GPS App for Apple iPhone

[street]

Does anyone have a GPS App for their iPhone? I had one but for some reason now they want me to pay for it. So I'm looking for an App that will let set a waypoint and track if I leave it on. My purpose for it is to waypoint my truck when I hike shut it off and turn back on if needed to find back to truck.

Does anyone have a FREE App that they have that does what I'm looking for?

 

[calmloki]

I really have been happy with MapMyWalk by underarmor. get a bit of advertising, but it shows my path when walking or off road and a nice satelite image, elevation change, split time... good stuff. Start when you get out of the car.

 

[bw5972]

Does anyone have a GPS App for their iPhone? I had one but for some reason now they want me to pay for it. So I'm looking for an App that will let set a waypoint and track if I leave it on. My purpose for it is to waypoint my truck when I hike shut it off and turn back on if needed to find back to truck.

Does anyone have a FREE App that they have that does what I'm looking for?

How about Google maps? Drop a pin by touching your starting location. Then choose "Set as parking location" from the ... menu options.

 

[audreyh1]

I use either Apple Maps or Google Maps. Both give step by step directions. Why would you need anything else?

You can mark and save your current location.

 

[street]

Thanks >>> I do have google maps loaded but looking for an App for FREE GPS functions. The reason I can waypoint my truck when I leave but when I want to return to my truck I want the GPS to tell the way back to my truck. I have a GPS I carry almost all the time and I also had an App for the iPhone till just of late. I'm in the back country a lot and have had to depend on my GPS to find my way back.

 

[bw5972]

Thanks >>> I do have google maps loaded but looking for an App for FREE GPS functions. The reason I can waypoint my truck when I leave but when I want to return to my truck I want the GPS to tell the way back to my truck. I have a GPS I carry almost all the time and I also had an App for the iPhone till just of late. I'm in the back country a lot and have had to depend on my GPS to find my way back.

Again, please tell us why you can’t just use Google maps to do EXACTLY what you have described.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks >>> I do have google maps loaded but looking for an App for FREE GPS functions. The reason I can waypoint my truck when I leave but when I want to return to my truck I want the GPS to tell the way back to my truck. I have a GPS I carry almost all the time and I also had an App for the iPhone till just of late. I'm in the back country a lot and have had to depend on my GPS to find my way back.

Google maps is free.

You mark your parking spot.

Are you worried you need a cell connection to see a map? I notice Google Maps will usually cache the immediate area when opened. So will Apple maps.

Is there no cell connection where you park your truck?

DH used to use MotionX-GPS which was quite cheap $2.99 to run tracks. MotionX lets you preload your maps.

 

[bw5972]

Google maps is free.

You mark your parking spot.

Are you worried you need a cell connection? I notice Google Maps will usually cache the immediate area when opened.

DH used to use MotionX-GPS which was quite cheap to run tracks. MotionX lets you preload your maps.

Yes, from the menu that looks like this "..." you can chose to download maps of the immediate area in Google maps

 

[street]

I might be missing something here and very sorry if that is the case. My question is will google maps tell me how to get back to my truck if I'm lost? If so that will work but I didn't think I had that option with Google maps to function like a GPS.

 

[braumeister]

Thanks >>> I do have google maps loaded but looking for an App for FREE GPS functions. The reason I can waypoint my truck when I leave but when I want to return to my truck I want the GPS to tell the way back to my truck. I have a GPS I carry almost all the time and I also had an App for the iPhone till just of late. I'm in the back country a lot and have had to depend on my GPS to find my way back.

I think maybe you just didn't realize that there is a GPS chip in you iPhone that receives the GPS satellite signals and works with Apple Maps, Google Maps, or any other GPS-type app.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes, both Apple maps and Google Maps give step by step directions. You pick a point, and ask for directions. I think the only issue is whether you have a cell connection which might be needed to load a map. And how to cache maps if needed.

I use directions with either app all the time, but I generally within cellphone range.

If you want to run a track and then return by it. MotionX GPS does that well, although it will burn up some battery if you run it for many hours.

