Buddies
Let someone know you're out there.
Share your live position with the people who worry about you, and get an alert out automatically if you don't check in when you said you would. They watch for free — only the person being tracked needs Pro.
How it works
01
Link up with your people
Connect with the friends, family or club members who want to know you are alright. One connection, both directions — you can watch them too.
02
Say when you expect to finish
Before you set off, pick your trail and your expected finish time. Your watchers see the plan straight away: which track, how long, and when you should be back.
03
Walk. They can see you moving
Your position updates as you go, drawn on the real 3D terrain. If you wander off the route, your watchers see that too.
04
If you do not check in, they hear about it
Miss your finish time and an alert goes out automatically, with your last known position and when it was recorded. No one has to sit there refreshing a page.
Straight answer
Why this one isn’t free.
Everything in Aus Trails that keeps you safe is free and always will be — offline maps so the track still works with no signal, live GPS, real elevation, 3D terrain, and all 481 trails. No trial, no card, no account needed to browse. We would rather you had those and never paid us a cent than have you out there without them.
Live tracking is the exception, and there is a specific reason. Keeping your position updating while your phone sits in your pocket means a service running on our side the whole time you are walking. An alert that actually reaches someone means sending a real SMS — a push notification to an app your mum has not opened in a month is not an alert. Both cost us money for every hour a hike is active, unlike a map layer, which costs the same whether one person looks at it or a hundred thousand do.
So we charge for it, as little as we can, and we tell you exactly why. And we built it so one subscription covers a whole circle: your buddies never pay anything to watch you. The cost sits with the person generating it.
This is not a substitute for a PLB
Buddies needs phone reception to update your position, and a lot of the best walking in this country has none. On genuinely remote trails, carry a personal locator beacon — nothing in an app replaces one. Buddies is for the far more common case: a day walk inside coverage where someone at home wants to know you got off the hill.
Common questions
Do my friends need to pay to watch me?
No. Only the person being tracked needs Pro. Anyone you invite can follow your live position and receive your alerts on a free account, at no cost to them. One subscription covers everyone who worries about you.
Why does live tracking cost money when the rest of the app is free?
Because this one has a real running cost. Keeping your position updating while your phone is in your pocket means a background service on our side, and an alert that actually reaches someone means sending an SMS — both cost us money for every hour a hike is active. Offline maps, live GPS, elevation and the full trail catalogue cost nothing extra to serve, so they are free and always will be.
What happens if I do not check in?
You set an expected finish time before you leave. If you have not finished by then, your watchers are alerted automatically with your last known position and the time it was recorded. You can finish early, extend, or cancel at any point.
Does this replace a PLB or an emergency beacon?
No, and it is important to be clear about that. This needs phone reception to update your position, and much of the best walking in Australia has none. On genuinely remote trails carry a PLB. This is for the far more common case: a day walk within coverage where someone at home wants to know you got off the hill.
Can I see where my hiking group is?
Yes. Buddies works as a group — everyone you have connected with can appear on one map, so a club or a family can keep track of each other across a weekend rather than one person at a time.