WalkLakes

Mobile App


Forum » General Forums » Mapping

By TallPaul on 12/07/26 at 3:41pm (last edited 13/07/26 at 8:14am)

W now have a web page that works like a mobile app on both Android and iPhone. It's something called a Progressive Web App or PWA which means you can "install" it like an ordinary app and then the page appears full screen, without any browser decoration and you can have the app on your home screen so it's easy to launch.

You can find it at:

https://www.walklakes.co.uk/mobile

Here it is running on my Android phone. You scroll by dragging and zoom in and out by pinching in the usual way.

Things to note:

We've been testing this now for at least six months and we're very happy with it so far but we'd value your thoughts, either as comments to this post or .

  1. A route describes where you are intending to go, point by point. For more information click here.
  2. A track records where you have been and when you were there. For more information click here.


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By Lancashire Lad on 17/07/26 at 4:32pm

Hi Paul,

I received your supporters email on this topic yesterday and decided to check it out.

On my mobile, (Samsung Android), and using Google Chrome, I visited the URL https://www.walklakes.co.uk/mobile you provided in your post above.

I decided to download the web-app and it gave me the option to install it (which I did).

Upon completion of the install, an orange "Waymaps" icon was added to my apps library, which I subsequently moved to my homescreen.

Tapping that icon opened up the app, with the full screen page as per your first screenshot above.

However, tapping the grey "target " shaped button at top right of screen does not centre the map at my location. I've tried it about a dozen times today whilst out for a walk in open countryside, and at each time of trying, about ten seconds after pressing the button, the screen greys out, with a pop-up message: - "www.walklakes.co.uk says Your device's GPS took too long to find your position", with the only option at that point being to press a now showing small blue "OK" button.

Pressing that OK button just takes me back to the map screen as per the location originally showing. (And obviously, the screen pop-up with the actual location and the share button as per your second screenshot does not appear).

I know that the phone's GPS is properly functioning, because I also use the Ordnance Survey app "OS Locate", which simply shows your real-time compass heading along with your real-time National Grid location. - I used that app straight away after I realised I had a problem with the WalkLakes app, and it immediately gave the correct National Grid location. (I also use OS maps, and that app always correctly tracks and shows my location on walks, although I didn't use that today.).

I tried to centre the map about a dozen times at various points on the walk, (each time checking with the OS Locate app to ensure that the phone's GPS was working properly), but with the same result each time.

I'm assuming there must be a default time out that the WalkLakes mobile app allows in order to gain GPS location? - but I can't see any settings of any description associated with the app, so am at a loss as to what can be done. - Is it something that can be changed at your end?

I note also, that the grey, "four arrow" button at top centre in your second screenshot does not show on the map on my phone, (I'm not sure what that button is for?) - but the 3 -line hamburger button at top left does show.

Any thoughts on what the problem might be or how to resolve it would be appreciated.

Kind regards, Michael Valentine


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By TallPaul on 17/07/26 at 5:15pm

Hi Michael, and thanks for the feedback.

I decided to download the web-app and it gave me the option to install it (which I did).

Upon completion of the install, an orange "Waymaps" icon was added to my apps library, which I subsequently moved to my homescreen.

Excellent! I'm glad that's working. It's one of the things that's been worrying me as we only have a limited number of phones to play with and almost all are Moto (except one iPhone, which I bought just to test this out, and my Sony Xperia 10 VII cos I'm a phone camera nerd).

However, tapping the grey "target " shaped button at top right of screen does not centre the map at my location. I've tried it about a dozen times [and] at each time of trying, about ten seconds after pressing the button, the screen greys out, with a pop-up message: - "www.walklakes.co.uk says Your device's GPS took too long to find your position" [...] I know that the phone's GPS is properly functioning, because I also use the Ordnance Survey app [...] straight away after I realised I had a problem with the WalkLakes app, and it immediately gave the correct National Grid location.

