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Suggestions for a live tracking app for Android phones
I've been trying to use the Wahoo live-tracking feature (got an Elemnt Bolt) but it's not reliable and seems to stop working just a few minutes after starting my ride. I suspect it might be something to do with my cheap chinese phone (Alpha Maze-X) not being great at bluetooth. Unfortunately, it's doing the opposite of what I want - I want my wife to be able to see where I am if she starts worrying that I've been out for too long and today it showed that I stopped halfway down a hill just a few minutes into my ride (which understandably made her think that I might have crashed there).
So, I'm looking for an Android app that just uses my phone (I always take it with me) and lets my wife see where I am. Ideally I'd like it to be controllable so that it doesn't chew up my battery when I'm not out cycling.
Any suggestions?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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21 comments
I've used Viewranger BuddyBeacon with good success before:
https://www.viewranger.com/buddybeacon/v2
Viewranger also seems to work much better using GPS for tracks than many basic Android apps.
They have a direct APK download if you want to avoid the Google Store (visit the URL on your phone):
https://www.viewranger.com/software/software.php
Â
Location sharing in Google Maps seems to work the best on my phone, so I'm going to use that for a bit. I don't know if Google have better code for keeping it polling in the background, but it doesn't stop working like Glympse or Wahoo (so far).
We have used several different products over the years and the Life360 app has been the most reliable and accurate for us.
Glypmse never seemed to have me in the right place so was never accurate enough if I needed help.
With Life360 you can create a family group and either leave it on permanently or log out if you only need it for specific periods, ie rides, sportives etc. As with all locator apps the battery life needs to be monitored but it doesn't eat through battery life as much as some. I have done 8 or more hour rides and my phone still has a decent level of battery at the end.
Curious as to why different locator apps should vary in their accuracy. It's not as if the app itself is finding your location and some might be more clever at that divination than others; they all just access the location permission and the phone's internals plus some Android alchemy provides the position.
Android lets you share your location on google maps
open google maps, tap on avatar icon on the top left of the screen, then location sharing
It should give you a list of contacts in your phone and you can choose to share your location with them.
I think that'll probably be the best solution in the end as we both use Google Maps. I'll give Glympse a try out first as we've already installed that and set it up.
Yeah google maps works really well, it's super simple to set up if you both already use it.
We tried Glympse this morning but it seemed to have shown me stopped at a KFC/McDonald's roundabout, so I'll try Google Maps this afternoon.
Hmmm 🤔
The Google Maps solution does seem to depend on you giving up Location History, so you need to be comfortable with Google knowing and remembering your every move. Not too sure why this is a requirement, since the other party only gets your present location, not your location history.
I'm still looking for an app where I can type in my choice of which location I'm currently "at".Â
WhatsApp lets you share your location for a time that you choose.
My wifes job means that she works all over the place so she has a life 360 app that lets you see where she is. Seems to work really well.
Whatsap has been much more reliable than Strava Beacon for me
Change your wife to a model that doesn't worry.
Is there an app for that?
Tinder, Plenty of Fish, Grindr
I've spent way too long explaining the pros/cons of PPE to my current wife - I don't think I could go through all that again.
My wife tells me
monthly weeklydaily no one else would put up with me.She must be some kind of saint
Have you tried Glympse?
Thanks - I've installed it and am going to give it a try. I've also found out that you can do location sharing in a similar fashion using Google Maps.