What the Map view is
The Map tab places the people in your life on an interactive map. Each person is a marker; your own marker is a little larger so you can find yourself at a glance, and markers grow slightly for people you've written more about and linked more. Pan and zoom like any map, and tap a marker to open that person's card.
Where the locations come from
betterpal plots a person wherever you've told it they are:
- A person's location. If you've given someone a location - a city or address, whether you typed it yourself or it came through when you added them - that's where their marker sits.
- Tag locations. Tags can have a place attached to them too (a city, a venue, an office). Switch this on and people also appear at the locations of their tags, so a "London office" tag drops everyone with that tag onto London.
betterpal turns those place names into map coordinates for you, so "Austin, TX" or a street address lands in the right spot without you fiddling with pins.
People you haven't given a location (and who don't carry a located tag) simply won't appear on the map. If someone's missing, add a city or address to their profile, or attach a location to one of their tags, and they'll show up.
Getting around
- Tap a marker to open that person's card.
- Pan and pinch to move around and zoom.
- Jump to your location or zoom to fit everyone using the on-map buttons - handy for going from "who's right here" to "everyone, everywhere" in a tap.
Map settings
Open the map settings to control what's shown:
- Show Labels - "Display names below markers." Turn it on to read who's who without tapping; turn it off for a cleaner map when an area is crowded.
- Tag Locations - "Show people at their tag locations." This adds the tag-based pins described above, on top of each person's own location.
What it's good for
- Trip planning. Before you travel, zoom to a city and see who you know there. The map turns "I think someone lives near there" into a definite list.
- Seeing the shape of your circle. A glance shows whether your people are concentrated in one city or spread across the map.
- Reconnecting locally. Zoom into where you are now to spot nearby friends you haven't seen in a while.
Common questions
How do I add a location to someone?
Edit the person and set their location, or give one of their tags a location so everyone with that tag appears there.
Does the map share my location or my people's?
No. betterpal stores everything locally on your iPhone. Locations are used to draw your own private map on-device. See the privacy policy for details.
Next up
The map shows where people are. To see how they connect to each other, head to the Network view.