May 25, 2026 · 5 min read
When Walking Alone Doesn't Feel Safe
Almost 2 in 3 women say they don't feel safe walking alone, especially at night. That means most women miss out on everything walking offers. We built 10 layers to fix that.
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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.
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March 2, 2026 · 5 min read
Is Walk With Me Safe?
Every time I mention the app, the first question is: “Is it safe?” The answer is yes, and here’s exactly how the 200m offset, 5-minute delay, and host approval keep you protected.
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September 6, 2026 · 6 min read
By the Numbers, September 2026
In July I wrote about finding our first 300 users with zero ad budget. Two months later, here's the honest scorecard: over 700 walkers, more than 6 million steps, and a website Google now shows more than 30,000 times a day.
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