Mobile phones!

[JoeyB]

I have NavFree on my phone, its basically a free TomTom!

 

[And]

If you are on Android can live with Open Street Map, have a look for OsmAnd (free version). You will need spare memory, how much you need depends on how many areas of the world you want to download. I have all of the UK and a big chunk of France and it's about 2gb in size.

Top notch.

 

[Jimmy Doug]

Another one for OsmAnd. But as you already have a UK map installed it probably isn't necessary. But if you go cycling outside of the UK, it's a brilliant off-line satnav.

 

[numbnuts]

I have NavFree on my phone now many thanks

 

[swee'pea99]

NavFree sounded great till I saw the list of app permissions. Location I expected, but it wants permission to modify/delete SD card contents, disable keylock and prevent phone from sleeping, directly call phone numbers, and read my personal contact data, among others. Call me paranoid, but I don't know what it wants all that for, and I'm not inclined to give it. Pass.

 

[JoeyB]

NavFree sounded great till I saw the list of app permissions. Location I expected, but it wants permission to modify/delete SD card contents, disable keylock and prevent phone from sleeping, directly call phone numbers, and read my personal contact data, among others. Call me paranoid, but I don't know what it wants all that for, and I'm not inclined to give it. Pass.

Paranoid.

I've had it for well over a year and nothing bad has happened to me yet.

 

[swee'pea99]

Just 'cos you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

 

[Fnaar]

NavFree sounded great till I saw the list of app permissions. Location I expected, but it wants permission to modify/delete SD card contents, disable keylock and prevent phone from sleeping, directly call phone numbers, and read my personal contact data, among others. Call me paranoid, but I don't know what it wants all that for, and I'm not inclined to give it. Pass.

Most of that sounds scary, but will be functional, tbh:
e.g: (I suppose)... modify/delete SD card contents: do you want to save maps for offline use and then delete them when you choose to do so?
disable keylock and prevent phone from sleeping: do you want 'screen on' so that you can see the maps without screen turning off after 15 seconds
read my personal contact data: send your whereabouts to MI5

 

[paul04]

I've been using NavFree for about 4 weeks, and it works fine, I put it on a old smart phone with does not even have a sim card in it,(downloaded the app over wifi)
It does not have speed cameras warning (you will have to pay extra for that)
But as a free app, and maps you can use without any data, then I give it 10/10

Goole maps is also free, but it does use a little bit of data.

 

[EltonFrog]

Thanks to @SatNavSaysStraightOn I downloaded the NavFree app, and tried it out today on the bike, it works great so far, very very good for nowt.

 

[flatflr]

I had a Lumia as a company phone a couple of years ago and global maps and sat nav is totally free, and it will not use any of your data allowance once the maps have been downloaded.
It was actually quite a nice phone to use, just took a little while to get used to after having an iPhone for 3 years.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Old thread revival, as i don't think my query warrants another phone question, comment, opinion etc thread. My question is can someone who phones or texts me, or me phoning or texting them find out my exact location during or after communicating? 🤔

 

[biggs682]

Old thread revival, as i don't think my query warrants another phone question, comment, opinion etc thread. My question is can someone who phones or texts me, or me phoning or texting them find out my exact location during or after communicating? 🤔

Good question , I think on certain apple phones they can track your location 24-7 but I think you have to be down as a contact .

 

[Drago]

Old thread revival, as i don't think my query warrants another phone question, comment, opinion etc thread. My question is can someone who phones or texts me, or me phoning or texting them find out my exact location during or after communicating? 🤔

If you are on google or android, potentially. Depends how honest the other party is in their acquisition of hooky software, and how loose your security settings are. Certainly if youve given them the necessary passwords and the like they can use a find my phone type feature.

SAR teams use SARloc, which they send to your phone and depends on you opening it. The problem is phone GPS isn't nrilliant and can be well out.

Best method is the one the telecoms firms use on behalf of the dibble. They determine which sector of the call your phone is on, and that gives them a rough direction. They then use maths to work out the timings of the signal between your phone and the cell and that gives them a very accurate distance. Depending on the size of area the cell covers that can give a result to a few metres, or a few hundred metres.

Now this thread necromancy has occurred, I must question the logic of the OPs scenario. He wants to carry a phone instead after forgetting to pack his map - whats to stop him simply forgetting the phone instead? The problem is one of poor prior planning and preparation creating piss poor performance, not one of the actual navigation method itself.

 

[Alex321]

Old thread revival, as i don't think my query warrants another phone question, comment, opinion etc thread. My question is can someone who phones or texts me, or me phoning or texting them find out my exact location during or after communicating? 🤔

Only if you have apps specifically designed for that purpose enabled.

The authorities (with an appropriate warrant) can do so from phone company records, but ordinary phone users cannot get that information unless you choose to install an app to give it out. Such apps are what parents can use to keep track of their kids, for instance.