mrs sofagirl is becoming increasingly convinced that i will die a lonely death in some remote windswept part of the peak during solo night rides, only for my body to be found by weekend walkers acting as a food source for local wildlife.
she has a very vivid imagination, but also makes a perfectly valid point that, as all my night rides are solo, what happens is something goes badly wrong
are there any apps where one phone (i-phones) can track live location of another, ideally with the ability to produce 6 figure grid reff of the stationary injured rider?
Strava does this (not the grid reference bit) - look at Beacon option in settings.
Wahoo Elemnt also does it if you have one of those.
Edit to add: When I shared my Wahoo data with the family (a recent adventure where they drove to a location and I cycled) they could see a full data suite so could see speed, cadence, heartrate, metres climbed, avg speed etc etc. I have a feeling there was also an estimate of power output as well (I don't have a power meter, but if I did I think it would give that data too).
Find my phone on iPhone works well, is easy to use and you already have it but its not bread crumb trail so if you are out of signal, you won't be found.
Life360 is also good and, from memory, you can set it up to drop a location every few minutes.
If you are both on iPhones then you can setup find my phone for both to see. If android then can use Google to track. Garmin have live track. Not sure if any of these give 6 figure grid references but will get very close
I ride solo most of the time and use the ROAD ID app so that my wife knows I'm out and where i'm going. It will also send a message if your are stationary for more than 5 minutes(this time can be changed)
It send a text message when you start the ride and you can then track your route from then.
Not sure about the map reference part though.
Don't iphones have find a friend? I could never get it to work as I had two apple profiles they couldn't merge and apple maps was terrible to start of with but has presumably got a bit better by now?
Google maps allows you to share your location either temporarily or permanently with other users so you appear on the map with live updates. You can also set geofenced locations so it will send a notification when you enter/leave a specified area. Presumably that could be added to an iPhone.
I use Strava Beacon, but think this is only for premium, ie paid up members?
Or yeah, Wahoo live link, if you have a Wahoo.
You do need a mobile data connection for at least most of the ride, for it to work.
The other thing you can do is share your planned route (eg, plot it on Komoot) beforehand, with an ETA of your return, and if you don't make it back, at least rescue services know where you were planning to go.
Google Maps & Whatsapp do live location sharing. Obviously it relies on phone signal.
Sharing the route is a sensible option too.
Google maps location sharing is great.
One of the riders on the weekly ride lost their phone the other week in the dark on the trail - didn't notice until about an hour later.
We used find my iphone and it gave us a pretty accurate location that we could ride back to and find it (along with their mini pump and trail snacks!) - so obviously that would work pretty well to track a rider.
I have also used the wahoo live tracker to coordinate meeting with a friend on the trail - also worked pretty well
Garmin does live track too. I think if you’re following a route it also plots that so the watcher can view where you should be going.
the axe murderers can track you too, the ones that come out on the moors after dark. I think best just to be aware that they're usually there and following you. Helps with peddling...
(Pretty sure "send a beacon text" works with free strava, though i rarely use it.)
thanks for all the swift replies. forgot about the 'find my' app on i phones - will give that a whirl as looks nice and simple and doesn't require sofagirl to log into anything
the axe murderers can track you too, the ones that come out on the moors after dark. I think best just to be aware that they’re usually there and following you
they are my normal first line of search and rescue!
Any specifically for Android?
Obviously apps and stuff work but just wondered if there was a 'Find my phone' equivalent
My OH uses Find My iPhone to track me, but I've also used Strava Beacon in the past.
We used find my iphone and it gave us a pretty accurate location that we could ride back to and find it (along with their mini pump and trail snacks!) – so obviously that would work pretty well to track a rider.
Just last night I got home to find that one of my daughters wasn't in yet from jiu-jitsu. Find My Phone was picking up everyone else but not her. She was still in the city centre gym, 2/3rds of a mile away, with mobile reception but obviously no FindMyPhone reception.. It's not always reliable.
The same happens with my wife regularly, but at least she's out in the wilds in west Wales.
Find My Phone was picking up everyone else but not her
This happens with my daughter as well but I found out that kids now routinely turn data off so they preserve data for later on in the month so they can still Snapchat/TikTok/BeReal as they come to end of data allowance.
Didn't someone on here do an App?
As mentioned above, Life360 is good, free and available on Android and Apple devices
@franksinatra check this is turned on for her phone, it should allow it to be found even if she’s turned data off. Think it needs BT left on.
