I am interested in possibly trying to use my iPhone as a GPS for some of my hiking trips this summer and found this article interesting and helpful: How To Use Your Smartphone as a GPS

This may seem like a dumb question, but I've never used a GPS before. Assuming your phone is in airplane mode and is not getting reception, are you still able to calculate where you are at any given time (recognizing as always that sometimes the readings are not accurate?). Or have I basically just put my map on my phone?

GPS on the iphone will update even in airplane mode

Just be careful of Battety life, water and dropping it. If you encounter any of these it will be worthless. Turn off anything that uses power on the phone. GPS uses satellites and will give you very accurate readings unless you are in heavy cover. Personally I would never trust a phone to navigate anywhere in the woods or water. Too many things could go wrong with a cell phone that a dedicated GPS unit solves.

Joe -Go for it....but bring a paper map...just for fun.
I never had a paper map die on me.

The key is you need to download the map before the trip while you still have internet access. I simply download it by accessing the map app and looking over my route the day before my trip. Charge the phone up and then shut wifi and cellular off or easier yet go to airplane mode. The GPS on my old iPhone 4s is more accurate than my dedicated GPS unit, I would assume newer iPhones are even more accurate as the 4s is old technology now.

The article you referenced says an iPhone can be used as a stand alone GPS for 5-10 days...wow never would of guessed battery life is that good. Impressive, although I've used mine---not enough to know anything about battery life.

If you are worried about durability you can buy a waterproof case pretty inexpensively, the newer iPhones are waterproof/resistant I think as well. I mean you can't take underwater pictures but they can be immersed for short periods of time and get wet.




Dry bag

I've used my iphone for a gps for years. As others have said, you can get a location even in airplane mode or with no signal. I use the Topo maps app, which for a small fee gives you USGS quads for the entire US and also has topos for Canada (you have to download the maps when you have wifi or a good signal). This is my go to app for hiking off trail in the mountains. Also use motionx for recording tracks and waypoints, but you need a signal to load the satellite images or maps.

The thing about the iphone is that unless I set motionx to record a track, it doesn't update the location when the screen is locked. If you do record a track, then it burns through the battery pretty quickly. I've never gotten more than about 4 hours out of a charge while recording a track. Of course you can always carry a charging pack.

I also have a little basic Garmin, and I actually prefer it when I really need one. One thing is that it always has you located and is always recording your track. Also uses AA batteries so you can carry extra.

Ive also been using mine as a GPS for many years, since the 3GS was current. I've always used MotionX, I'm sure there are much better now but I've never needed more and it has worked for me. I also use the Navionics App for GPS and lake depth maps, pretty solid tool when you are on a lake that's mapped.

quote jcavenagh: "Joe -Go for it....but bring a paper map...just for fun.
I never had a paper map die on me."

Yes, absolutely. I'm a firm believer in having paper backups for everything.

quote marsonite: " As others have said, you can get a location even in airplane mode or with no signal. "

Can you or someone else explain to me how this works? Or, put another way, how does the phone know where I am on the map without a wifi or cell tower signal?

I'm just trying to visualize how this works mentally before I justify $20 for the app. (law school student on a budget, remember!) Thanks!

quote SaganagaJoe: "

quote marsonite: " As others have said, you can get a location even in airplane mode or with no signal. "

Can you or someone else explain to me how this works? Or, put another way, how does the phone know where I am on the map without a wifi or cell tower signal?

I'm just trying to visualize how this works mentally before I justify $20 for the app. (law school student on a budget, remember!) Thanks!


"

Your iPhone is also a GPS unit, it works the same way a GPS unit does. Get's the info/location from a satellite. I don't really know how else to explain so I hope this makes sense or someone else can chime in.


T

quote SaganagaJoe: "

quote marsonite: " As others have said, you can get a location even in airplane mode or with no signal. "

Can you or someone else explain to me how this works? Or, put another way, how does the phone know where I am on the map without a wifi or cell tower signal?

I'm just trying to visualize how this works mentally before I justify $20 for the app. (law school student on a budget, remember!) Thanks!

"

Cell phones are basically two way radios. Inside them, they have an antenna, and a chip connected to said antenna to send and recieve electrical signals through the antenna. Problem is, the air is full of electrical signals, so your cell phone also has to have an electrical filter connected to said reciever chip to filter out all the other electrical signals in the air that it isn't interested in. Plus, an electronic decoder connected to the filter chip to unscramble the particular signal you are interested in. All radios, of any kind, do this. Even old fashioned AM/FM radios - just with simpler circuitry.

In normal operation, your cell phone and antenna circuitry tunes itself to send and recieve cell phone signals. At the same time, your cell phone can simultaneously use some other circuitry to pick up wifi signals through the same antenna. And, clever as they are, the chip designers also added the circuitry to decode the gps electrical signals that are in the air as broadcast from GPS satellites. (On top of that, the circuitry exists in your phone to pick up regular old FM radio through its antenna - it's just disabled by Apple because they want you to pay for iTunes.)

