(09) — Questions and answers
Everything you would want to ask us.
44 answers · 8 categories
Getting started
What is Terranos?
An app for organizing group mountain trips: you create the trip, friends join, you coordinate transport and gear, and on the trail you see each other live on the map. Plus offline maps, GPX recording and group chat.
Is it free?
Yes, the app is free at launch — no ads and no data sales. Our future model is tied to services for organizers and event hosting, not to your data.
Which phones and platforms does it run on?
iOS, Android and web — with the same features and the same account. The interface exists in Romanian, English, German, Hungarian, French and Spanish.
How do I create an account?
Download the app and register with e-mail or with your Google or Apple account. It takes under a minute; completing your profile with a name and photo helps the group recognize you.
Do I need to read maps to use the app?
No. The map shows marked trails with their blazes, the trip route and your position. If you want more — contour lines, 3D terrain, measurements — they are there, but never required.
Trips and organization
How do I create a trip?
From the create button you fill in the title, route, date, difficulty, meeting point and capacity. You can add a gear list and transport options. On publish, the trip becomes visible in Discover.
Can I control who joins?
Yes. Enable manual approval and every join request comes to you; accept or decline. Alternatively, leave sign-up open until the spots fill.
How do car seats work?
Drivers declare how many seats they offer and where they leave from. Participants pick their car, and the app keeps count of the remaining seats. The organizer sees at a glance who has transport and who is still looking.
What happens if I reschedule?
All participants are notified of the new date and asked to reconfirm attendance. Nobody stays signed up "by inertia" to a trip that moved.
Can I organize things other than hikes?
Yes — the trip is a flexible container: alpinism, ski touring, mountain biking, even easy family outings. You define the difficulty, the gear and the pace.
Is there a participant limit?
You set the trip capacity. Live sharing works for large groups too — the positions of all active members appear on the map.
Can I cancel a trip?
Yes, and participants are notified immediately. The canceled trip stays in the history as canceled, for transparency toward those who signed up.
Live and privacy
Who sees my location during the trip?
Only the members of the trip you joined — and only while you share. Nobody outside the trip has access, and the organizer has no special rights over your position.
What does reciprocity mean, exactly?
To see the positions of the others on the map, you must be visible yourself. The rule is checked by the server on every request — it is not an interface setting that can be bypassed.
Does sharing stop by itself?
Yes, at the end of the trip — plus a 12-hour safety cap. You can also stop it manually at any time, with a confirmation that prevents accidental taps.
Do you keep a history of my live positions?
Live positions exist for the map, during the trip. We do not build movement profiles and do not keep long-term position history. Your recorded GPX track is different: it is yours, saved by you, in your account.
Do you sell or share data with third parties?
No. No ads, no data brokers, no hidden tracking SDKs in the app. The data lives on our infrastructure, full stop.
Can I join a trip without sharing?
Yes. Sharing is always your choice. The only consequence is reciprocity: while you do not share, you do not see the others on the map either.
Where is the data hosted?
On servers we administer, in the European Union, under GDPR. We do not use US hosting for account data and positions.
Battery and usage
How much battery does live sharing use?
Little, by design: transmission slows automatically when you stand still and uses balanced-accuracy location services. A full-day trip is ended by your photos, not by sharing.
What happens when the battery gets low?
Below 20%, the app switches to economy mode by itself and transmits less often. Below 10%, one signal every five minutes — the group still sees you, but the phone breathes.
Does it work with the screen locked?
Yes. Track recording and live sharing continue in the background with the screen off. For long trips we recommend the phone’s battery saver plus a small power bank.
Why does "3 min ago" sometimes appear next to a member?
It is the age of the last received position — on the mountain, signal comes and goes. The marker helps you tell "standing still" from "lost signal", and the position updates by itself when the connection returns.
Maps and offline
How do I download offline maps?
From Maps you pick the country package or draw your own region and choose the level of detail. The download runs in the background on Wi-Fi; afterwards the map works fully without signal.
How much space do they take?
It depends on area and detail — a country package with terrain measures in the hundreds of MB up to ~1 GB. Custom regions can be much smaller. You see the size before downloading.
Does 3D terrain work offline?
Yes — 3D terrain, hillshade and contour lines are part of the downloaded packages and need no connection.
What are the marked trails on the map?
Official routes with tourist blazes (stripe, cross, triangle, dot — in their real colors). The GPX analysis also shows what share of your trip followed such trails.
Can I measure a route directly on the map?
Yes — measure mode gives you point-to-point distance, and with trail routing you also get estimated elevation gain, the share on marked trails and a GPX export of the drawn route.
Do you update the maps?
Yes, packages are refreshed periodically from open sources (OpenStreetMap and terrain data). New versions appear in the catalog and you choose when to download them.
GPX and my data
How do I record my trip?
Tap the boots button on the map and start. The track draws in real time, and on stop you get the analysis: distance, ascent, moving time, marked trails.
Can I export my tracks?
Yes, any recorded or drawn route exports as standard GPX, compatible with any other app or device.
Can I import existing tracks?
Yes — GPX and KML. On import you automatically get the full analysis, including the share on marked trails in areas covered by our maps.
How accurate is the recording?
We use a Kalman filter over GPS and motion detection, so the track is clean, without zigzag, and pauses do not count as walking. Final accuracy depends on the phone and the terrain.
Are my tracks public?
No. Recorded tracks are private, in your account. You choose if and with whom to share them.
Chat and notifications
Do messages arrive in real time?
Yes — under a second in normal conditions, over realtime channels. On reconnect after losing signal, the conversation catches up by itself.
Can I send photos and locations?
Yes: photos from camera or gallery (including iPhone HEIC), and points on the map when you want to show where you are. Received locations open straight into the app map.
What do the checkmarks under messages mean?
Clock — sending. Double gray check — reached the server. Double orange check — everyone else has read it. In one-to-one conversations, orange means exactly "read".
Do I get notifications with the app closed?
Yes, push notifications with the sender’s name and a fragment of the message. Tap the notification and you land straight in the conversation.
Can I delete a conversation?
Yes, from the conversation menu. Deletion is for you: the history disappears from your side permanently, the other person keeps their copy, and a new conversation with the same person starts from zero.
Can I mute a trip’s notifications?
Yes, every conversation has its own mute — you stay in the group, but the phone stays quiet. The trip’s safety notifications remain active.
Account and security
How do I change my password or e-mail?
From Profile → Settings → Account. Sensitive changes require re-confirming your identity.
Can I delete my account?
Yes, permanently, from account settings. Personal data is deleted, and your messages in group conversations are anonymized.
How is my account protected?
Sign-in via e-mail or Google/Apple, sessions kept in the phone’s secure storage (Keychain / Keystore), and data access through server-side authorization rules, not in the app.
What do others see from my profile?
Your name, photo and whatever you choose to fill in (gear, car for transport). Trip members see only what is relevant to the trip.
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