That's not good. Looking at the code I set a ten second timeout, so that makes sense but I see that I also set enableHighAccuracy to true and the documentation says "If true and if the device is able to provide a more accurate position, it will do so. Note that this can result in slower response times" so it may be down to that.

I've tried setting it to false and I'm still getting plausible locations on my phone, even indoors - like accurate to about 20m which is more than good enough at 1:25K. Can you give it another go? You'll need to go to the menu and select "Upgrade to latest version of the app" first.

I note also, that the grey, "four arrow" button at top centre in your second screenshot does not show on the map on my phone, (I'm not sure what that button is for?) - but the 3 -line hamburger button at top left does show.

Don't worry, that only appears if you've not got it installed as an app, which I didn't for that screen shot: it makes the web page use all the screen real estate but the PWA does that by default.


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By Lancashire Lad on 18/07/26 at 10:32pm

Hi Paul,

Sorry about the delay in replying. (14 hr working day today!).

Anyhow, this evening I went to the menu and clicked on upgrade to latest version of the app, which opened up the map screen again.

Tried centering the map (several times) but I'm still getting the same "your device's GPS took too long . . . . " message.
(Admittedly, I was indoors near a large window whilst doing this, which may have affected the result).

I will give it another go tomorrow in open countryside and post again once I've done that.

Kind regards
Michael Valentine


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By Lancashire Lad on 19/07/26 at 2:31pm (last edited 19/07/26 at 2:31pm)

Hi Paul,

Just back in from a walk, where I used your mobile app and tried to centre the map several times, (both logged out and logged in).
I also tried again upgrading to latest version too (again while logged out and when logged in).
But every time, still resulting in the same "Your device's GPS took too long . . . " message. The message appears within about 10 seconds.

Is there any particular reason for the short "time-out" duration? - If there aren't any disadvantages from your point of view, it certainly wouldn't worry me if it took 30 seconds or even a minute for the app to obtain correct GPS location.
(I use a Garmin Enduro3 smartwatch as a backup device when hiking, and that sometimes takes the best part of a minute to get GPS lock).

Regards,
Michael Valentine


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By TallPaul on 19/07/26 at 2:46pm

Hi Michael

Thanks for the feedback.

OK, I've extended the timeout to 60 seconds.

You'll need to upgrade to the latest version again.


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By Lancashire Lad on 19/07/26 at 5:51pm

Hi Paul, Noting your reply above, I just tried again (outdoors), after confirming that the OS Locate app gave correct location immediately on opening that particular app.

  1. I opened the WalkLakes Mobile app.
  2. Clicked on “Upgrade to latest version of app”.
  3. Map Screen reappeared.
  4. Pressed the target shaped grey button at top right of screen.
  5. After about a minute, got the same “Your device’s GPS took too long . . “ message.

So still not centering the map.

I then had a look in the phone’s settings: - Under “Apps” Waymaps (355KB) is shown. Clicking on the Waymaps icon shown there tells me that: -

• The app is Installed
• Notifications: allowed
• Permissions: No permissions required
• App details in store: App downloaded from Google Play Store
• Version 1
NB. Version 1 is still showing here even though I have clicked the “Upgrade to latest version of app several times during the last 24 hours whilst trying to test the app???
Note that each time after clicking the option to upgrade to latest version, the map screen immediately reappears. (There is nothing shown to indicate whether any upgrade has been carried out or otherwise?) - Is that correct?

Under the Waymaps “App Permissions” it says:
• Allowed: No permissions allowed
• Not Allowed: No permissions denied
(Neither of those two have any clickable options, and neither react in any way when tapping on them).

Under the phone’s “Permissions manager”, in “Location” (Apps with this permission can access the device’s location), it says that (amongst several other apps) both the OS Locate app and the OS Maps app have location permission “only while in use” . – But the Waymaps app does not appear in that list at all, and I have been unable to find any “setting” anywhere on the phone that relates to Waymaps app location capabilities.

