FAQ

If I change my phone, or phone number, do I need to pay for the app again?

In general, No.

If you are just changing the phone number, using the same phone, then this does not affect the apps that are installed.

If you are changing to a new phone, regardless of whether you use the same phone number (SIM card) or have a new one, then all you need to do is log in to the app store with the same account details and you will be able to install all of your existing apps without having to pay for anything again. Note that this isn’t always seamless and it can take time and/or some phone restarts for your existing apps to show as available again on the new phone. It is generally also possible to have the app installed on multiple phones / tablets at the same time, if they are all connected to the same user account.

The only exception to reinstalling the app is if you are changing from an Apple to an Android phone, or vice versa. When you buy an app from either Apple or Google you are buying the right to use that app on their particular operating system. If you change from one to the other then you will need to purchase an additional copy of the app for the system that you are switching to.

How do I transfer my tracks to another phone

Assuming your old phone is still operational then you can use the ‘export all’ button on the settings page to create a file containing all of your tracks, routes, and waypoints. This file can then be imported into the app on the new phone.

To transfer the file to the new phone there are a number of options depending on how your phone is configured and what operating system you are using. If you have an iPhone for example then it may be convenient to air-drop it to the new phone. When you create the ‘export all’ file simply select the air-drop option, select the new phone, and then on the new phone choose the NZTopo50 app to open the file or use the files app to choose a convenient location on the phone to store the file. Other options include: e-mail the file to your new phone; save it on the old phone and then copy that file to the new phone; or save the file to a shared or cloud location and then access this from the new phone.

Once the file is copied to the new phone launch the NZTopo50 app, select ‘import’ from the settings menu, and choose the file.

Will the app affect battery life?

Actively using GPS to track your location will put a significant load on your battery. This is true of any navigation app that uses GPS. You can manage this to some extent in the NZTopo50 app by choosing when the GPS system is actually running. By default the app does not switch on GPS unless you choose to activate it, or it is needed for track recording – so for example if you are just browsing the map itself then there is no need to have the GPS system running. If you want to see you current location on the map, then simply tap the satellite button on the bottom of the screen to toggle GPS on/off.

How long will the battery last?

If you are continuously logging your location on a trip, then you should still be able to get at least a full day’s activity recorded on a new phone with a healthy battery. Some phones will give several days of full track recording on a single charge.

If you are only periodically using the phone to check your location or check the map or take a few photos, then it is possible for some phones to last for a week or more on a single charge.

The best thing you can do to improve battery life is to put your phone into flight mode, and to make sure wifi and bluetooth are disabled.

Some people make a habit of always force-closing apps instead of letting them sit in the background. This is generally detrimental to battery life – it increases battery use and makes it slower when these apps are relaunched because additional data, including many shared libraries, need to be reloaded from permanent storage into the phones memory. Many apps will sit completely passively in the background and don’t need to be fully shut down (NZTopo50 is one of these, except when you choose to record tracks in the background). It may be beneficial in some circumstances to force-close selected apps, for example social media or email apps that periodically poll for updates. Shutting these down may improve battery life when off-line.

There is an error on the map or it is out of date

The NZTopo50 app contains information from a range of other sources, and is not created or managed by us. If there are differences between the data displayed in the app and the original data source then let us know. Allow up to 12 months for information that has changed recently to be updated in the app, but if there is a persistent difference in the content then let us know and we’ll correct it.

If the error is in the original data source then feel free to let us know, as we are interested in the general accuracy of the data and in any experiences you have with using the app, but for an actual change in the data you will need to contact the original content provider. For example, the background topographical map is produced by Land Information New Zealand. You can check their current version of the map from their website, along with details of any updates they have done recently. Other data is sourced from the Department of Conservation, including details for DOC tracks, huts, and hunting permit boundaries.

Your website has a ‘Not secure’ warning on it

Most web browsers display this notification in the address bar when a web page is not encoded. It doesn’t mean that viewing the web page is harmful or that the website is compromised in any way (similarly the absence of the not secure warning doesn’t guarantee that a website is safe) it just means the web pages aren’t hidden from others. A ‘secure’ connection is important if you are communicating any information to the website such as passwords, or confidential data. If you are not transmitting any data to the website, for example when you are just downloading a page of information, like this page, then there is little advantage in encoding the transfer. The page is publicly accessible by anyone, and is legal content for you to be viewing, so there are few reasons to hide it.

To remove the ‘Not secure’ label from browsers it is necessary for the website owner to buy a certificate from a registered Internet authority. Cynics among us might argue a conflict of interest here.

At some stage I’ll probably pay for a certificate – technically if you use the feedback submission form on this site then you are sending data to the site, and this could be viewed by other people. Don’t send anything confidential by this method…