Just like you don't need a cell tower to pick up regular old FM radio, you don't need a cell tower to pick up a GPS signal. GPS signals are broadcast from satellite. So, in the BWCA, or other remote places, you can still use your cell phones GPS decoder circuitry to pick up those satellite signals. (makes you wonder, if your cell phobe could be used as an inreach or spot type of device. my guess is, probably, but the antenna and the "send" circuitry inside your phone don't have enough power to broadcast all the way up to a satellite - they can only listen to the satellites).

I use Gaia GPS. I only paid $9 for it a few years ago. The way it works, is while in civilization, you can use the app to view US Geological survey maps of anywhere in the USA. (I assume, the app downloads these from some free govt website). You need wifi or cell service with a strong data connection to download the maps). The app then also activates the gps satellite detecting circuitry built into your phone, to then superimpose your exact position onto the USGS maps. Now, if you want to access those maps where there is no cell service or wifi, you need to download and store the USGS maps onto your phone - the app has instructions for how to do that.

Thanks for that very detailed and helpful response! I will probably be buying that app soon for my summer hikes. Thanks so much!

I have bought the app and will be learning how to use it and will report back as to how it performs. This has the potential to really be a great tool for me on hikes and canoe trips.

I will be using the same iphone gps with the Gaeia app. Should be very useful on crooked lake. LOL

i use the Navionics App - I think its $10 a year, but it also has a lot of the portages and lake depths

you can download the map area before you head out. I bring a portable usb charger and it and the iphone will last a week.

tyh

tyh: "i use the Navionics App - I think its $10 a year, but it also has a lot of the portages and lake depths


you can download the map area before you head out. I bring a portable usb charger and it and the iphone will last a week.


tyh"

There is a two week free trail. I will download it before I leave and give it try. The map I looked at had lake depth that matched the DNR map and notes about the water plants.

I just used the maps.me app as a backup this trip since i usually just use a paper map. It is a free app, the Northern MN map is fairly small spacewise, and while there arent topo lines or anything, its good for confirming your location. Worked fine for me. Didnt really feel the need to splurge for Gaia or anything.

proepro: "

tyh: "i use the Navionics App - I think its $10 a year, but it also has a lot of the portages and lake depths



you can download the map area before you head out. I bring a portable usb charger and it and the iphone will last a week.



tyh"

There is a two week free trail. I will download it before I leave and give it try. The map I looked at had lake depth that matched the DNR map and notes about the water plants.


"

I used the trial and was able to find the spot I wanted much easier than with the depth map. I would paddle around and the map would update with my location and the depth. Not as detailed as a depth finder but much less expensive. Both lakes I wanted had maps.

I recomend taking a look at it.

I'm not an engineer nor a mobile profesional, but I believe today's smartphones have four different broadcast and/or receiver units: Cellular, wi-fi, bluetooth, and GPS. I guess NFC is yet another.

Airplaine mode turns off cellular signals only. As I understand it, GPS is a receiver, therefore won't broadcast signals that potentially interfere with airplane instruments. You can manually turn off bluetooth and wi-fi and NFC in device settings, and the only thing running the battery will be the GPS receiver and app and the screen when you use it.

My first smartphone turned off bluetooth and wifi when I activated airplane mode, but my current phone only turns off the cellular radio.

This is all stuff I've absorbed over the years from conversations about cell phones with people who know people, so I may be incorrect on a lot of it.

Good 8nfo buckflicks...the more stuff you can shut down the longer the battery will last.

T

If you just want an accurate GPS without extras like portages, lake depths, ect. There is no need to buy any apps for your phone. The best way is to just download map areas for use offline via google maps. Have used this many times overseas in other countries where I do not want to have to pay for data usage outside of the US. Very accurate and detailed map views still while navigating offline, can still search for things like gas stations, and use car navigation within the app while offline.

How to download Offline google maps via google map app...

I did this last trip.

When using google maps app, hit the upper left hand menu screen. Scroll down to offline maps. Create a new map by outlining the area you plan to hike. Maps will save it on your phone (gotta be on WIFi) for 30 days or something like that.

Worked flawlessly for me.

I've been using the free version of US TOPO the last few years with no problems. It also shows the portages, but not campsites. Along with a paper map, you should be able to get around just fine.

I use Gaia App on my Iphone 7 in airplane mode. just returned from 7 days in the bwca and it worked flawlessly. I also have the navionics app and it is interesting for lake depths and seemed to works just as well for navigation. I happened to already have the .gpx file loaded into gaia for portages and campsites so that is what i use primarily.

Couple of notes
1. download the map for the area you are visiting ahead of time.
2. i downloaded the .gpx files with portages and campsites prior to our visit last year. So far everything has been spot on.
3. check your setting for apps using the location services. I noticed this year my battery seemed to be draining quicker than i expected in airplane mode the first 2 days. checked my setting and had several app using GPS location "always" instead of "only while using app" changed those and greatly improved battery life.
4. Take a battery to re-charge your phone. I got about 3 days out of my phone checking locations occasionally (after updating the settings mentioned above) but it will drain). If you use the guide me function or record a route it will run down the battery Quickly.
5. have your phone in some kind of waterproof case. I have a generic lifeproof case and use water proof bag when in the boat.
6. as other mentioned we still bring a paper map.