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Release notes

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  1. fix improvement

    Anonymous walkers can finally sign in and keep their walks. Plus real Terms, Privacy and Contact pages, honest error messages when a walk fails to start, and a stack of profile and marketplace fixes.

    • If you walked anonymously and then tapped Log in, WalkSpy used to strand you on an empty dashboard with no way to actually sign in. That trap is gone: anonymous walkers now see Log in and Sign up everywhere, both pages load normally, and signing in or creating an account automatically brings every walk you recorded on that device with you.
    • My Walks now tells anonymous walkers plainly that their walks are not saved to an account yet, with one-tap buttons to create an account or log in to an existing one.
    • Resetting your password from an anonymous session also merges your walks, the same as logging in.
    • New Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Legal and Contact pages are live in the footer and on signup.
    • If a walk fails to start, GO LIVE now stops and tells you instead of pretending to be live while nothing was being saved. Stopping and pausing report failures honestly too.
    • Profile editing is fixed: saving your profile works again, account deletion works from Edit Profile, and saving no longer fails for walkers who have not picked a home country yet.
    • Changing your password now asks for your current password and requires at least 8 characters.
    • Applying to a walk request from the classic listing page works again: the form actually submits now and has a proper Place bid button. Hire to Walk pages no longer error out.
    • Assorted cleanup across account, finance and geo pages so failures show a proper error page instead of a broken half-rendered one.

    Read the full post: Anonymous walks now come home with you →

  2. improvement feature

    A wave of reliability work so live walks actually stay live. Auto-reconnect, screen wake-lock, health pill, welcome-back banner, server-side detection of dead broadcasts, and the WalkSpy installable as an app on your phone.

    • Your phone screen now stays awake while you walk. The biggest cause of broadcasts dying silently was screen-off + browser tab throttling. Wake-lock fixes that.
    • The publisher reconnects on its own when the network blips. Five attempts with growing backoff (2s, 4s, 8s, 16s, 16s). Walker sees "Reconnecting…" instead of nothing.
    • New broadcast-health pill in the top bar shows green / yellow / red at a glance.
    • Loud red banner with audio + haptic alarm if the broadcast goes off-air, so a walker with the phone in their pocket knows immediately. Tap to retry now.
    • When you background the WalkSpy tab while live, your phone shows a system notification: "Your walk is paused. Return to WalkSpy to keep recording."
    • When you come back to a backgrounded tab after more than 30 seconds away, the publisher auto-reconnects without you needing to tap anything. A friendly welcome-back banner shows how long you were away.
    • Watchers now see a "Reconnecting…" overlay during hiccups instead of a frozen frame, plus a small green / yellow / red live-pill above the player.
    • Server now actively reaps walks that stop sending data, marks them ended honestly, and tells the walker exactly when contact was lost so nothing dies invisibly.
    • WalkSpy is now installable as an app on Android and iOS via "Add to Home Screen". Installed walks are noticeably more reliable than browser-tab walks.
    • Background Sync replays buffered GPS samples after the tab returns from being backgrounded (Chrome and Android only; iOS Safari does not support the API yet).
    • Foundation for browser-closed Web Push notifications is in place; the actual push delivery flips on shortly once a small infrastructure upgrade is done.

    Read the full post: Your walks now actually stay live →

  3. feature design

    Stream your live walks to YouTube at the same time as WalkSpy, with the route map overlaid on the broadcast. Twitch and Facebook coming next.

    • New "Connected platforms" page in your account dropdown. Connect your YouTube channel once, disconnect any time.
    • New "Also stream to YouTube" toggle in the GO LIVE settings sheet. Only shows up when you have YouTube connected.
    • When you go live, WalkSpy creates a YouTube broadcast on your channel as an unlisted live video. When you stop walking, the broadcast ends automatically.
    • The route map is composited into the YouTube broadcast as a corner overlay, so viewers on YouTube can see where you are without leaving for WalkSpy.
    • Live walk page shows a per-platform status pill: a link to the YouTube watch page when active, a calm fallback message if the upstream connection drops.
    • We never post, watch, or read anything on your YouTube account outside of starting and ending broadcasts you triggered.
    • Twitch and Facebook are coming next. Other platforms (TikTok, Instagram, X) don't allow third-party apps to start live broadcasts on your behalf; we are tracking partnership openings.

    Read the full post: Walk live on WalkSpy and YouTube at the same time →

  4. feature improvement

    Every walk now has six downloadable file formats, including a real PNG of the route on the map and a GPX track for Strava and Garmin. Plus we expanded currency support to every currency Stripe Connect handles, around 135 in total. Plus a Report button on walks, comments, listings, and profiles.

    • Report button added across the site. Tap it on a walk, a comment, a walk request or offer, a bid, or a walker profile to flag something for the team. Pick a reason from a short list, add optional context, and we take it from there.
    • Currency support widened to the full Stripe Connect list. If your country uses it and Stripe accepts it, WalkSpy now lists, charges, and pays in it. Roughly 135 currencies, up from 16.
    • New "Files" button on every recorded walk page. Tap it and you get a sheet with six downloads.
    • Route on the map (PNG): your route drawn over the basemap, ready to share to Instagram, Discord, or anywhere else.
    • Route on paper (PNG): the same polyline on a clean canvas without the basemap, good for prints and minimalist share cards.
    • Route as vector (SVG): scales to any size without losing quality, useful for posters or embeds.
    • GPX track: imports cleanly into Strava, Garmin Connect, Komoot, and other sport apps.
    • GeoJSON: for mapping libraries and developers who want to plot the trace themselves.
    • Walk video: the recorded MP4, with a clean filename like WalkSpy-walker-slug-walk-slug.mp4 instead of a hash.
    • Every file lives on a stable, shareable URL. Copy the link from the Files sheet and paste it anywhere.

