Is A Cell Phone True Gps Work Without Service

While navigation is one of the most important uses travelers have for their smartphones, how oft do you recollect about exactly how a phone knows where you are and where you're going? Y'all might not know that in addition to connecting to cellular towers, your phone is constantly tracking GPS signals from satellites circumvoluted the planet—and that y'all can employ your phone GPS without information for more purposes than yous might wait.

If y'all've ever tried to navigate in a place where your phone has weak or no celluar service, you probably wished you could take advantage of offline phone GPS. Fortunately, you can: GPS signals are raining down around the states at all times, and your phone tin connect to them without any real reliance on your cellular company, impact on your data plan, or dependence on the phone mode you lot are in. These signals are gratis for all of us to apply, so long as we accept the correct apps and a device with which to connect.

In fact, you can even use an older, retired phone as a GPS unit, so long as the apps volition even so run on the operating system. And then, once yous get back to civilization, your regular smartphone will still be fully charged and ready to go.

How Accurate Is My Phone GPS Without Data?

Most of the apps I take used measure GPS coordinates to tenths of a 2nd, which is accurate within four to xi meters, depending on where on the planet yous are plotting (accuracy improves as yous movement toward the poles).

If that isn't close enough, within the adjacent yr engineering is coming that will brand some phones accurate to within one human foot.

You Don't Accept to Be Offline to Use a Telephone every bit GPS

Many of the most popular uses for GPS are for folks who are off the filigree without access to Wi-Fi or cellular connections, but the technology's usefulness is non limited to the backcountry by any means. Showtime, nosotros all know that cell coverage is hardly ubiquitous fifty-fifty in developed areas; heck, my child's central New Jersey soccer practice field shows "no service" so ofttimes that some parents drive a mile down the road during practice to connect.

Another benefit is preserving bombardment life; GPS uses are particularly beneficial when you lot are doing things in areas where cellular service is available but poor, which causes your phone to burn up battery life trying to connect. Using offline telephone GPS tin also help you conserve data. This is useful when traveling abroad, where data plans are often costly and limited.

Finally, many location-based apps gobble upwards data voraciously. Your telephone's GPS tracking allows yous to use them in offline fashion, incurring no data punishment so long as you lot preload maps and information while connected to Wi-Fi.

Certainly, your cellphone can do more than without a cell connexion than yous might recall; here are five of the all-time.

Rail Your Flight in Real Time

Allow's kickoff with my favorite fashion to utilize phone GPS without information: to runway the flight I'1000 on in real time. There are a few apps that practice this, just I use Flyover Country, created by Academy of Minnesota researchers and funded past the National Science Foundation.

The app offers options to view route maps, terrain maps, and satellite maps, including data on geology, underwater cadre samples, mammal and dinosaur fossils, and landscape features for various destinations equally you pass over them in flight.

To employ the app you need to input and preload all the information forth the road while still on a Wi-Fi or jail cell connection. Then, once you go into airplane mode, all that data is available as y'all fly, forth with your ground speed and altitude.

You'll demand a window seat for this to work well; in fact, on some flights I have plant that I had to have the phone almost against the window to obtain and hold a reliable GPS betoken.

Go Backcountry Hiking

Smartphones are becoming go-to tools for many hardcore backcountry travelers, who tin can spend days or even months out of range of cellular signals. Many find phones more than space- and weight-efficient than dedicated GPS units, particularly since phones can take photos, too.

This excellent how-to guide makes a compelling case for a smartphone every bit your become-to GPS tool. It includes some very proficient battery life management tips, noting that some phones can last five to 10 days without a charge with careful use.

A few of the best backcountry navigation apps include Gaia GPS, AllTrails, iPhiGeNie, and ViewRanger.

Track Your Fettle

A booming number of fettle applications work with offline GPS, including MapMyRide, Strava, MapMyRun, Runkeeper, and MapMyFitness. For near of these, using your telephone GPS without information will permit y'all to track your run, walk, hike, or other outing offline. While you lot need a connexion to take advantage of some of the apps' features, using them on GPS-simply style preserves on bombardment life and information usage, which can be a helpful upside when you are tracking long bike rides or runs.

Fettle Armband for Your Phone

Tune Belt Armband for iPhone

The most quintessential time to save data and money is during your workout- complete with a robust armband of class.

Notation Your Verbal Location

In that location are all kinds of ways this can be useful, such every bit saving your spot in an airport parking lot or sharing your location with someone else to facilitate a meetup. I know folks who have used GPS coordinates on their phones to mark and/or share things like trailheads, campsites, turn-offs for dirt roads, fishing spots, waterfalls, and abandoned ruins.

The costless My GPS Coordinates app (bachelor for iOS and Android) has functions to email or text your coordinnates directly from the master screen, and even shows the accurateness of the GPS signal (it tracks my office desk inside 16 to 33 feet depending on signal access).

To share locations you manifestly demand connectivity, but you tin can log them using GPS and then share or retrieve them later.

Utilize Mapping Apps Offline

Finally, there are heaps of full-featured offline mapping applications, including the ubiquitous Google Maps and Apple tree Maps. Many of these are unfortunately somewhat limited when information technology comes to GPS-simply navigation; Google Maps, for example, allows you to pre-download a 50-square-kilometer map for temporary offline use, which will help in some situations simply isn't much utilize on a longer road trip. To find alternatives, run into ten Best GPS App and Navigation App Options for Android and 4 Best Offline Maps Apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Did we miss whatever other neat ways to use your phone GPS without information? Allow us know in the comments.

Cell Phone Car Mount

Brand navigation a little safer with a machine mount stand up- adaptable to nearly all smartphone sizes.

More from SmarterTravel:

8 Helpful Travel Apps You Can Use without Wi-Fi
8 All-time Health Apps for Travelers
The 27 Best Apps for Solo Travelers

Ed Hewitt is a seasoned globetrotter who brings you a biweekly glimpse into the latest travel news, views, and trends—and how they could impact your travel plans.

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