Geo — Support
Geo is a hiking instrument: live altitude, atmospheric pressure, a storm-warning barometer, an offline-capable augmented-reality view that names the mountains around you, plus a trip recorder and a summit log. This page covers the most common questions; if you don't find the answer, the email link at the bottom reaches a human.
Get in touch
The fastest way to reach the developer is email: nettrash@nettrash.me. Please include your iPhone model and iOS version — it makes sensor and AR issues much easier to reproduce.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the altitude reading 0?
Geo reads altitude from the iPhone's barometric pressure sensor (CMAltimeter), which is gated by the system's Motion & Fitness permission. Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Motion & Fitness and make sure Geo is enabled. iPhone models without a barometric sensor (e.g. the original iPhone SE) can't show barometric altitude; the GPS altitude reading is still shown when Location is granted.
The altitude is off by tens of metres. Can I fix it?
Yes — barometric altitude drifts with the weather, so 1.1 adds known-elevation calibration. When you're at a point with a known height (a trailhead sign, a summit marker, a benchmark), tap the barometer card on the Info tab and enter "I am at X m". Geo pins the altimeter to that value instantly — no network needed — and shows a green calibrated badge. The pin gently decays over about six hours as the weather drifts and then reverts to the system reading, so a stale calibration can't silently bias your altitude. The calibrated value is shared with the home-screen widget so they always agree.
What is the "pressure falling fast" notification?
That's the storm warning — the classic mountaineering/sailing use of a barometer. Geo watches the 3-hour pressure tendency (corrected for any altitude you've gained, so a climb doesn't false-trigger it) and sends a single local notification when pressure drops sharply, which often precedes deteriorating weather. It alerts at most once per onset. To receive it, allow notifications when Geo first asks, or enable them later in Settings → Geo → Notifications; denying them just turns the advisory off. A live 3-hour trend chip also appears on the Info barometer card. Because background timing is throttled by iOS, treat the alert as best-effort, not a guarantee.
Why are no peaks shown in the AR view?
Peaks are looked up from OpenStreetMap, which needs network access. The Nature (AR) view also needs a clear view toward the horizon — indoors, point the camera out a window or step outside. A peak is only labelled if it's actually above your horizon (a nearby ridge, or simply the curve of the Earth, can hide a distant summit) and catalogued in OpenStreetMap; when there's nothing to show, the view displays the horizon line by itself. You can also raise the minimum-altitude slider on the side of the view to hide the smaller peaks. Heading somewhere with no signal? See offline expedition packs below.
How do offline expedition packs work?
Before you lose signal, pre-cache an area so the Nature (AR) view keeps naming peaks on a no-signal summit. From the Info tab → "Manage offline areas" (or the Map tab, using the "Download a region" mode to frame an area on the map), download the area around a location at a 5 / 10 / 50 / 100 km radius. Geo fetches that area's named peaks and stores them on-device; offline, those peaks resolve from the cache with no live calls and appear in the camera out to about 80 km. Saved packs list their peak count and date, can be named, renamed and updated (re-downloaded to pick up newly-added peaks), and are shown as circles on the Map tab. Map tiles aren't cached (Apple MapKit licensing), so the basemap still needs a connection — only the AR peaks work fully offline. Delete a pack any time from the same screen.
How do I identify a peak in the AR view, or share the view?
Tap any peak label to open its detail card — name, altitude, distance, bearing, coordinates, and a Directions button. Each visible peak is marked by a thin line rising from its summit to a small tilted card showing its name and altitude, so the label points at the peak without covering it. To share what you're looking at, tap the shutter button: Geo freezes the current camera frame with the peak labels composited on top and hands it to the system share sheet. The capture is created entirely on-device and is only shared if you choose a destination.
What is the summit log, and how does the auto-detect work?
When you walk within roughly 500 m of a known peak (a Seven Summit, a Snow Leopard peak, or other catalogued summit), Geo offers to log the ascent — it never logs automatically; you confirm. A logged summit records the date, the peak's elevation, your measured barometric altitude, and an optional note, and appears in the "Summits" trophy case on the Stat tab, each with a detail view (editable note, Directions, Delete, and a shareable summit card). Summits sync across your devices via your private iCloud. Only the peak's public location is stored or shared — never a record of where you actually were.
How do I record a trip?
On the Stat tab, tap to start the trip recorder; it wraps Geo's always-on barometer/GPS sampling into a named outing. Each trip shows total ascent and descent (with sub-3 m sensor noise smoothed out so the numbers don't inflate), max/min altitude, distance, moving time, and an elevation profile. Recording survives an app restart, runs entirely on-device, and syncs through your private iCloud. Stop the trip from the same control when you're done.
Where is my history stored, and how do I delete it?
On your devices, and in your private iCloud. Your altitude/pressure/route history, recorded trips, and summit log sync across iPhone and Apple Watch via CloudKit. Nothing is uploaded to any server the developer runs; the developer has no access to your data. Full details are in the privacy policy.
To delete it: use Clear history on the Stat tab (and delete individual trips or summits from their detail views), or remove Geo from your iPhone and clear the Geo entry from Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Manage Account Storage. History older than about a year is also pruned automatically.
Which way is the peak? The compass arrow.
The closest- and highest-mountain cards on the Info tab show the true bearing to the peak ("117° SE") with an arrow that rotates to your live heading, so it always points at the summit — a low-power, AR-free way to find a peak. If the arrow wanders, you'll see a "calibrate compass" hint; move the phone in a figure-eight to settle the magnetometer. The compass runs only while the Info tab is open.
My Apple Watch complications stopped updating.
Complications refresh on the watch's own schedule and after a new barometer reading is recorded. Open the Geo Watch app once and let it run for a few seconds; the complication will catch up at the next refresh. If it's still stuck, remove the complication from the watch face and re-add it.
The widget shows stale altitude.
iPhone widgets refresh on the system's schedule, and Geo asks for its next fallback refresh about 15 minutes out. That's deliberate: iOS grants a widget only a few dozen reloads a day, so asking every couple of minutes spends the allowance by lunchtime and leaves the widget stale for the rest of it. Geo additionally requests an immediate refresh whenever it captures a new barometer reading, and every refresh — however it was triggered — takes a live barometer sample. If you've just opened the app for the first time, give the widget a minute to catch up. To force a refresh: long-press the widget, choose Edit Widget, and re-confirm.
I denied a permission. How do I re-enable it?
Geo shows a banner across the top of the tab view explaining what's missing and offering a one-tap shortcut to Settings. Granting the permission there clears the banner immediately on return. Notifications can be re-enabled the same way, from Settings → Geo → Notifications.
Reporting bugs
If something looks wrong, please describe what you did, what you expected, and what actually happened. A screenshot or screen recording helps a lot. Send it to nettrash@nettrash.me; we'll respond as soon as we can.