How We Protect Your Location With a 200m Offset

One of the first questions people ask about Walk With Me is: "Wait, so people can see where I am?" and my answer is always: "No. They really can't."

The Problem

Walk With Me shows walks on a map. But showing someone's exact location to strangers? Absolutely not. We had to figure out a way to show "roughly where" a walk is happening without revealing "exactly where" the walker is standing.

The Haversine Formula Offset

We take your real GPS coordinates and randomly offset them by up to 200 meters using the Haversine formula. This offset is different for every user viewing the same walk. So User A might see your marker 65 meters to the north. User B sees it 198 meters to the southeast. User C sees it 200 meters to the west. Nobody sees the same position, and nobody sees the real one.

Map Zoom Restrictions

Zoom levels are locked between 12 and 15. Every map displays a "Location is Approximate" label. This prevents anyone from zooming in close enough to identify a specific building or street corner.

The 5-Minute Delay

Location updates every 5 minutes. At average walking pace, that's roughly 400 meters of additional uncertainty. Combined with the 200m offset, someone trying to find you from the map would be looking in the wrong place and in the wrong time.

How People Actually Meet

Once a walk host approves your join request, you get access to the precise meeting point. Strangers browsing the map see an approximate area. Approved participants see the real meeting point. That's the key distinction.

Why We Did It This Way

We could have made the app text-based, but that kills the magic. The whole experience is opening the map and seeing green markers of people walking around your city right now. The 200m offset, zoom restrictions, and 5-minute delay give us the balance between useful and safe.

Read more about all our safety and privacy features.