Pathfinder keeps track of where you go, so that you always find back

Martin Brinkmann
Mar 27, 2014
Apps, Google Android
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Finding back to a starting location can be useful in many situations. From retracing your steps to finding your parked car over making sure that you can go back to your hotel while on holiday to locations where orientation is problematic.

If you ever had to search for your parked car for an extended period of time, you know how useful applications such as Pathfinder can be.

Pathfinder is a brand new application for Google Android devices that keeps track of where you walk or drive so that you can find your way back at all times.

Setup

Before you can start using it you need to link it either to your Google Plus or Facebook account. There is unfortunately no option to bypass this or use an email address instead.

If you are using Google Plus for verification, I suggest you tap on the edit buttons next to the permissions that the app requests to block its access to your circles and prevent it from making your app and purchase activity available via Google.

As far as permissions that the app itself requests go, it is requesting quite a few. Some can be linked to the functionality that it provides, such as the permission to get an approximate or precise location, while others cannot be linked that easily or at all. It requests permissions to read your own contact card for example or read the phone status and identity.

Pathfinder is compatible with all versions of Android from 2.2 onwards.

Using Pathfinder

When you first start the application after installation and setup, you immediately see a map and your position on it. Depending on whether GPS is enabled or not, it may be fairly accurate or only approximately accurate.

It tracks your movement automatically and displays position changes so that you know where you started and where you went to. You can stop the tracking at any time, and when you do so, can save the data that was accumulated during the recording so that you can load it again.

Once a route is saved it becomes available under saved locations from where it can be opened again.

Say you spend time regularly in a different city and always travel from airport to the same hotel by car. You could use the route information of your first visit on consecutive visits to know how to reach the hotel, or a particular place in the city.

The options enable you to make a couple of modifications. Here you can change the mode from walking to driving, the distance unit from meters to kilometers or miles, and disable the path drawing and direction feature.

You can zoom in and out of the map, reset all data, or start and stop new recordings.

Verdict

Pathfinder is an excellent app if you are sometimes in a situation where you need to trace back a way you came. This can be back to your parked car or bike, a trail in the woods, or back to your hotel or convention center.

It can also be useful to remember places along the way, for instance if you like to bike or hike.

Summary
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Software Name
Pathfinder
Operating System
Android
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Comments

  1. bruh said on August 18, 2023 at 1:25 pm
    Reply

    Uhh, this has already been possible – I am not sure how but remember my brother telling me about it. I’m not a whatsapp user so not sure of the specifics, but something about sending the image as a file and somehow bypassing the default compression settings that are applied to inbound photos.

    He has also used this to share movies to whatsapp groups, and files 1Gb+.

    Like I said, I never used whatsapp, but I know 100% this isn’t a “brand new feature”, my brother literally showed me him doing it, like… 5 months ago?

  2. 💥 said on August 18, 2023 at 3:55 pm
    Reply

    Martin, what happened to those: 12 Comments (https://www.ghacks.net/chatgpt-gets-schooled-by-princeton-university/#comments). Is there a specific justifiable reason why they were deleted?

    Hmm, it looks like the gHacks website database is faulty, and not populating threads with their relevant cosponsoring posts.

  3. 45 RPM said on August 19, 2023 at 6:29 pm
    Reply

    The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk that it’s about to be deleted from my ‘daily reads’.

    It’s really like “Press Release as re-written by some d*ck for clicks…poorly.” And the subjects are laughable. Can’t wait for “How to search for files on Windows”.

    1. owl said on August 20, 2023 at 12:51 am
      Reply

      > The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk…

      Sadly, I have to agree.

      Only Martin and Ashwin are worth subscribing to.
      Especially Emre Çitak and Shaun are the worst ones.

      If ghacks.net intended “Clickbait”, it would mark the end of Ghacks Technology News.
      Ghacks doesn’t need crappy clickbaits. Clearly separate articles from newer authors (perhaps AIs and external sales person or external advertising man) as just “Advertisements”!

      We, the subscribers of Ghacks, urge Martin to make a decision.

  4. chessandonions said on August 20, 2023 at 12:40 am
    Reply

    because nevermore wants to “monetize” on every aspect of human life…

  5. Frank Rizzo said on August 20, 2023 at 11:52 pm
    Reply

    “Threads” is like the Walmart of Social Media.

  6. Ashray said on August 21, 2023 at 4:06 pm
    Reply

    How hard can it be to clone a twitter version of that as well? They’re slow.

  7. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:16 pm
    Reply

    Yes, why not mention how large the HD files can be?
    Why, not mention what version of WhatsApp is needed?
    These omissions make the article feel so bare. If not complete.

    1. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:18 pm
      Reply

      Sorry posted on the wrong page.

  8. Marc said on August 21, 2023 at 6:00 pm
    Reply

    such a long article for such a simple matter. Worthless article ! waste of time

  9. plusminus_ said on August 21, 2023 at 7:54 pm
    Reply

    I already do this by attaching them via the ‘Document’ option.

  10. John G. said on August 21, 2023 at 11:43 pm
    Reply

    I don’t know what’s going on here at Ghacks but it’s obvious that something is broken, comments are being mixed whatever the article, I am unable to find some of my later posts neither. :S

  11. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:28 pm
    Reply

    Quoting the article,
    “As users gain popularity, the value of their tokens may increase, allowing investors to reap rewards.”

    Besides, beyond the thrill and privacy risks or not, the point is to know how you gain popularity, be it on social sites as everywhere in life. Is it by being authentic, by remaining faithful to ourselves or is it to have this particular skill which is to understand what a majority likes, just like politicians, those who’d deny to the maximum extent compatible with their ideological partnership, in order to grab as many of the voters they can?

    I see the very concept of this Friend.tech as unhealthy, propagating what is already an increasing flaw : the quest for fame. I won’t be the only one to count himself out, definitely.

    1. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:34 pm
      Reply

      @John G. is right : my comment was posted on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/23/what-is-friend-tech/] and it appears there but as well here at [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/08/how-to-follow-everyone-on-threads/]

      This has been lasting for several days. Fix it or at least provide some explanations if you don’t mind.

  12. Tom said on August 24, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    > Google Chrome is following in Safari’s footsteps by introducing a new feature that allows users to move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen, enhancing user accessibility and interaction.

    Firefox did this long before Safari.

  13. Mavoy said on September 16, 2023 at 2:17 pm
    Reply

    Basically they’ll do anything except fair royalties.

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