According to Google Search, to give an app location permission:
• Open Settings.
• Tap Apps.
• Scroll down and tap the app you want to change.
• Tap Permissions
• Tap Location.
But upon doing that, under the permissions for the Waymaps app, Location is not there as an option – so nothing to tap on to enable it!

Do these “Web apps” somehow behave differently from ”normal” apps? (The location option is shown in both the OS Locate and the OS Maps apps).

I am clueless as to why (if this app would specifically need me to enable location permissions), there does not appear to be any way for me to give the app any “location” permissions.

Any thoughts or help would be much appreciated.

Regards
Michael Valentine


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By TallPaul on 19/07/26 at 6:57pm

You're doing some fine work debugging this so thanks for that! :D

First thing is version number: I'm not sure where that's coming from as I don't think I'm setting it (perhaps I should be, I'll investigate).

However you are clearly getting the latest version by clicking on "Upgrade to latest version of app" as it's now timing out in a minute.

As for permissions this is where it gets "interesting". Like you WayMaps app on my phone allegedly has no permissions ... but it can determine my location.

I think what's going on here is that a PWA is a web page faking being an app, so Android presents it as an app for installing on your home page but under the skirts it's really your browser, so in this case Chrome, doing all the real work. On my phone Chrome does have the Location permission and the last accessed time ties up with when I last asked our app to show me my location.

So ... can you take a look at Chrome and see what permissions it has?

Thanks.


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By Lancashire Lad on 19/07/26 at 7:14pm

Hi Paul,

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works of your theory, but per your request, I just looked at the app permissions for Chrome, and location is allowed (last accessed at 16:43 today which would have been when I was trying your app (and OS Locate).

Regards, Mike.


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By TallPaul on 19/07/26 at 9:16pm (last edited 19/07/26 at 9:24pm)

OK. You said it's returning a popup saying "Your device's GPS took too long to find your position" so reading the documentation that means it thinks it does have access but for some reason it's failing, even after 60 seconds of trying, to get a location back.

I've reduced the timeout to 20 seconds for now as I think that's a red herring but I've added some code to also display in the popup a message field which the documentation describes thus:

Returns a human-readable string describing the details of the error. Specifications note that this is primarily intended for debugging use and not to be shown directly in a user interface.

So, can you try it and note what it says after "Your device's GPS took too long to find your position: "? A screen shot would be good too if that's possible.

Thanks as ever.


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By Lancashire Lad on 20/07/26 at 10:12am (last edited 20/07/26 at 10:19am)

Hi Paul,

I just tried it.
(Before doing so, I clicked on "upgrade to latest version of app" again, in case that would be needed to take account of what you've done).

I'm struggling to provide a screenshot, but all the screen shows after I've pressed the grey target button to centre the map, (and after the time-out), is a greyed out version of the full map screen), with dark grey pop-up in centre of screen which now says:

"www.walklakes.co.uk says Your device's GPS took too long to find your position: Timeout expired"
The only difference from previously being the words "Timeout expired" at the end.
And with the usual small blue "OK" button below right on the pop-up.

Upon clicking on the "OK" button, the pop-up disappears and immediately goes back to the full map screen as before.

Regards,
Mike


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By Lancashire Lad on 20/07/26 at 5:26pm

Doing a bit more digging into this and using Google Chrome's AI help, I eventually ended up with a rather long "prompt" as below:

QUOTE
Waymaps app is not shown in my Samsung's location settings but I need to give Waymaps app location permissions - When I bypass the main locations settings and go directly to the Waymaps app and select permissions, location is not shown there either. Waymaps has definitely tried to find the location and always says that it could not. because the device's GPS took too long and timed out. The Waymaps app is an installed progressive web-app, (PWA) installed to the phone via Google Chrome. When I open Chrome, the Waymaps app isn't shown. In Google Chrome site settings location says "ask first". how do I stop the need for it to ask first.
UNQUOTE

In response, it came up with this:

Since Waymaps is a PWA web-app, you control its specific permissions from within Chrome.
Open Google Chrome and go to the Waymaps web-app.
Tap the three dots (Menu) in the top-right corner.
Tap Settings < site settings advanced).tap location.> Under the Allowed or Blocked sections, look for the Waymaps web address.
Tap the site's address and select Allow.

