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GPS is least accurate among tall buildings, under heavy tree cover, in tunnels and for the first moments of a run. For the best result, start recording outdoors and give your iPhone a few seconds of open sky before you set off. Keep Location Services on, with Precise Location enabled for Waybound in Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Waybound.

Yes. Waybound records in the background so a run is not cut short when your screen locks. For this, iOS will ask you to allow location Always; Waybound uses it only while you are recording, and iOS shows the location indicator when it does. If a run stopped early, check that Location is set to Always and Low Power Mode is off, or turn on Keep screen on in Waybound's settings.

GPS uses the most battery while you record, as in any run tracker. Outside a recording, Waybound only uses location while the Record tab is open on screen. A connected heart-rate monitor adds very little.

No. Waybound measures distance with GPS, so it counts runs and walks outdoors.

When it is on, the clock stops when you stop moving for a while, at a crossing for example, and starts again when you move. Turn it on or off in Waybound's settings, under While recording.

When Waybound sees vehicle speeds for a sustained stretch, it stops counting until you are back on foot. That stretch shows as a dashed line on your map and does not move you along your expedition. Waybound also ignores impossible jumps in GPS and simulated locations.

Open the Profile tab, tap the settings button, and choose Units. It applies everywhere, including splits and routes.

Waybound connects to Bluetooth heart-rate monitors that use the standard heart-rate profile, which covers most chest straps and many armbands. A monitor is optional: everything else works with your iPhone alone.

Make sure Bluetooth is on and Waybound is allowed to use it in Settings › Privacy & Security › Bluetooth. Wake the strap (a chest strap usually needs skin contact and a little moisture), and disconnect it from other apps or watches that may be holding the connection. Then connect from the Record tab.

Zones are based on your maximum heart rate. Waybound estimates it from what your monitor has recorded, or you can enter your own under Max heart rate in settings.

Each month everyone shares one painted path, called that month's expedition. Every run or walk moves you up it. There is a stop every 2 miles, and each stop hatches one creature. Mile markers at 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 miles (and on) give everyone who reaches them the same bonus finds and XP. At midnight US Eastern on the 1st, everyone starts the new month's path at mile 0. Your Journal, level and lifetime miles never reset.

Send a friend your invite link from the Friends screen. Once they accept, you see each other on this month's path, furthest first, and can open each other's profile and Journal. You can choose to be notified when a friend passes you or finds something rare. There is no search and no global leaderboard: only people you invite.

Yes. The same distance moves you the same way and earns the same XP, whether you ran it or walked it.

Each stop rolls against six rarities, from Common to Mythic. The further up the month's path you are, the better the odds, and each world makes its own type of creature more likely. Creatures you have not found yet are favored too. About one find in 64 is Fabled, a rare pearl strike of that creature.

No. Waybound never sells randomized attempts, improved odds, rerolls or luck. Distance is the only thing that moves you forward.

In Messages, tap the apps button next to the text field and choose Waybound (iOS 16.4 or later). Every creature you have unlocked is there, along with its Fabled strike if you have found one. Tap a sticker to send it, or drag it onto a message bubble. If Waybound is missing, open the Waybound app once so it can refresh your sticker list.

The run or find you chose, with the first word of your display name. For runs, the first and last 200 m of the route are removed so the link does not show exactly where you started or finished. A route can still hint at where you run, so take care when a run starts near home. The details travel inside the link itself; we do not store them.

Because the details are inside the link, we cannot withdraw a link once it has been sent. Anyone who has it can open it. Share with people you trust.

In your Waybound account on our servers, with a copy on your iPhone so the app works without signal. The Privacy Policy has the full detail.

Open Settings in Waybound and tap Sign in with Apple under Account. On the new install, choose I already have an account on the first screen and sign in with the same Apple ID.

If you had linked Sign in with Apple, go to Settings › Account and sign in with the same Apple ID to switch back to your account. A guest account that was never linked can't be recovered once the app is deleted.

Open the Profile tab, tap the settings button, scroll to the bottom and tap Delete account. This permanently deletes your account and everything in it from our servers. See Delete your data for every step.

If a Waybound share link is abusive or shares something it shouldn't, email us the link at support@waybound.run and we will block it from displaying on this website.

An iPhone. A Bluetooth heart-rate monitor is optional. The App Store listing shows the iOS version Waybound needs.

Waybound is free to download. The App Store listing shows any optional subscription and its price. There are no ads, and nothing sells better odds or luck.

Cancel a subscription in your iPhone's Settings › Apple ID › Subscriptions. Apple handles refunds: request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.

Yes. Turn on Apple Health under Connected sources in Settings, and running and walking workouts that Apple Watch, WHOOP, Oura or other apps save to Health this month count toward the race. A workout that overlaps a run you recorded in Waybound only counts once, and workouts without a GPS route don't move you along the map.

Waybound does not sync with Strava or Garmin directly, or speak audio cues during a run, and there is no Android version. The iMessage stickers need iOS 16.4 or later.