Frequently Asked Questions

Basic Setup & Permissions

Why do I need "Always" location and Background App Refresh?

MeTrail relies on iOS to tell it in the background where you arrived and when you left. With only "While Using the App", visits made while the phone is locked or the app is in the background get missed.

Steps:

  1. Open iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > MeTrail, choose Always, and turn on Precise Location.
  2. Open iOS Settings > General > Background App Refresh and make sure MeTrail is on.

Why am I not getting arrival and departure notifications?

Both the system notification permission and the in-app switch need to be on. Once you have declined, iOS won't ask again, so you have to restore it in Settings.

Steps:

  1. Open iOS Settings > MeTrail > Notifications and turn on Allow Notifications.
  2. Open Today > Settings > Notifications and turn on Enable Notifications.

Notes:

  • Notifications follow your visits, so they can arrive late in a Focus or in Low Power Mode.
  • For places you don't visit often, like restaurants and sights, pull down the departure notification to tap Liked or Didn't Like and save your impression.

Are photos I take in MeTrail saved to my photo library?

Not by default. Photos stay attached to the record. To keep a copy in the Photos app too, turn on Save to Photos in Today > Settings > General.

Notes:

  • The first time a photo is saved, iOS asks for permission to add photos. If you decline, the photo stays on the record; allow it again in iOS Settings > MeTrail > Photos.

How do I see my steps in MeTrail?

Steps come from Apple Health and are hidden by default. Turn on Show Steps in Today > Settings > Tools & Data > Apple Health, then allow MeTrail to read steps on the Health permission sheet. The Apple Health page during first setup and a tip on Today offer the same Show Steps button. Steps then appear under the Today title, on the selected day in Calendar, on walking stretches between visits, in the transit part of every review, and on trip details.

Notes:

  • Only walking or running stretches show steps; rides and cycling don't, and nothing shows when Health has no steps for that time.
  • If the settings page says no steps have been read yet, turn on Steps in iOS Settings > Privacy & Security > Health > MeTrail.
  • Steps are read from Health only when shown. They aren't saved, synced to iCloud, or included in exports and share cards.

How do I add my visits to my calendar automatically?

Open a place, tap More > Add to Calendar, turn on “Add Visits Here to Calendar”, and choose a calendar, or let MeTrail create a new “MeTrail” calendar. From then on, each visit there is added as an event after you leave, the next time you open MeTrail. The first time you turn it on, you can also turn on “Also Add Visits from the Past 30 Days”. This feature needs Pro and full access to your calendars.

Notes:

  • All places share one calendar. In Today > Settings > Tools & Data > Calendar you can change the calendar, see which places are on, or remove all events MeTrail added at once.
  • MeTrail only changes events it added. Visits you delete in Calendar aren’t added back, and when a visit from the past 30 days is archived or deleted, its event is removed too.
  • Anyone who can see the calendar can see these events, so choose shared calendars with care.
  • Events are written only while MeTrail is open, never in the background, so open the app once after you leave for the event to appear.

Location Recording Accuracy

Why do visits appear late, and why is the departure time filled in afterward?

MeTrail doesn't locate you every second like a navigation app. It usually records the arrival first and fills in the departure time once it confirms you have left. How late depends on Tracking Mode in Today > Settings > General > Tracking: Precise is the most prompt, Balanced comes next, and Power Saving is often ten to thirty minutes late.

Notes:

  • All three modes need Always location, and all of them record stays, not a continuous route.

Why is there a stretch of time with no records?

First open Today > Settings > General > Tracking > Recording Status; any problem with permissions or a pause is flagged right there. A Recording Paused row on the timeline means MeTrail really wasn't recording during that time.

Notes:

  • If everything looks fine and a stay is still missing, you were most likely somewhere with poor location reception, such as a basement or parking garage, and the stay couldn't be confirmed before you left. A larger place matching range won't bring it back.

What if the travel mode on the timeline is wrong?

How you traveled between two visits comes from iOS motion activity and needs Motion & Fitness access, which you can turn on in Today > Settings > General > Tracking > Recording Status. If a mode is wrong, touch and hold that row and change it to Walking, Cycling, or By vehicle.

