Global Adventurer App Support

Last updated 27 September 2026

Contents

Getting started

  • Record a hike. Home → Start Hike, or Map → Start Hike. Stop → Save when you are done. Recording carries on with the screen off and the phone in a pocket.
  • Import a route. Home → Import Track, or open a GPX, KML, KMZ, GeoJSON, CSV or NMEA file from Files, Mail, AirDrop or any share sheet and choose Global Adventurer. Waypoint names, notes and symbols in the file are kept.
  • Plan a route on the map. Map → the ruler button → Route. Tap the points you want to pass through, then Follow paths: the route is drawn on real paths, as mountain paths, tracks and lanes, or the shortest way. Via a trail joins a waymarked long-distance trail between your points. Press and hold anywhere on the map to keep the route off a path, to draw an area to avoid, or to add a named stop. Save gives the route a name and puts it in Hikes. Planning needs a connection.
  • Walk here. Tap the magnifier, find a place, then Walk here. The route runs from where you stand or from a start you choose, optionally along a trail, and shows distance, ascent and an estimated time before you set off.
  • Follow a route. Open a hike → Follow this route. The bar at the top shows the next turn in Great Britain, the next stop and how far it is, the distance left, an estimated time of arrival and the climb still to come. Leaving the route is spoken and buzzed; tap the × on the bar to stop following.
  • Apple Watch. Open Global Adventurer on the watch and tap Start, or say "Start a hike in Global Adventurer". Allow location and Health when asked.

Before you lose signal

  • Get the route into the app: import it, or plan it while you have a connection.
  • Download the map. On the hike, Download map for this route saves the corridor along it; Map → layers button → Download this area saves whatever is on screen. Downloads cover the Topo map with its contours and hillshade. Satellite imagery and the national mapping layers are not part of a download.
  • In Great Britain, follow the route once while online. That fetches its spoken junction directions and keeps them with the hike, so they work offline from then on.
  • Check the forecast while you can. The weather needs a connection.
  • Test it: turn on Aeroplane Mode, open the map at your start point and make sure the map draws and the route shows.
  • Charge the phone, consider the battery saver under Settings → Recording & Power, and check free space under Settings → Offline Maps.

Offline maps

  • What works without signal: your position and recording, following a saved route, your hikes, places and gear, Emergency Location, any area you downloaded, and spoken directions already fetched for a route.
  • What needs a connection: planning new routes, listing trails, place search, the weather, live sharing, the first fetch of spoken directions, Flyover, checking a hike for summits, Garmin and Strava, and the satellite and national mapping layers.
  • Download; do not rely on what you have looked at. Map squares you have merely viewed may stay in a cache for a while, but the cache is small and is cleared without warning. For a walk without signal, download the area or the route beforehand.
  • Managing downloads: Settings → Offline Maps lists every download and the space it takes, and is where you delete them.

Routes and directions

  • Route types. Mountain paths prefers footpaths and open hill; Tracks and lanes prefers surfaced tracks and quiet roads; Shortest is the shortest way on any path. Planning uses OpenStreetMap through the BRouter routing service, so it depends on the paths being mapped. In remote country the drawn line may take the long way round or refuse; you can always draw the route freehand and save it.
  • Spoken directions are available in Great Britain only. Elsewhere the app speaks off-route, arrival and milestone notices but not junctions. The switches are under Settings → Map → Spoken Alerts.
  • Stops. A stop is a named waypoint on a planned route. While following, the route bar shows the next stop and how far it is; tap that line to see the stops still ahead.
  • Climbs. Steep sections are found automatically. The app warns about 120 m before one, the route bar shows how much of the climb is left, and the watch has a page for it. Warn before steep climbs and descents is under Settings → Map → Spoken Alerts.

Apple Watch

  • On its own, the watch records with its own GPS and saves heart rate with the workout. It hands the hike to your phone when they are next together. Allow location and Health when the watch asks, and check that Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services on the watch is on for Global Adventurer.
  • With your phone in range, the watch shows live stats, a bearing arrow to the next stop, the climb you are on and a map picture of the route drawn by the phone. Following a route is the phone's job: the watch shows it but cannot navigate on its own.
  • Siri needs the exact phrase: "Start a hike in Global Adventurer" or "Stop my hike in Global Adventurer".