    Read the full post: Your walks, as files you can take anywhere →

  5. feature design

    Steering is here. Watchers can send live walkers cues and pinned destinations, with optional bounties pooled from anyone watching. Plus multi-currency across the whole site.

    • New on every live walk: a Steering panel for watchers. Send the walker a quick cue (turn around, look up, do a 360, slow down) or drop a pin on the map for a destination.
    • Cues and pins can be free or carry a bounty. Anyone watching can chip in to the pool, and walkers see the most-funded tasks first.
    • Walkers always tap to accept or decline. Decline anything for any reason and the pool refunds in full. Cancel a task you accepted and the same thing happens.
    • Walkers opt in to Steering in their walk settings. There is a minimum bounty floor for paid tasks; free cues always come through. The toggle works mid-walk now, no need to restart.
    • When a walker finishes a task, the bounty pool settles after a short approval window. WalkSpy keeps 20 percent to cover payments and infrastructure; the rest goes to the walker.
    • Recorded walks now show pins on the map for every task done during the walk. Hover or tap to see who asked, what they asked for, and what was in the pool.
    • Steering Terms page added at /legal/steering-terms. First-time posters accept once. Walker discretion is paramount; nothing about following or surveilling specific individuals is allowed.
    • Multi-currency support across the whole site. Walk Requests, walk offers, bids, tips, and Steering tasks all carry the poster's or walker's currency. We support 16 currencies today, including USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CAD, AUD, INR, BRL, and the others Stripe Connect handles best.
    • Recorded-walk markers now sit on the route, not on the noisy GPS dot, so they read clean even on twisty paths.

    Read the full post: Steering is here, and Walkspy works in your currency →

  6. feature design

    Walk Requests are back, with a real two-sided marketplace and a clean way to record a walk against a request.

    • New Walk Requests page at /walk-requests. People who want a walk recorded somewhere can post the place, the dates, and an amount; walkers can browse the open list and pick one.
    • Mirror page at /walk-offers for walkers offering to record walks on demand. Same shape, opposite direction.
    • Both surfaces are filterable by country and free-text search.
    • Every request and offer gets a clean shareable URL like /walk-requests/12-half-day-walking-tour-food-stops-welcome so links read like the listing they point to.
    • A "Walk for this request" button on any open request takes the walker straight into the start-walk flow with the title pre-filled.
    • When a walker records a walk for a request, the walk page shows a "Recording for" pill that links back to the request, and the request page lists the walks done for it.
    • Walk Requests and Walk Offers are in the top Browse menu and the footer.
    • Search now suggests open requests and offers alongside walkers, walks, places, and tour companies.
    • Both surfaces are in the sitemap so search engines can find them.

    Read the full post: Walk requests are back, and they finally connect to the walks →

  7. feature design

    An interactive world map, plus Guided Mode for following a recommended route on your phone.

    • The new Browse page is a real, interactive world map. Pan, zoom, and click any country to see how many walks have been recorded there.
    • Country click opens a small popup with two options: zoom into that country, or open its full place page.
    • Recommended walking routes are pinned on the map. Click a pin to read the route, or open it to start walking it.
    • Walkers who are live right now show up as pulsing red dots. Click one to drop into the live stream.
    • Toggle countries, recommended routes, walks, and live walkers independently from a side panel. There is a "Fit world" button to snap back out.
    • Deep-linking works: share a URL with ?country=CA to drop someone straight into that country's view.
    • Guided Mode is here. Every recommended walking route now has a "Walk this route" button.
    • When you walk a recommended route, your live page shows a "Following" pill that links back to the route you are walking.
    • The recommended route page lists walks done by other walkers along it, so you can see how other people experienced the same path before you head out.

    Read the full post: A world map you can walk into, and routes worth following →

  8. improvement design

    Smoother map routes and a fresh basemap.

    • Recorded walk maps now smooth your route to nearby paths when there is a clear match, so the line on the map looks like the route you actually walked instead of jittery GPS.
    • The basemap got a refresh: clearer typography, friendlier colors, sharper rendering on high-DPI screens.
    • New "Smooth route on map" toggle on the edit-walk page lets you opt out for off-road walks (trails, fields, flights, anywhere there is no path to snap to).
    • GPS captured during recording is more accurate: noisy fixes are filtered out at the source instead of being averaged in.

    Read the full post: Your walks now look like the route you actually walked →

  9. feature design

    Multi-camera walks, theater mode, drag-and-pin tiles, and a much more obvious play button.

    • Walks can have any number of camera angles, and watchers see them all play at once, perfectly in sync.
    • Click any camera tile to make it the featured (large) one and route audio there.
    • Drag handles let you reorder the tiles; pushpins keep favorites at the top across reloads.
    • "Reset cams" button restores the default layout in one click.
    • Theater mode hides the site chrome so the walk and the map fill the screen. Press Esc to exit.
    • The play button got much bigger and now shows a clear play triangle on top of the WalkSpy hiker, so it reads as a control at a glance.
    • Per-tile audio buttons let you pick which camera's audio is playing, or mute everything.
    • Mobile layout for multi-cam walks puts the featured tile up top with the rest in a swipeable strip below.

    Read the full post: Watch every camera at once →