Apple Watch vs iPhone for GPS

[Sanad Toukhly]

Hi everyone,

For a number of years I have been using a map & compass as my main navigation tools and my iPhone’s GPS as my backup. Generally I will only use the iPhone once or twice an hour to make sure I am on track, so for trips no longer than 3 days I can get by with a small power bank (maybe 3 or 4 oz). I’ve actually stretched this setup to about a week but I did meet a nice gentlemen in a camper in the middle of my hike who let me recharge my power bank overnight so I probably would not have made the whole trip with enough juice if it wasn’t for that. I am trying to figure out a weigh to lighten up my GPS setup for trips of a week or more where I can eliminate having to bring a very heavy power bank and my iPhone. This is where the Apple Watch comes in. Assuming I want to turn off ALL features and only use it to check my location on Gaia about once or twice an hour (Occasionally longer if the trail happens to disappear), I’m wondering if I can get by using a very small power bank for trips of a week or longer. I’m assuming I should be able to get more charges from the power bank for the Apple Watch vs the iPhone. In theory it seems like it may be the lightest GPS setup that would allow me to leave the iPhone at home. Has anyone used their Apple Watch for this purpose?

[Mark Verber]

I haven’t try this, but my wife’s iWatch can’t make it 2 full days without recharging with no GPS. I think you would be better off with a Suunto Ambit 3 which can often be found on sale, or one of the outdoor oriented Garmins.

[Kevin Babione]

I think the OP was referring to how many times they could charge their Apple Watch from a small battery bank (which may only recharge an iPhone once or twice).  It should be easy to test at home – Just charge the battery bank you want to take and then only recharge your watch from it.

I have an Apple Watch 6 and am planning to take it on its maiden trip in two weeks.  Since I’ll have my iPhone and inReach as well I’ll be taking a larger battery pack, but I’m very curious about what you find with using the GPS on the Apple Watch.  I plan on using it to track my mileage.

I’m hiking the 40 miles of the AT through Maryland and this post made me realize I’ll have 3 GPS devices with me:

• My Apple Watch
• My iPhone (with the GutHook app for the AT)
• My inReach

And all this on a trail that’s pretty heavily traveled!  Seems a little absurd as I look at it, but I’m trying some different things and this is my first trip with the inReach.

[Pedestrian]

Gaia GPS now works on the Apple watch – I got a promotional email from Gaia recently.

I have no experience with the Apple watch nor do I have any clue about the various models etc and the support status of Gaia GPS.

I can’t imagine trying to navigate with the tiny screen of any watch but I guess it could work well for tracking if the battery life is adequate.

 

[Lowell k]

I am wondering how well/accurate the GPS is for the Apple Watch + Gaia set up in places like Yosemite backcountry. Also, wondering if there is an altimeter feature.

In my local neighborhood, the Apple Watch GPS is not very accurate.

Lowell

[Kevin Babione]

Oh – that’s very cool…I will have to play with that and download a map to my watch.  I’ve found that the GPS on the watch (I have the 6) is pretty good when I’m on the local trails or out walking.

[Pedestrian]

I hike with  a couple of Apple “fanboys” who buy everything Apple ever ships.

I’ve seen a few iterations of the Apple watch with these hikers. It appeared that there is very “tight integration” between the Apple watch and iPhone. At least as of an year or more back I’m not sure the watch would “work” without the iPhone the watch was paired with. This may have changed or not. Since around March 2020 (Covid-19) I’ve not been hiking with any groups so don’t have more recent details.

 

[BlackHatGuy]

The newest Apple watches (not sure about any older ones) do not have to be paired with an iPhone to work. As long as you get a cell plan for one, you can make and receive calls with your watch without having your phone with you. Not sure about third party apps.

[Kevin Babione]

I have the cellular service on my watch and am going to try the Gaia app on it this weekend on a hike where I’m not carrying my phone.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

[Michael B]

I am surprised Apple hasn’t come up with its own mobile charging pod for its watches, similar to the one used on their AirPods.

As for GPS devices, Kevin, I think 2 of your 3 devices count as multipurpose items, so no shame in carrying redundancies!

[Kevin Babione]

Michael – Thank you.  I’m looking at the relationship between my three devices as synergistic as part of my justification.

I’ll probably return from my trip having had cell phone service the entire time, making my iPhone and inReach both unnecessary.  That would also mean I could have left my power brick home and carried a lipstick battery to recharge my watch a couple of times.  We’ll see!

[Eugene Hollingsworth]

I’m anxious to test out the Gaia upgrade for my watch. The info IIRC mentioned pre-downloaded routes, hinting that the actual GPS features might still need to be paired to my iPhone.  Even so, if the watch gives me the distance and pings me as I reach a waypoint, that would be a great battery savings over checking the phone. Keeping my iPhone in a warm pocket on those sub-freezing hikes would be great.

[Lowell k]

What do you think will be more accurate for altimeter readings, the watch/gaia combo or an ABC watch?

Lowell

[Kevin Babione]

I just downloaded a loop hike (that I’m hoping to do with my family on Saturday) to my watch.  It worked, but my phone stopped at 50% complete while the watch showed that the entire route was downloaded.  I guess I’ll find out on Saturday.  My plan is to leave my phone in the car while we hike so that my only GPS on this trip is my watch.