Notes:

  • iOS keeps only the last 7 days of motion activity, so older trips can only be set by hand.
  • iOS can't tell driving from riding a bus, so both show as By vehicle.

What if one place is recorded as several visits or several places?

When a stay is split into a chain of short visits, touch and hold one of them and choose Merge Visits…; turn on Treat This Area as One Place so it isn't split again. When one spot is saved as two places, tap Merge Into… in the ••• menu of either one.

Notes:

  • Merges can't be undone.
  • If this happens often, increase the range in Today > Settings > General > Place matching range. It only affects new records.

Data Management & Security

How do I sync my records between iPhone and iPad?

Turn on Sync Records in Today > Settings > iCloud Sync; photos and other attachments need Sync Photos as well. All devices must be signed in to the same Apple Account.

Notes:

  • The first sync takes a little while after you turn it on.

What if I forget my App Lock passcode?

Tap Forgot Passcode? on the lock screen and verify with Face ID or your device passcode to set a new one. Your visit data is not affected.

Notes:

  • App Lock is set per device and isn't synced to your other devices.

How do I back up, move to a new device, or import records from another app?

In Today > Settings > Advanced Export, choose Full Backup to get a JSON file you can import again. On the new device, open Today > Settings > Import Data and pick that file; GPX files and Google Timeline exports can be imported here too.

Notes:

  • Import only adds and never overwrites, and duplicate records are skipped. If you imported the wrong file, undo that import in Import History.

Core Feature Guide

How are trips created, and why didn't a trip of mine get one?

When you are away from your home city for at least two days, Footprints gathers those days into a trip automatically. Your home city is worked out from your visit pattern, and trips can't be created by hand; day trips and one-day outings don't produce a trip.

Notes:

  • When you add a visit that was missed, the trip updates automatically.
  • After you move and spend about three months in the new city, your home city switches to it from the day you arrived, so those days no longer count as a trip; going back to your old city then counts as a trip.
  • Once you've lived in more than one city, Places I've Lived appears at the top of the trips list in Footprints, with each stay's dates, length and frequent places; tap one to open a review of your time there, which needs Pro.

Where are the Quarter Review and Year Review?

Open any monthly review on the Review tab; Quarter Review and Year Review are below the places list. The sparkles button in the top-right corner of the Year Review opens the Year Story. In weekly and monthly reviews, Time by Category also lists the hours at Workplaces, once you set a place's category to Work. If you marked a place Liked at least twice this year, the Year Story adds a Most Liked Place This Year card for it. Each review's summary also shows Activity Radius: how far from home most of that period's visits were, leaving out visits during trips. It's hidden when there are too few visits or your home hasn't been recognized yet.

How do I set a goal for a place?

Open a place in Places, then tap Goal under Information. Choose Number of Visits to aim for a number of visits per week or month, or Time Spent to aim for a number of hours per week. Progress appears in the place's Place Insights, and a milestone notification arrives when you reach the goal for the period. This is a Pro feature.

Notes:

  • Progress is worked out from your visits, so there is nothing to check in. A stay that crosses into a new week is split between the two weeks.
  • In the place list, With Goal under Filters shows only places with a goal.

Can I filter search results by time or condition?

Yes. On Search, put the time right in the keyword, such as last month cafe or last March Shanghai, and it becomes a time condition. You can add Has Photo, Has Note, and other conditions under Filter on top of it.

Notes:

  • Each condition becomes a token in the search field; delete the token to remove the condition.

How do I save a spot I passed by without stopping?

Drop a pin. A pin saves only a location and a time; it isn't recognized as a visit and stays out of stats. In the Today panel, tap ••• and choose Pin Current Location.

Notes:

  • If you actually stayed there, tap Log as Visit in the ••• menu of the pin's details; to have the spot recognized automatically from now on, tap Add as Place.

How do I keep track of places I want to go and plan trips?

Use Places > Guides. Guides are stored apart from your places and stay out of stats; when you later have a visit nearby, the place moves to Visited automatically. Once you Set Dates for a guide (in •••), you can assign places to each day.