 

[bw5972]

I can’t vouch for the quality of 5he results but certainly Google maps will try and give walking direction between two points (I.e. your parking location and current location) including the number of steps.

 

[bw5972]

I think maybe you just didn't realize that there is a GPS chip in you iPhone that receives the GPS satellite signals and works with Apple Maps, Google Maps, or any other GPS-type app.

Yes to the above. Any GPS app can only leverage the built in location services on iPhone. It can not bring its own satellite based location service.

 

[street]

Thanks >>> I did know that when my location is on my phone does work like a GPS. I didn't know that I had an option to find my pin/waypoint on google map to find my way back if lost etc.

 

[jonat]

iOS on the iPhone, by default, does exactly what you want if you have paired it with your vehicle by Bluetooth. It notices the dropped connection and assumes you parked there and "drops a pin" in Apple Maps. You can then open Apple Maps to see it. Waze does the same thing if you use Waze to navigate to a destination - it remembers where you parked.

I use an app called "FindMyCarSmarter". It uses a tiny Bluetooth LE dongle that I leave plugged in. When the connection drops, it remembers the location. The app tells me in which direction my car is and the distance in feet. The app is free, the dongle isn't but it's a one-time charge.

 

[donheff]

You can download google maps for the area you will be hiking in if you are worried about losing your data signal. It still works well off line. I do that with foreign cities I visit. You could download a very large remote area you are hiking in since there won't be a ton of data in the map.

 

[Alan]

Thanks >>> I did know that when my location is on my phone does work like a GPS. I didn't know that I had an option to find my pin/waypoint on google map to find my way back if lost etc.

It does work with the GPS satellites even in airplane mode which I use a lot when I am hiking and out of cell coverage to save on battery life.

I use Google Maps often for walking directions in cities including foreign cities where I don't have cell phone data. We spent 2 weeks in Belgium last year and before leaving I downloaded maps of the areas we were going to be traveling in and used Google Maps while driving for directions. While over there (we had a rented house with wifi) I would download new maps for places we had decided to visit before we set off driving. In cities I would switch to walking mode on Google Maps to plot routes.

For hiking I have used the app Gaia GPS for countries other than the UK since it has walking trails marked. It was a small one-off payment several years ago that I made - no annual or monthly fees. (In the UK I use the OS Maps app)

https://www.gaiagps.com/

 

[Ronstar]

I use Apple maps. Mark my location. It's the saved in the phone, and later I navigate to it using the directions feature in the app.

I have "WhereAmIAt" and "coordinates" apps also, but I use those just to get my lat/long.

 

[ChiliPepr]

Just do not follow it blindly! If you are in the woods it may tell you to cross right through a stream or over a cliff!

 

[braumeister]

Just do not follow it blindly! If you are in the woods it may tell you to cross right through a stream or over a cliff!

That shouldn't be a problem. Go into Settings and turn off "Darwin Award Eligibility"

 

[Rosie]

I use the Wikiloc app on my hikes (I have android but they also have an iphone version). It does not require cell service to track your position, but you do need to have 'location' on your phone turned on.

It's not as user-friendly as MapMy(Walk/Hike) and it takes a little getting used to. You can upgrade the navigation function for a small fee, but I've never sprung for that, I think the free version works fine for my purposes.

You can download free maps to your phone which you can then use offline while you're tracking, they're useful for locating trails. The free maps tend to be quite large so you'll want to save them to the SD card on your phone (assuming you have a phone w an SD card).

https://www.wikiloc.com/


ed. to add: Hiking buddies have also said good things about Gaia GPS, I might look into that -- thanks for the plug, Alan.

 

[audreyh1]

Just do not follow it blindly! If you are in the woods it may tell you to cross right through a stream or over a cliff!

That's why having something that tracks, which you can then follow back might make sense.

 

[Alan]

That's why having something that tracks, which you can then follow back might make sense.

Exactly. Apps like Gaia leave a trail of breadcrumbs to make it easy to get back to the starting point.