Pro

  • What it is. Global Adventurer Pro is a one-time in-app purchase made through Apple. The price is shown in the app in your currency before you buy. There is no subscription. The features page lists what it unlocks.
  • A new phone, or Pro shows as locked. Settings → Unlock Pro → Restore Purchases, signed in with the Apple Account that bought it. Give it a moment with a connection.
  • The purchase did not unlock. Wait a minute, then Restore Purchases. Check under iOS Settings → your name → Media & Purchases that you are signed in with the buying account. If it still fails, email us with the date of purchase; we can see whether Apple recorded it.
  • Refunds. Because the purchase is made with Apple, refunds are requested from Apple, not from us: go to reportaproblem.apple.com or follow Apple's instructions. We cannot see your payment details or issue App Store refunds ourselves. Our refund policy has the detail.
  • Receipts come from Apple by email, and under iOS Settings → your name → Media & Purchases → Purchase History.

Garmin, Strava, Apple Health and iCloud

  • Garmin Connect (Pro). Settings → Garmin Connect → Connect Garmin account, and sign in on Garmin's own page. New activities arrive when you open the app; Import older activities fetches your history; Send to Garmin on a hike sends it to your watch as a course. To disconnect: Settings → Garmin Connect → Disconnect, which deletes our copy of the connection and anything waiting to be collected. You can also revoke access under Connected Apps in your Garmin Connect account.
  • Strava (Pro). Settings → Strava → Connect with Strava, and sign in on Strava's own page, leaving every box ticked: sending hikes to Strava needs the upload permission. New activities are collected when you open the app; Import from Strava lets you pick older ones; Send to Strava and View on Strava are on each hike. To disconnect: Settings → Strava → Disconnect, which revokes the app at Strava and deletes our copy. You can also revoke it under Settings → My Apps on Strava.
  • Apple Health. Settings → Health → Sync hikes to Apple Health, then allow the categories in the Health app. Saving workouts is free; the Health dashboard is part of Pro.
  • iCloud sync between your devices. Settings → Backup in the app copies your hikes, photos and places to your own iCloud, so they appear on your other devices. It is a separate switch from the device-wide iCloud Backup in iOS Settings, and it has to be turned on on each device. Turning it off stops the copying; what is already in iCloud stays there until you delete it (see Your data).

Your data

  • Delete a hike: swipe it in Hikes, or open it and choose Delete. With iCloud sync on, the deletion reaches your other devices.
  • Delete everything on a device: delete the app. That removes hikes, photos, places, downloads and settings from that device only.
  • Copies in your iCloud: with sync on, delete the hikes in the app first. To remove the whole store, go to iOS Settings → your name → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Global Adventurer → Delete Data.
  • Apple Health: workouts the app saved are deleted in the Health app, under your profile → Apps → Global Adventurer → Delete All Data.
  • Live shares end when you stop them, or by themselves within 24 hours, and are deleted from our server either way.
  • Garmin and Strava: disconnect in Settings before deleting the app, or revoke access at Garmin or Strava. Connections unused for a year are deleted anyway.
  • The privacy policy describes every data flow in full.

Common problems

  • The map is blank or grey. The first load of an area needs a connection. Areas you downloaded work offline; check Settings → Offline Maps.
  • My hikes did not appear on my iPad. Settings → Backup is a per-device switch: turn it on on every device and give it a minute with the app open.
  • The watch says it cannot record. Allow location and Health when the watch asks, and check Location Services on the watch.
  • Siri does not understand. The phrase has to match: "Start a hike in Global Adventurer" or "Stop my hike in Global Adventurer".
  • Recording stopped in the background. Check iOS Settings → Global Adventurer → Location is set to Always, and that Low Power Mode is off.
  • Apple Health shows nothing. Turn on Settings → Health → Sync hikes to Apple Health, then allow the categories in the Health app.
  • Spoken directions are silent. They are available in Great Britain only, need one follow while online, and are switched under Settings → Map → Spoken Alerts. Check the phone's volume and silent switch too.
  • Garmin Connect will not connect. The sign-in happens on Garmin's own page; sign out of Garmin in Safari and try again.
  • Strava says it is busy or not connected. Strava limits how often apps may ask; wait a few minutes. If you unticked a permission when connecting, disconnect and connect again with every box ticked.
  • No summits were found. The first check of each hike needs a connection. A summit counts when the walk passed within 60 metres of its mapped top.

Contact

Email [email protected]. We read everything and aim to reply within two working days.

It helps to include your device (for example iPhone 15), the iOS or watchOS version, the app version and build (Settings → About), what you did and what happened, and a screenshot if it shows the problem. Please leave out private routes, photos or anything sensitive unless it is needed to solve the problem.