Quick start
Start a safety timer and share your location in under a minute — no pre-planning required.
The fastest way to use Trailkeep is the Safety Timer quick start on the Start tab. You do not need a GPX file, a planned itinerary, or anything else set up beforehand. You enter a name, choose how long you expect to be out, and tap one button.
What the quick start does
When you tap Start safety timer, Trailkeep:
- Creates a trip with the name and return time you entered
- Starts the safety timer immediately
- Captures your current location as the trip's starting point (if you grant location permission)
- Auto-creates a shared trip link — your emergency contacts can monitor your status from the moment you start
The Start tab switches from the idle card to the Active trip card, which shows your countdown and lets you check in throughout the trip.
How to start
Open Trailkeep — the Start tab is the default view.
1. Set your expected return time
The card shows a large "Expect me back by" countdown. Use the duration chips to choose how long you expect to be out:
- 12h — half-day or evening outing
- 24h — day trip with an overnight buffer
- 2d — weekend trip (default)
- Custom — enter any date and time manually
The date and time update instantly as you tap chips.
Free accounts can plan trips up to 4 days. The 5d chip and custom dates beyond 4 days from today are available on Pro and Pioneer plans.
2. Name your trip
Type a name in the "Name this trip" field. Your emergency contacts see this name if an overdue alert fires — make it something they will recognise ("Snowdon summit, 4 May" works better than "hike").
3. Tap "Start safety timer"
A salmon-coloured pill button at the bottom of the card. The trip starts immediately. No confirmation step.
If you have not added emergency contacts yet, a readout below the name field will flag this. You can still start without contacts — add them in Account Settings → Emergency and they will be linked automatically.
What happens next
Once started, the Start tab shows your active trip card — countdown hero, daily check-in rows, and lifecycle actions (Check in / Adjust return / Finish / Cancel).
Your shared trip link is active from this point. Copy it from the Share row at the bottom of the card and send it to whoever is monitoring you.
Upgrading to a full planned trip
Quick start creates a simple single-stage trip. If you want a multi-day itinerary, GPX route line on the shared map, waypoints, and gear lists, use the Trip Planner instead.
From the Start tab, choose Planned trip, pick your trip, and tap Start safety timer once the trip dates are set in Trip Planner. The Trip Planner has its own quick start guide and supports GPX upload and collaborative editing. If the dates still need work, tap the hint under the hero (for example Set trip dates in Trip Planner) to jump there with that trip selected.
Quick start and the Trip Planner are separate entry points. A quick-start trip cannot be retroactively converted into a planned trip — if you know you want the full feature set, start in the Trip Planner.