PermitPulse
Boundary Waters permit alerts
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Permits for the Boundary Waters, Rocky Mountain National Park and the Great Smoky Mountains are gone within minutes of going on sale. The good news is that people cancel all the time, and those spots quietly reappear on recreation.gov. The bad news is that nobody tells you when.
That's what PermitPulse is for.
Pick the entry point or campsite you want and the dates you can go. PermitPulse checks recreation.gov every five minutes, around the clock, and the moment a permit opens up your phone buzzes.
WHAT'S COVERED
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: overnight paddle, hike and motor entry points, plus day motor.
Rocky Mountain National Park: wilderness camping permits, by camp area and group size.
Great Smoky Mountains: backcountry campsites and trail shelters.
HOW IT WORKS
Choose a park, an entry point or starting area, and the dates you can go. PermitPulse starts watching. When something opens up you get a push notification and an email listing the dates that came free, and you book it on recreation.gov yourself.
If a permit stays open, you'll get one reminder a day, so a trip you were still thinking over doesn't quietly slip past you.
A FEW OTHER THINGS
Dark mode, for the 5am checks from inside a tent.
Push and email alerts can each be turned on or off, so you can have one without the other.
For Rocky Mountain and the Smokies you can set your group size and pick specific campsites, or just watch a whole area at once.
Your first watch is free. After that watches run on tokens: buy a small bundle once and spend them when you need to. Nothing renews and there's no subscription.
PermitPulse isn't affiliated with recreation.gov, the Forest Service or the National Park Service, and it can't book anything for you. It watches so you don't have to, and tells you the moment there's something worth grabbing.
Questions, bugs, or an entry point we're missing: permitpulseapp@gmail.com
Better alerts for Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountains.
Those permits reserve a campsite for every night of your trip, so PermitPulse now only alerts when every night in your date range is open — not when a single night frees up. Availability shows how many nights are covered instead of a campsite list.
Boundary Waters alerts are unchanged.
The developer, Michael Goodwin, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- Purchases
- Contact Info
- Identifiers
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Michael Goodwin
- Size
- 25.6 MB
- Category
- Travel
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 13.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 13.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 13.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 13.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- 10 Tokens $0.99
- 20 Tokens $1.99
- 60 Tokens $4.99
- 120 Tokens $8.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 Michael Goodwin