You do not need an app to know where you have been. You need a complete list, a visit rule, and a place you will actually update. Memory is a terrible database. Blank notes are worse, because they only capture the countries you already remember.
This is the method. The tool is optional. When you are ready to pick one, the best apps to track countries visited comparison is the shopping list, not this page.
1. Pick the List (the Denominator)
"47 countries" is meaningless until you say 47 of what.
- 195 (UN members plus Vatican City and Palestine) is the dinner-party default.
- 227 (Atlasi) counts territories as themselves — Faroe Islands, French Polynesia, Hong Kong.
- 250+ (Been) is a still longer territory list.
Read how many countries there are once, choose a row, and do not quietly switch after a good trip. Changing lists is not progress.
2. Pick What "Visited" Means
Decide whether an airside layover counts. For a default that survives arguments, count a country when you cleared the border and spent time on the ground. Skip flyovers and gate-to-gate connections.
The longer version, including cruises and overnight airside hotels, is in does a layover count as visiting a country.
Write the rule down. Apply it to 2004 and to last Tuesday.
3. Fill the List by Recognition, Not Recall
Do not open Notes and type "France, Spain, wait, did we go to Belgium?"
Open a full list and mark the ones you recognize. Sources that help:
- Old passports (stamps, not the story you tell about them)
- Booking emails and calendars
- Geotagged photos — see rebuild travel history from iPhone photos
- A partner who remembers the 2011 layover you have decided does not count
Recognition beats recall. You will add countries you had forgotten and skip ones you only flew over.
4. Choose a Home for the List
Paper or a wall map
Honest, slow to update, bad at territories, great as art. A scratch-off poster is a display, not a database. If the poster is the point, use a digital scratch-off map app as the living copy.
Spreadsheet
One column for the canonical name, one for status (visited / lived / want), one for the year, one for the rule note ("landside only"). Exportable. Easy to let rot. You own the file.
Tap-to-fill app (Been and similar)
Fastest way to get a percentage of the world. Weak at "what did I do there." Enough if the integer is the product.
Place-based app (Atlasi)
Country grid plus trips and entries (Food, Stay, Place, Experience). Better if the list exists so you can answer "where should I eat in Mexico City." Photo Import fills the years your camera already documented. iOS only today.
Use two tools only if their jobs do not overlap: Been for the globe percentage, Atlasi for the places, for example. Two incomplete lists is how counts diverge.
5. Update When You Land, Not When You Remember
The system fails in the week after a trip, when you are tired and the names are already fading. Add the country the day you get home. If you log places, add the five you would actually recommend, not every coffee.
Atlasi's free tier is enough for that habit: all 227 countries, unlimited trips, 10 entries per trip. Premium is for unlimited entries and extra photo-import trips, not for permission to keep a count.
A Minimal Setup That Works
- Choose 195 or 227 (or Been's 250+) and write it at the top of whatever you use.
- Choose airside-no as the visit rule.
- Mark the past from a full list plus photos, in one sitting.
- Put the tracker on your phone so the next trip has somewhere to go.
- Ignore anyone else's number unless they state their list and their rule.
If you want that setup as a passport grid with the places attached, download Atlasi. A tap-to-fill counter is only worth it if the integer is the whole job.
Methods described September 2026. App limits and country-list sizes change; check the in-app list before you quote a percentage.