[img] 
[/img]
Cheers Phil, I'll have a look at that.
I meant to say, it obviously has to be in range of someone else's iPhone to use their Find My to relay it's position.
Mobile phone signal is useless in my local area so half a ride you just can not track. I just have use Find My Phone thing on iphone
I just send the route to Mrs FD and how long I think it will take. If I am not back in the allotted time then she can get worried. Usually I find reception some where if I am delayed.
Just think how many people must have died prior to mobile phones !?!
Just use Google maps, no need to add that to yours, or the tracker's phone and probably better supported than an indy app.
As I mentioned above, you could even include waypoint locations so that they get a notification you've passed through a point on the ride, rather than having to go and look.
We just use WhatsApp live location sharing as stumpy mentioned ...can then share it with an individual family member or on a group chat. Very useful when collecting people from places too as you can both share locations so both know where the other is on the same map
Google maps location sharing is great.
This is really the simplest solution because you and her will almost certainly already have everything you need ready to turn it on. If you leave it on 24/7 it does mean you can't get away with fibbing about being "late at work" when you are in the pub, and any, em, other love interests are going to get very messy - but if you are in a happy relationship where you tell her where you actually are its a handy tool to leave on all the time. If you loose signal it will show you where you last were reported to be, how long ago, and how much battery was on your phone so gives a pretty good starting point. it doesn't directly give a 6fig grid ref, but is theoretically more precise than that (<30m, possibly 3m rather than 100m!) and you can easily get a lat/lon which a quick google will convert to 6fig GR if you want to be that vague.
Any specifically for Android?
Obviously apps and stuff work but just wondered if there was a ‘Find my phone’ equivalent
Google do have a Find my Android feature - but you need to log in as the "lost user" to access it - good for literally finding a phone, not for finding the user.
I've used Garmin livetrack and Google share location for this very reason for a number of years.
However, I do keep toying with the idea of a Garmin inreach or a Spot tracker (or even a single use EPRIB) fir when I trot off solo as so much of what I ride on big days out is well outside phone network range.
Just never can quite get past the satellite network charges for the Garmin and Spot or the creeping fear that the EPRIB wouldn't be working the one time I need it.
Does anyone use these things at all?
I have a spot tracker, used it for solo rides in Wales and the Tour Divide. I've let the subscription lapse as the cost combined with lithium batteries vs an ever improving mobile network made it a bit pointless. If I was regularly riding solo in proper wilderness I'd consider it again.
I’ve used Garmin livetrack and Google share location for this very reason for a number of years.
I use both of these as well. I do find Livetrack a bit temperamental as to whether it kicks into life or not but mostly it seems OK. I'm not aware that you can get map coordinates from it though???
When I lost my phone on the trails a week or so ago one of the guys who helped me find it was able to get the coordinates where the phone and me parted company from Googlemaps/share.
life360, but remember of course you do drop off the network a lot in the countryside, at least round here, so is far from perfect pin-point tracking. Despite that it's still useful to know when my wife will be back so I can put the kettle on and get her dinner ready etc.
I've used Glympse as a location tracker to co-ordinate with my son - he was on Android and I was on iOS. This was while ago, Google Maps is maybe better. It was good enough to co-ordinate finding each other in a busy Copenhagen station concourse.
You do realise that if you give 'er indoors access to your find my iPhone, she'll know when you're at the pub when you're 'walking the dog 😉'
🤣
Not much use to you if you're an iPhone user, but I recently got a couple of Samsung Smart Tags free when I got a new phone. You can use them with your phone to track them, or make them bleep and also use the tag to make your phone ring if you can't find that.
Not sure how well they work out in the wild though. I've just got mine on bunches of keys at the moment
On Android I find GreenAlp Realtime GPS Tracker still works, sends a web link other user(s) can track you one regardless of device for the duration of a ride / event, reliable and fairly simple. Used to be recommended on here.
Not sure which one he used but my mates ex-wife would text him to let him know she knew we were in the pub.....
I use a Specialized Angi sensor to send out an emergency text to my defined contact if it detects a force to the helmet that's significant. It also tracks your ride and shows where you have been so your contact knows what direction you are traveling in, something that WhatsApp locations and find my phone won't. It doesn't give 6 digit grid references.
You can define the amount of time between it detecting a significant force to sending out the text so you can cancel it if you are ok (or a false positive, but I've not had any of those).
My golden rule above tracking is to ride responsibly. Especially if;
You're alone
At night
In the Peaks
Second rule, Google Maps location sharing.
