This app helps you get where you’re going without tracking you using GPS

October 15, 2020

By Kim Komando

Remember the days before GPS was around and trying to navigate through an unfamiliar city? Struggling to read one of those old paper maps could turn into a nightmare real quick and many times you’d have to swallow your pride and ask a local for directions.

With the advent of navigational apps like Google Maps, those days are long gone. Good riddance! Google Maps is more than just GPS, you can even use its Street View feature to explore the world through stunning photos. Tap or click here for 10 cool ways to use Street View.

The downside to most navigation apps is they are dependent on a constant connection to take advantage of GPS. But what if you lose your connection long enough to miss a critical turn or exit off the freeway? Thankfully there is an Android app that isn’t reliant on GPS. It can even extend your device’s battery life.

The ultimate Android navigation app

Chances are you may not have heard of SmartNavi, a navigation app for Android that uses steps instead of GPS. Most major navigations apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps and Waze use and integrate GPS into their core functionality. That’s because they’re meant primarily for people driving, not those who use public transit or simply walk or bike.

When driving, it’s important to have a thoroughly detailed look at surrounding areas on your map, which GPS is great at providing. But all this detail isn’t necessary to help get you from one place to another as a pedestrian. So this app is perfect for hikers, bikers and those in big cities just trying to walk from place to place.

SmartNavi uses your phone’s own internal sensors to calculate steps and applies this information to pinpoint your location. The app does connect to the internet or use GPS on its initial launch to locate where you are, but after that, it doesn’t need any other external connection.

A huge benefit of using SmartNavi over other navigation apps is its energy savings. GPS takes a lot of power, but SmartNavi’s navigation is power-efficient, yielding gains of up to 80% more battery life.

Location tracking, while useful for a navigation app, is concerning when companies are monitoring your activity. SmartNavi respects your privacy and doesn’t track you like some other navigational apps. Tap or click here for ways to limit your phone’s location tracking.

How to use SmartNavi

Using SmartNavi is incredibly easy:

• Download and install the app from the Google Play Store for free.
• Open the app and go through its initial setup.
• Input where you’d like to go and get started.

As part of the app’s initial setup, you will be asked to enter your height. It does this to initiate accurate step-based navigation. As mentioned above, during the initial setup you will be required to connect to the internet or use GPS but this is a one-time deal.