TERRAiNAV needs location permission to show your GPS position. If the blue dot is missing, work through the following:

On iPhone: Go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → TERRAiNAV and set to While Using the App. Make sure Location Services is enabled at the top of that screen.

On Android: Go to Settings → Apps → TERRAiNAV → Permissions → Location → set to Allow only while using the app, and make sure Use precise location is turned ON. Without precise location, only a coarse network position is available which may not update as you move.

If location permission is already granted but the dot still does not appear: tap the GPS button (crosshair icon, bottom right) to start location tracking. The app requests GPS on demand rather than continuously, to preserve battery.

If you are indoors: GPS accuracy may be reduced or unavailable. Move outdoors and wait 15–30 seconds for the GPS chip to acquire a satellite fix. A pulsing accuracy ring around the dot indicates the fix is still improving.

Blank tile squares mean the basemap tiles for that area were not saved during your last online session. TERRAiNAV automatically caches OpenStreetMap tiles for your loaded track area when you are online, but only within the bounds of the track.

To ensure complete offline coverage:

1. Load your map or GPX track while connected to the internet
2. Wait for the notification confirming tiles have been saved (e.g. "Saving 312 tiles (z12–z16) in background")
3. Once saved, export a ZIP from Export → Export map ZIP as a backup
4. When offline, reload the map from My Maps Library — the saved tiles will load automatically

If tiles are still missing after following these steps: the area you are viewing may be outside the bounds of your saved track. Tiles are only cached within the track bounding box, not for the entire basemap.

On Samsung Phones, the default web browser is sometimes set to "Samsung Browser". TERRAiNAV requires that Chrome is the default browser. If its not set to Chrome, the newly opened map will not be passed to the installed TERRAiNAV app

To change the default browser to Chrome.

1. Open Settings
2. Scroll down to Apps
3. Select Default Apps, then Browser app
4. Click Chrome
5. Back out of Settings and scan the QR code

NOTE: If you don't have the app installed, scanning the QR code on your phone will open the map in your web browser.

On Android, when TERRAiNAV presents the file picker to load a map or GPX file, the system may request camera permission alongside storage access. This is a known behaviour of the Android file picker on some devices and versions — the permission request comes from the Android operating system, not from TERRAiNAV itself.

You can safely decline the camera permission and the file picker will still work normally for selecting map files. TERRAiNAV only uses the camera for scanning QR codes via the Load new… → Load from QR code option. If you never use QR code loading, camera permission is not required at all.

If the file picker fails to open after declining, try going to Settings → Apps → TERRAiNAV → Permissions and granting Files and Media access directly.

Yes — offline use is a core feature of TERRAiNAV. Once a map has been loaded and its tiles saved, the app operates fully without any network connection.

What works offline:

• Displaying your loaded GeoPDF or GPX track map
• Live GPS position overlay and tracking
• Dropping and managing waypoints
• Recording GPS tracks
• Exporting GPX files

What requires a connection:

• Loading new maps or GPX files from a URL or QR code
• Displaying basemap tiles for areas outside your saved track bounds
• Switching to OpenTopoMap or Thunderforest basemaps (these cannot be cached)

To prepare for offline use, load your map and navigate around the full track area while connected so that all required tiles are cached. The app will confirm when tiles have been saved with a brief notification. For added security, export a ZIP backup of your map before heading into the field — this can be reloaded even after clearing the app's storage.

GPS accuracy varies depending on your environment, device and how long the GPS chip has been active. A few things that help:

Wait for a good fix before starting. After tapping the record button, give the GPS 20–30 seconds to settle before you start moving. The accuracy ring around the blue dot will shrink as the fix improves — a ring of 5–10 metres is a good starting point for track recording.

Stay outdoors where possible. Tree cover, tall buildings and being near cliff faces all reduce GPS signal quality and can cause the track to drift or jump. This is a hardware limitation and affects all GPS devices, not just TERRAiNAV.

The track is recorded as-is — no smoothing is applied. This is intentional, as smoothing algorithms can cut corners on tight trails or technical terrain. If you need a smoother track for sharing or analysis, the exported GPX file can be post-processed in tools such as GPSBabel, Garmin BaseCamp or any GIS application.

Duplicate points at the same location can appear if you stop moving for a period. TERRAiNAV filters out positions within 1 metre of the last recorded point, but brief GPS drift while stationary may still produce a small cluster of points. These do not affect distance calculations meaningfully and can be removed in post-processing if needed.