What Waypost is not
Waypost is a convenience, not a safety device. It is not an emergency service and it does not contact one. If you are in danger, call the emergency number for where you are — in the European Union that is 112.
It only works if a whole chain works: your phone has battery and coverage, the operating system lets the app wake up in the background, and Google, Resend and your contact's mail provider all deliver in time. Any link can fail, none of them is under our control, and an update may arrive late or never.
For remote routes, or anywhere without coverage, a satellite messenger or a personal locator beacon is the right tool. Waypost does not replace one, and it does not replace telling someone your plan before you leave.
The app is provided as it is, with no warranty of any kind. To the fullest extent the law allows, we accept no liability for any loss or harm arising from using it, or from an alert being delayed, wrong, or never delivered. Deciding whether it is safe to go out, and what to do if someone stops reporting, is yours. This does not affect the rights the law gives you as a consumer, which cannot be signed away.
Getting started
How do I set it up?
- Open Contacts and add the people who should hear from you. You type their email address; the app never reads your address book.
- In Settings, put your name and how often you want the updates sent.
- Send a test email before you rely on it, so you know it arrives.
- On the home screen, press START when you set off and STOP when you are back.
Do my contacts need the app?
No. They receive a normal email with your position, a map, and how long you have been out. There is nothing for them to install and no account to make.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up, no password and no profile.
When something goes wrong
The emails are not arriving
- Check the spam folder first. This is nearly always where they are, especially for the first one.
- Ask your contact to mark the message as "not spam" so later ones land in the inbox.
- Check the address for typos on the Contacts screen.
- If a red banner appears on the home screen, it explains what failed. Waypost retries by itself.
The updates stopped while my phone was in my pocket
This is almost always the location permission. Waypost needs Always, not "While Using the App" — with anything less, iOS stops the updates as soon as the screen locks, which is exactly when they matter.
Fix it in iOS Settings → Waypost → Location and choose Always. Also check that Low Power Mode is off, since it delays background work.
It says there is no signal when there is
If an update cannot be sent, Waypost saves it and sends it when the connection comes back. A delayed email is marked as such, and it shows the time of the position, not the time it was sent.
I hit the email limit
There is a cap on how many emails one installation can send per hour, to stop a fault turning into hundreds of messages. If you reach it, wait a while, or choose a longer interval in Settings.
Using it day to day
How much battery does it use?
Waypost takes a coarse position about once a minute and only while a route is running, which is far lighter than a navigation app. Between routes it does nothing at all. Press STOP when you get back.
How often can it send?
Every 30 minutes, or every 1 or 2 hours. Changing the interval during a route takes effect from the next update.
What language is it in?
Waypost follows your phone's language across twelve: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Catalan, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese. You can also pick one by hand in Settings.
Why does it ask for Motion & Fitness, and where are my steps?
Only to show the steps of the route you are walking. Waypost reads the step count your phone already keeps — it does not track anything extra — and that number never leaves the device: it is not sent to the server and it is not in the emails. Saying no leaves everything else working exactly the same.
If you allowed it and still see no steps, check three things. On iPhone, Settings › Privacy & Security › Motion & Fitness › Fitness Tracking is a master switch for the whole phone; with it off, no app gets steps. Then Settings › Waypost › Motion & Fitness must be on. And the steps only appear once you have walked about fifty of them, so that a drive does not show a row stuck at zero.
Can I remove a contact mid-route?
Yes. Remove them in Contacts and they stop receiving updates from the next one onwards.
Privacy and your data
Where does my location go?
Only into the emails you asked for. It is never sold, never used for advertising and never shared with data brokers. Your contact list stays on your phone and is never stored on a server.
How do I delete everything?
Deleting the app removes everything held on the phone straight away. To have the server-side records removed too, email me and say so.
The full detail — what is collected, who processes it and how long it is kept — is in the Privacy Policy.