you took is a record of exactly where you camped.
- Find your campsite photos. Your photo app’s map view shows where each one was taken, which makes the spots you camped at easy to pick out.
- Check whether the spot is already in Dispersed. Most dispersed spots on public land in the US and Canada are already on the map. If it’s there, save it to your list.
- If it’s missing, add it from the photo. Open the Submit tab and add the photo first. Dispersed reads the GPS coordinates from the photo and drops the pin where you took it, so you don’t have to find the spot on a map. Adjust the pin if you need to, add a few details, and submit it as a Hidden Gem. Other campers will be able to find it, and you get credit for adding it. It’s free.
- Check in when you go back. A check-in with a photo and a short note on road conditions helps the next person who drives out there.
Sēkr’s database was built by its users. Dispersed works the same way. The official data gives everyone a starting point, and the most useful details come from people who’ve camped there.
Our Recommendation
If you used Sēkr to find places to sleep in the US or Canada, Dispersed is the closest replacement, and the core app is free. Add iOverlander for trips south of the border, and a community app or group for the social side.