That all seems feasible.
However the Waymaps app itself is not shown within Google Chrome's location permissions.

There is no "blocked" section showing, but In the "allowed" section there is a single web address, and that is - https://www.walklakes.co.uk
(I am assuming that the WalkLakes URL can only be there in reference to the uploaded waymaps web-app?)
It actually says "Allowed (1) https://www.walklakes.co.uk"
There is a vertical "3 dot" icon to the right of the allowed web address, but tapping that icon just brings up the options "Edit" or "Remove".

I've even tried completely uninstalling the WalkLakes mobile app from the phone and then reinstalling it again - but everything remains exactly as described above.

I can't think of any other phone settings that might be having an influence on the Waymaps app's inability to gain GPS location.

Regards,
Mike.


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By TallPaul on 20/07/26 at 10:22pm

Hi Mike

I'm struggling to work out what's going on here without physical access to your phone. The problem I have is that if it was a problem with location access you would be getting a different error message, specifically "Access to your position was denied by your device". But you're not getting that, instead you're getting "Your device's GPS took too long to find your position".

I can't reproduce this on any device I've got here.

Searching for solutions one site suggested going into Settings → Apps → Chrome → Storage and Cache and selecting 'Clear cache'. To be honest I think this is a long shot but it's worth a punt.

Also a phone re-start if you don't routinely do that.

Finally can you tell me what Samsung phone you're using and what release of Android?


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By Lancashire Lad on 20/07/26 at 10:31pm (last edited 20/07/26 at 10:51pm)

Hi Paul,

On the spur of the moment, I tried the app again (indoors) at about 10:00 pm tonight (about twenty minutes ago). - Lo and behold for the first time, upon tapping the "centre the map" button, it more or less immediately gave me the location!!!
The location pop-up as shown in the second screenshot in your original post now shows, with the "your position at (whatever time), was within . . . . etc. (along with the little share icon).

I can only assume that you have changed a setting or something since I last posted.

I just had a quick 10 minute walk to check it out, and it's saying that location accuracy is between 18 metres and 35 metres.

I have no idea what you've done, but what ever it was - don't change it again. :D

I'll give it a more exhaustive test tomorrow, assuming that it's still working correctly.

Once I've done that I'll make a (hopefully!) final post to let you know.

PS the phone is a rather long in the tooth Samsung A21s, and Android version is 12.

Thanks for all your help/input.

Regards, Mike


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By Lancashire Lad on 21/07/26 at 3:54pm (last edited 21/07/26 at 4:13pm)

Hi Paul,

I tried your mobile app again today, whilst on a local walk, and everything is working as intended.

I used the "centre the map" function about two dozen times, and the location accuracy shown varied between 21 metres at best, and 107 metres at worst. (Strangely, several of the best accuracy readings were under some tree cover???).

The app did have one glitch, where after tapping the centre the map button, I could see that it was trying to centre the map, but the map kept "jittering" (for want of a better word) between the previous point where I'd centred it, and the point at which it was now trying to centre.
It was as though it was stuck in some sort of loop error. - After about a minute or so, I decided to close the app and reopen it, after which there were no further glitches.

It will definitely be another useful string to the bow of available mapping and tracking apps.
For what it is intended to be, the location accuracy is plenty good enough, and (obviously subject to mobile signal availability), will be especially useful in the case of someone who might be injured, separated from others, or late returning home etc., and trying to give people relevant information as to their whereabouts.

Best regards,
Mike.


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