Hi,

I frequently ride at night/early morning in remote areas and in all weather. Further, I often make up my route when I’m out.

I want to have a system whereby my other half can somehow locate me if I go ‘missing’.

What do people use (if they do)?

All I know of is Buddybeacon on viewranger.

Thanks,

If you have data signal then just enable Location Sharing in Google maps. She will then see your last reported position. Buddybeacon/Strava etc all need a data signal.

If you have no phone signal then you will need a Spot Tracker or similar.

Strava has a “Beacon” function. You can send an autogenerated link to your partner / riding buddy / whatever, which gives a real-time map of where you are.

You need pay a subscription to get access to this, IIRC it’s about £20 per year. I use it and it’s well worth the money for the peace of mind and utility.

Some Lezyne GPS models will.donthis via the linked phone app.

Apple – Find My
Google Maps
Garmin Connect
Strava Beacon

and others all have this sort of option. Some of it will depend on what kit you have but assuming you have a smart phone then Google Maps stands out as an easy choice

Kind of depends on your phone coverage wherever you are and how comprehensively you want to mitigate risk.

Find My Friends (and presumably the Google equivalent?) will fetch your location on demand, which works great unless you’re in a ditch out of signal.

Most modern GPS devices and apps/services such as Strava, RideWithGPS, Viewranger etc will allow you to share your location, and they’ll do so by uploading your location/track at intervals, which means you’ll at least have a last known position up until the point where you lose signal, and (in some/all? cases) a breadcrumb trail which will indicate your direction of travel.

On Android phones I rigged up a thing using Tasker that would respond to a text message with a link to Google Maps, which was again on-demand, but would function with just an SMS-capable signal rather than a data connection. I don’t believe Apple allow apps to read SMS messages so I don’t think Workflow will do this. (I may be wrong.)

If you want to be located without a phone signal then as above it’s a Spot tracker.

Caveat: it’s quite a while since I fannied about with this stuff, we just use Find My Friends these days 🙂

Google maps locations. Can leave it running all the time or set it up for a temporary X hours duration. For permanent sharing it reminds you frequently should you wish to switch it off. Hardly uses any data or battery power.

I’ve let my spot tracker sub lapse as unless you’re really in the sticks a lot Google maps does the job with a lot less faff for nothing.

I use Glympse for this, I’ve setup a pre-defined Glympse and just send it to the wife same time as I start Strava. It’s also useful on group rides, both for the riding and to track how long it’s going to be before someone turns up at the start!

If you’ve got a recent-ish garmin you can link it to your phone and it’s incident detection thingie will alert contacts when you crash.

Mostly, I use beacon on Strava though.

viewranger does this, its free.

I use life360 to do this, basically google maps location sharing but permanently on. Useful to figure out if the OH has left work etc too

I use life360 to do this, basically google maps location sharing but permanently on

Google Maps Location Sharing is also permanently on (well, unless you choose to switch it off).

Useful to figure out if the OH has left work etc too

I that not a bit too controlling, why can’t she just msg you to leaving work now. Does she now you track her every movement?

You can also use WhatsApp to share your location, if you use that for messaging. I use the Strava Beacon thing, which can be temperamental, as there have been plenty of times I sent my wife the link and she’s not been able to view where I am.

+1 for Life360 – it is always on – you just need a data connection.

If do not always want to trust the other then there is Glympse that you turn on for a number of hors – fab for arranging to meet a bunch of mates somewhere for a group ride. As in ‘I am on my way – here I am’ – again needs a data connection.

no data connection – then you are in to the realms of SPOT or InReach

On Android phones I rigged up a thing using Tasker that would respond to a text message with a link to Google Maps, which was again on-demand, but would function with just an SMS-capable signal rather than a data connection.

Been looking for something like that for ages – just want something that pings back a location automatically in response to a text. Can you give me any more details please?

Granted, data reception is much more widespread now, but something that could work just with an SMS signal would be great.

I that not a bit too controlling, why can’t she just msg you to leaving work now. Does she now you track her every movement?

I’m sure it could be horribly controlling but me and my partner and my kids (and actually Ed Oxley) all share locations with each other.

I that not a bit too controlling, why can’t she just msg you to leaving work now. Does she now you track her every movement?

Sure, because these things are only used by people with broken marriages who want to eavesdrop on each other 24/7.

Mostly we find it handy for knowing when to put dinner on.

I used Garmin connect the first time a few weeks ago. My wife was able to track my progress and have a cup of tea ready for me as I walked through the door 🙂

there’s also trusted contacts by google which allows a ‘trusted contact’ to query where you are. If you don’t reply after a set time then it automatically shares your location with them. You can toggle it on and off easily if you want to go dark.

Mostly we find it handy for knowing when to put dinner on.

That’s just pure evil control freakery…..

WhatsApp has a location tracker, you can set it for 15 mins, 1hr or 8hrs and you can turn it off anytime you want.

I use it all the time if I’m driving/riding to visit friends, family etc or trying to meet up in an unfamiliar location. Saves constant texts or calls of where are you?, are you running late?…

It only uses battery and data when it’s actually being interrogated.

Another +1 for the WhatsApp tracker, does everything it says above, plus you can share your location to a WhatsApp group. I find it handy for meeting up with the usual group rides and sharing location with all the family.

I use Road ID. Can be set up to text loved one if you don’t move for 5 mins whilst out. Handy if you are laid in a ditch with a car on your head etc. Think it has a crumb feature too.

Thanks all – some great suggestions that I’ll go through. Never knew this stuff existed.

Easy if you have phone signal. Is it reliable the whole way around?

Apple phones here so we use Find My……….pity she never looks at it

It’s not like I’m up to no good or anything but when the Mrs asks me where im riding I use a three point plan. 1- say I dont know 2- make up something, and finally if she pushes it 3- you don’t need to know where I am all the time. Its not like she’d rush out to save me if the worst happened.
She expects me to be her ‘safety contact’ when she sets mink rafts on the river, but if she falls in by the time I’ve followed the protocol she will have either climbed out herself or she’s dead. Pointless.

Seems like Google trusted contacts is the perfect solution, thanks to whoever suggested that.

I use RoadID, which is free. It sends a trace to my wife, and if you can set it up so if you’re still for too long it can email or text my wife for help (or you can turn that off). You tell it how long you’ll be out for and if you’re too long it will also get in touch with whoever you want it to.

When my mobile doesn’t lose reception to Three’s mobile data, the Lezyne tracking is decent on their Ally V2 app.

Simply list emails in app, link mobile to GPS unit, they receive clickable link to follow ride.

We’ve always used Life360 and leave it on all the time, no reason not to and it comes in useful all the time; child collection, mealtimes, night rides and hikes, meeting up when we go in different directions when out etc etc 🙂

I just used the Google maps share location setting. Seemed to work fine. Just have to remember to turn it off when back – don’t want Google tracking me unnecessarily!!

I used to use an app called Wheresmydroid. You’d send an sms with a trigger word and it would reply by sms with location information of different levels depending on whether it had signal. So it might just ping back some coordinates, or a link on Google maps.

It also had an option to make the phone ring with a different trigger word even if it was on silent.

Not used it in a long time so don’t know if it still works.