[BlackHatGuy]

“My plan is to leave my phone in the car while we hike so that my only GPS on this trip is my watch.”

Why not carry the phone, but have it turned off, in case the watch didn’t download the entire route? Or do you not really need the route (since, out east, as you’ve said before and from my own experience, trails are generally very well marked, perhaps over marked in some cases).

[Kevin Babione]

It’s a loop that we’ve done a bunch of times so having the route will just be for fun.  Also – if I turn off my phone I don’t think calls and texts will be forwarded to my watch.  That may have changed since you can now get an Apple Watch without pairing it to an iPhone, but I’m not sure.

[Sanad Toukhly]

The main problem is, I don’t own an Apple Watch to try it out on the trail. I had no desire for one unless it could serve my purposes to replace my iPhone as my backup navigation. It does seem the only way I’ll know is to just try it, but that would be an expensive experiment.

[Kevin Babione]

I’ll let you know how my test goes tomorrow by posting here.  From what I’ve seen it looks like it could be very promising.  I’ve wanted an app that would show the topo on my watch and this looks like it will.

[Kevin Babione]

Here’s a link to the Gaia GPS Apple Watch features and instructions if you’re interested.

[jscott]

40 miles on a well traveled trail…leave all three devices and the power brick at home, bring a paper map. done. You’ll survive and save a ton of weight, physically and psychologically, perhaps.

I don’t mean to pick on Kevin, who’s a swell person and avid hiker. Kevin brings this same point up himself. I can’t help but think that most in today’s world are simply addicted to their devices and feel insecure when they’re not ready to hand (“I’ll only be looking at my device twice an hour”).

It would at least be an interesting experiment to see how it feels to not have constant recourse to a screen for three days. Or any!

Gee, the real world has three dimensions! and smells! and random birdsong!

 

[Kevin Babione]

No worries – I knew I was opening myself up when I posted.  The main reason for the 3 devices (and the brick to keep them charged) on this trip is to test them in the field.  I bought the inReach in December and haven’t had a chance to use it yet.  To get the most out of the inReach I need my iPhone.  And this will also be the first trip for my Apple Watch – I want to see how it performs, especially using the Gaia app, while hiking for four days.

I do other trips where there’s either limited or no cell coverage and I want sort out my kit and figure out what works and what doesn’t.

[jscott]

That’s perfectly reasonable Kevin; let us know how the watch performs for sure.

[Kevin Babione]

My wife and I did our hike this morning.  I modified a 3-mile loop that we have done at least a dozen times to be just a little bit longer – I saw a trail I didn’t know about when I was playing in Gaia and thought it would be fun to do something a little different.  I left my phone in the car and took only my watch.

To answer the question:  “Can I use my Apple Watch with Gaia GPS and leave my iPhone at home,” I give my definitive answer:  No.

Here’s what I did today:

• I planned the trip and created the route using the tools in Gaia
• I downloaded the route to my Apple Watch
• When starting our hike, I started navigating the route on my watch
• As we did the first third of the trip (along a trail that we knew well and was clearly marked) the watch kept showing us as being on the route and the distance to our next turn
• At that turn we were on a trail that was not well marked and at some point, without realizing it, we diverted from the trail.  I had been checking my watch and it kept showing me that we were “On Route”, but I’ll admit that I didn’t check it until I realized we were off the route – at that point the watch told me that we were off route by 800 feet.

Here’s what our route looked like:

The blue was our planned route, the yellow is our old “tried and true” route, and the red shows our actual track.  I didn’t realize we were off the trail until the trail reached the small stream – the trail seemed to be fairly clear, but I obviously missed something.  The Apple Watch does not show the map – it knew I was off-route and told me to look at my phone to get back on track!  When I saw the stream I knew that the other trail couldn’t be too far away on the other side.  It was pretty swampy where we hit the stream so we when upstream a little to cross and then worked our way up to the other trail and made our way home.

I liked the watch for tracking distance and it works well to tell you when you need to turn when following a pre-planned route.  Where I think it comes up short is if you get off the route – it doesn’t seem to have the mechanism to direct you back to your route.  I may try it again (with my phone) and I would like to pay better attention to see if the watch beeped (or vibrated) when I deviated from the planned route.

My next trip is on the AT through Maryland.  I may set up the hike and download it to my watch for fun, but I will be carrying my phone with me (along with the Guthook app).

I hope that helps.  Let me know if you have any questions.

[Sanad Toukhly]

So the watch is supposed to only tell you when to turn to keep you on a planned route rather than show the same display of the gaia map and your position on it as you would see on the iPhone?

[Kevin Babione]

Yes – That’s how it seemed to work.  I may have done something wrong when I transferred the route from my phone to my watch, but there weren’t a lot of options so I don’t think I messed up.  The watch did a nice job of tracking my actual track, but when I was “off-route” it told me to check my phone to get back on track.

None of the map transferred to the watch (although you could see the map overview of the route when you went to select it).  I was really hoping that the watch would show me, on a map, my current location as well as where my intended route was.  If the watch has the functionality I couldn’t find it.  I just did some more digging and perhaps I didn’t scroll over enough while navigating the watch to see the map.  This link includes watch screenshots that clearly show the map.  I’ll let you know what I find.

I’ll be out in the woods again this coming weekend and will play with it some more (with my phone in my pocket) and will let you know what I learn.

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