Notes:

  • A travel time marked "about" is only a straight-line distance, usually because you are offline or Apple Maps couldn't find a route for that leg.

Can I see where my photos were taken on the map?

Yes. On the map in Today or Footprints, tap the map button and turn on Photos. Photos in your library with a location from that period appear as thumbnails where they were taken; photos close together merge into a group that you can tap to enlarge or flip through. If a photo was taken during a visit and hasn't been added to it yet, tap Add to Visit. This is a Pro feature and needs MeTrail to have access to Photos.

Notes:

  • Photos are read and shown only on your device. They aren't uploaded, and turning on the layer doesn't copy them into MeTrail; only Add to Visit saves a copy to that visit.
  • For very long periods, only the most recent 90 days and up to 500 photos are shown. Screenshots and photos without a location aren't shown.
  • The full-screen maps on city and area pages can show Photos too, but only photos taken during your visits in that city or area; photos taken on the way or elsewhere aren't shown. The country map doesn't have this option.

Advanced Features

Can I use Siri or Shortcuts with MeTrail?

Yes, with no setup. Say a phrase such as Drop a pin in MeTrail to Siri, or type it in Spotlight. Every action is listed under Apps > MeTrail in the Shortcuts app, and you can use them in your own shortcuts. Today's Footprints and Work Hours have their own phrases too, such as Show today's footprints in MeTrail and Check work hours in MeTrail. You can also ask more casually, such as Where have I been today in MeTrail or How long did I work this week in MeTrail. The other query actions (This Week's Footprints, Place Visits, Today on the Way) and Mark Latest Visit have no Siri phrase: add them as a shortcut from Apps > MeTrail first, then say the shortcut's name to Siri. Today > Settings > Tools & Data > Siri & Shortcuts lists these two Siri phrases and opens the MeTrail page in the Shortcuts app.

Notes:

  • Phrases need to include MeTrail. If they stop working after an update, open MeTrail once.

What data does Smart Summaries send?

Smart Summaries is off by default and needs an OpenAI-compatible endpoint that you fill in yourself. Requests go straight from your phone to that endpoint, never through MeTrail. Only summaries such as place names, cities, dates, durations, and tags are sent; coordinates, addresses, and photos are never sent.

Notes:

  • With Mask Place Names on, place names are replaced with labels such as Home or Place A before sending.
  • Tap What Will Be Sent in Today > Settings > Intelligence to see exactly what is sent.

How do I let family know automatically when I get home, or notify another service?

To tell family, open ••• in a place's details, choose Notify Someone, and pick a push channel the recipient uses. To notify your own service, use Today > Settings > Hook Automation. Either way, tap Send Test first to confirm delivery.

Notes:

  • Messages follow your visits and usually arrive a few minutes late, longer in Low Power Mode. Don't rely on them for emergencies.

Performance & Battery

Does MeTrail use a lot of battery, and how do I save power for a while?

MeTrail doesn't locate you at a high rate all the time; even Precise mode only locates you while you are moving, so the effect on a full day's battery is small. To save power for a while, tap ••• in the Today panel and choose Switch to Power Saving; recording continues.

Notes:

  • Pause Tracking stops recording entirely, and visits during the pause can't be filled in later.

Troubleshooting

How do I fix wrong visit times, shifted locations, or wrong place names?

If a single place is off, use Adjust Location in the ••• menu of its details. For visit time conflicts or a missing departure time, use Today > Settings > Maintenance Tools > Trajectory Repair. If many place names are out of date, tap Refresh Saved Place Names on the same page.

Notes:

  • Reset Preferences only restores settings; it doesn't delete visits.

Where do I check when sync looks wrong or the app shows errors?

First make sure Today > Settings > iCloud Sync is still on, then clear old filters in Search. If it's still wrong, check recent errors in Today > Settings > Logs and share the log file, then email the developer from Today > Settings > Report a Problem.

Notes:

  • Archived visits aren't in the regular lists; look for them in Visit Archives.