Geocaching App Adds Offline Maps, Trail Maps, Other Features

The folks over at Groundspeak recently announced that the popular Geocaching app has been updated with some features that geocachers have been requesting for a long time now: offline maps. Although it’s only available for Premium Geocaching members, this feature will be nice when you’re somewhere that has zero cell signal—as is common when you’re out geocaching in the wilderness.

Other updates added with the most recent patch include a My Lists beta and trail maps, and pending logs. It’s unclear whether all of these features are available for free members as well as Premium members, unfortunately (so if you’re a free member, please chime in below and let me know). We’ll take a closer look at each of the new updates below:

Offline Maps

The offline maps are, undoubtedly, one of the bigger and more anticipated features to be released. With this feature, geocachers will be able to download maps and navigate to a cache without an internet connection.

Here are the steps for downloading an offline map:

1. Select a geocache list
2. Save the list for offline use
3. Wander into the wilds without worry!

The app will also prompt users to switch to the trails maps if there are any available for the area.

Trail Maps

This feature was actually added a few months ago, but since we missed writing about it then, I thought I’d go over it. This updated feature allows users to view trail maps and use them when navigating to geocaches inside of national parks and other locations. The maps are all open-sourced and are available for select cities and parks. The app should prompt users if a trail map is available.

Pending Logs

It can be tempting to go ahead and create a log while the experience is fresh in your mind. Now, pending logs will allow users to submit logs in the fields and then automatically upload the next time you connect to the internet. It should be noted that logs must be complete in order to be ‘pending’ although a feature to save half-finished log drafts is in the works.

My Lists (beta)

Bookmark Lists is already a thing, but with the My Lists (which is still in the beta phase, so use with caution) users will be able to share, edit, and organize lists of geocaches. Users will be able to sort lists by various criteria, and set them as public or private. Also with this update, all lists created in the Geocaching app will automatically appear on Geocaching.com (and vice versa as well), making it simple to switch between.