No idea why, probably my phone, but we find Google sharing unreliable. It shows me quite often as being in places I know I am not or have not been to.
I'd recommend life360 on the basis that it is always on.
As a group of riders we use Glympse a lot when we are all heading off somewhere to meet up. Really useful and location tracking is time limited.
This happens with my daughter as well but I found out that kids now routinely turn data off so they preserve data for later on in the month so they can still Snapchat/TikTok/BeReal as they come to end of data allowance.
I've unlimited data, text & calls for £15 a month on 3 - move networks.
acting as a food source for local wildlife
Phone battery may be the limiting factor for locating the particular beastie which has eaten you. Maybe better to go for a Spot tracker or similar which will keep broadcasting location for weeks.
Thump and I share locations on Google Maps.
Had a few occasions where I've had to go rescue him (stripped cranks, exploded backwheel, the usual stuff).
His description of where he is can be a bit vague - "sorry, which steep steps are you on?"
Over the years there have been "missing" bikers in the local woods.
One knocked himself out and was curled up and going to sleep when found by mountain rescue.
The finder had spotted his flashing rear light.
The mountain rescue team had also started searching an area of hillside that is rarely frequented.
Obviously a route description could have prevented this, but so could using Google Map Location share.
We have now provided MRT with a map providing trail names. Not everyone knows where "Long Ball Hans" is.
Other friends have concussed themselves, wandered around lost, dazed and confused, and then finally made their way home. They lived but needed new helmets.
I've a Garmin InReach - I did a First Aid + forestry course for trailbuilding work I do - we aren't far from roads, but we do have patchy signal in places where we are working. Some cases there are only 2 of us and I figured if that was the case and an accident were to happen then a satellite link would be better than potentially leaving the casualty to find a signal.
I also take it along on any group rides with younger riders - I'm also working on my Mountain Bike Leadership Level 2 qualification so include it as part of my kit I carry.
I've paid the monthly subscription but having had it now for about 10 months, I've never had to use it (which is a good thing), so I'm in a bit of a dilemma as to carry on the monthly subscription and switch to 'pay-as-you-go'. The issue I've got is if I don't just pay for it automatically then I'll forget to pay for it and then suspect I'd need to use it in an emergency.
Stupidly, when I'm out riding on my own, I don't bother with it, but I probably should start taking it with me.
It is a very good idea and a very useful tool (if it is needed) but it isn't cheap, so still not something everything should be carrying (as it is cost-prohibitve in a lot of cases), but it can be incredibly useful, so if you are out and about on your own or in remote locations with poor phone signal then it can be a very valuable tool.
Cheers for that. Kind of where my head is at but with the pay and go option.
Stupidly, when I’m out riding on my own, I don’t bother with it, but I probably should start taking it with me.
Utterly bizarre. You take it when youre in a group, but not when alone!
Yeah, I know...and each time I go out and get back, I realise I've left it...I need to make sure it gets moved from the big bag to the bumbag so it is then with me on solo stuff. Aware it is daft/stupid but just something I've managed to not think about, but I'll get that changed so it is being carried.
hardtailonly
Full Member
I use Strava Beacon, but think this is only for premium, ie paid up members?
No, it’s free for everyone, & very simple to use once enabled. An option to txt your contact pops up automatically when you start a new ride in strava & the message links direct to a live feed of your route, no logging in required. It has the added benefit that they see the whole route & not just a blip in the middle of a map. I use it as well as track my iPhone, as you can never be too safe
As far as I can see the best free option is Strava. I think seeing where you’ve been before you went out of range is way more information than last known location. In particularly knowing which way you were travelling at that location.
We stabs beacon loads. My wife says it’s handy for deciding whether it’s worth hanging on for me to be back for lunch or just make a sandwich. The only weakness seems to be you have to have signal when you start the process.
The Specialized 'Ride' app gives tracking - it sends your chosen contacts a msge when you start Nd finish, inc. A link to a map with a bread crumb trail of your location. Assuming there's a mobile signal and your phone has gps (which anything half modern does). If no signal then they'll see your last known location.
I have the 'angi' impact detector (abiut £40 if bought as an add on) on my (road) helmet which will additionally send a crash alert to your chosen contacts. Again relies on a phone signal to he able to. The angi is basically an accelerometer which bluetooth connects to the phone. The phone does the alerting.
Defo thought a good idea at the start of the 1st 2020 government imposed national house arrest, for when out riding on my own in the Peaks.
