Backpacking gear closet and pack weight
Know every carried gram.
Skinweight is a gear closet and pack list builder for backpackers who count every gram. Enter your gear once, build packs from it, and see exactly where the weight comes from.
Get Skinweight
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.
Base weight, done properly
Four buckets, never mixed up.
Every pack line says what happens to the item: in the pack, worn, in your hand, or carried by a partner. The same rain jacket can be one worn and one packed on the same trip, and Skinweight can say so.
Base weight, worn weight and consumables stay apart, and total pack weight and skin-out weight fall out of the same numbers. Show any of it in grams, ounces or pounds.
| Base weightEverything carried, minus the consumables | 4349 g |
|---|---|
| Worn and carriedShoes, poles, what is on your body | 1048 g |
| ConsumablesFood, water and fuel at the trailhead | 3450 g |
| Total pack weightBase plus consumables | 7799 g |
| Skin-out weightEverything, on you and in the pack | 8847 g |
| Big ThreePack, shelter and sleep, 72% of base | 3112 g |
Containers and contents
A half-used canister still weighs right.
An empty fuel canister, water bottle or sunscreen tube is base weight. What is inside it is a consumable. Most gear lists make you pick one or the other and then quietly get the trip wrong on day three.
Skinweight records the empty weight and the contents as separate numbers on the same line, with the capacity it holds, so the figures stay true from the trailhead to the last night.
Fuel canister
One line, two kinds of weight
What it does
Your gear, entered once, used everywhere.
A gear item is owned once and referenced by many packs. A pack keeps its own copy of what it took, so editing the closet never rewrites a trip you already walked.
Your scale wins
Keep your own measured weight beside the maker's claimed weight and choose which one counts. Brand, model, size, price, category, storage spot, tags, notes and a photo on every item, with search and filters across the lot.
Breakdown and Big Three
Category breakdown charts, the heaviest items ranked, and a Big Three or Big Four readout you set per item rather than guessing it from a category name. Stats show how much of your closet you have actually weighed.
Food, water and fuel
Food by days and grams per day with per-day overrides. Water by carry, with dry stretches shown as your heaviest carry. Fuel against a canister with its own empty weight. Every figure is a starting estimate you can adjust.
A checklist with no verdict
Check items off as you load the pack, and mark gear as carried by a partner or left out on purpose. Suggestions follow rules you can read and edit. There is no score and no green tick: you decide when the pack is ready.
Bring the list you already have
Import a CSV from a spreadsheet or a gear-list website. Columns are matched by header name, not by position, you preview everything before it is saved, and duplicates are flagged rather than silently merged.
Files you own, not links
Share a pack as a PDF, a single-file HTML page, a share card image, a Markdown table or a CSV. Backups hold every record and every photo, and a restore checks the file before it replaces anything.
Screens
Built to read in the dark.
A night palette for a head torch at camp, and a full light theme for a kitchen table in daylight. Sample data shown.
Swipe for all eight
Free and Pro
Free enough to actually use.
A real gear list is 30 to 150 items, so the free plan is sized to hold one. Backup, restore, import and every export format are free at both tiers, always.
Free
One pack, 60 gear recordsNo trial, no expiry date- The full weight model: base, worn, consumable, total and skin-out
- Container tare and contents on every line
- Category breakdown charts and the Big Three readout
- Food, water and fuel planner
- Packing checklist and editable suggestions
- CSV import with preview and duplicate flagging
- Every export format, PDF included
- Backup and restore, with iCloud Drive on Apple
Skinweight Pro
A one-time purchaseNot a subscription, nothing to renew- As many packs and gear records as you like
- Duplicate a pack and change one thing
- Side-by-side pack comparison with the difference per category
- Kits: group gear you always take together
- Trips, to keep each pack against the walk it was for
- Saved filters across the closet
Reaching the free limit never blocks viewing, searching, editing, backing up or exporting what you already added. It blocks only adding more. Pro is bought once on the store you use and restores on your other devices on that same account, with Family Sharing on Apple. Current pricing is shown on your app store and varies by country.
Needs iOS or iPadOS 18 or later, or Android 10 or later. There is no cloud sync and no account joining your devices up: you move your gear with the backup file.
Before you download
Questions
What is Skinweight?
Skinweight is a gear closet and pack list builder for backpackers who count every gram. You enter each piece of gear once with its real weight, build packs from that closet, and the app works out base weight, total pack weight and skin-out weight from the same numbers. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Android.
How does Skinweight work out base weight?
Every pack line says what happens to the item: in the pack, worn, in your hand, or carried by a partner. Base weight is everything you carry minus the consumables. Worn and hand-carried gear is tracked separately and never folded into base weight by accident. Total pack weight is base plus consumables, and skin-out weight adds what you are wearing.
How does it handle a half-used fuel canister?
An empty canister, bottle or tube is base weight, and what is inside it is a consumable. Skinweight records the empty weight and the contents as separate numbers on the same line, with a capacity, so a canister holding 120 g of a 230 g fill weighs correctly at every point in the trip.
How much does Skinweight cost? Is there a subscription?
Skinweight is free to download. The free plan covers one pack and 60 gear records with all the weight math, the charts, the food, water and fuel planner, the checklist, CSV import, every export format including PDF, and backup. Skinweight Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription, and it adds unlimited packs and gear records, pack duplication, side-by-side comparison, kits, trips and saved filters. Current pricing is shown on your app store and varies by country.
Can I bring my existing gear list in, and get it back out?
Yes, and import and export are both free. Skinweight reads a CSV from a spreadsheet or a gear-list website, matching columns by header name and showing you a preview before anything is saved, with duplicates flagged. You can export the same shape back out, and share a pack as a PDF, a single-file HTML page, a share card image, a Markdown table or a CSV. Each one is a file you keep, not a live link.
Do I need an account? Does it work with no signal?
There is no account and no sign-in, and the app works offline at a trailhead. Your gear records stay on your device unless you back them up or export them yourself. In-app purchases and crash and performance diagnostics use the internet. Diagnostics are on by default and you can turn them off in Settings under Diagnostics. An optional PIN lock with Face ID or a fingerprint keeps the app closed to anyone else.
Is my data backed up or synced between devices?
Skinweight makes a backup file that holds every record and every photo, and a restore checks the file before it replaces anything. You can save a copy to a folder you pick or, on Apple devices, to your own iCloud Drive. Backup is not sync: two devices do not stay in step, you move the data with the file.
Which devices does Skinweight run on?
Skinweight runs on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. It needs iOS or iPadOS 18 or later, or Android 10 or later.