Completing a day
How to mark a hiking day as complete, automatically record your GPS location as a safety breadcrumb, and reset the safety timer.
Each trip day has a Check in button. Checking in does three things: marks the day as done, automatically captures your GPS location as a safety breadcrumb (if available), and resets the safety timer with a fresh window.
This is one of the most safety-critical actions in the app. The GPS coordinates stored here are the first data emergency contacts and search and rescue crews will look at if something goes wrong.
Before you start
The Check in button is visible in the planning state but disabled. A small ⓘ icon appears next to it — tapping it shows: "Start your trip first." The button becomes active as soon as the trip is started.
Collaborators and shared view visitors cannot complete days on your behalf. The completion section is hidden entirely in those views.
Checking in
Tap Check in on the day you have finished. Trailkeep shows a confirmation dialog and requests GPS access before proceeding.
If GPS succeeds, your coordinates are stored in two places:
Last known location— the primary SAR reference. Emergency contacts and rescuers see this first. If this write fails, the entire completion fails — the app would rather show an error than save a stale location.Day breadcrumb— a historical record showing your daily progression through the route.
If GPS is denied or unavailable, a toast appears: "GPS unavailable — day completed without location." The day still completes. GPS capture is automatic but never blocks your check-in.
GPS capture happens automatically — no extra tap needed. If GPS is denied or unavailable, the day completes without a location breadcrumb. An orange warning indicator appears next to the Completed button as a reminder.
Status indicators
After checking in, a small icon appears next to the Checked in badge:
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Blue map-pin | GPS captured. Click to see coordinates, accuracy, and recording time. |
| Orange warning triangle | GPS not captured. Click to see why (permission denied or unavailable). |
These indicators are only visible in your own dashboard — not on the shared trip page.
Safety timer reset
Completing a day is your daily check-in. If you do not complete a day within your configured window, an overdue alert is sent to your emergency contacts. See Safety timer for details.
Completing a day resets the timer to a fresh full window:
new deadline = now + your configured interval (24h or 36h)Completing a day while time is still on the clock resets the full window — remaining hours are not carried over. Complete the day as soon as you reach camp to get the longest possible window for the next stage.
What emergency contacts see
On the shared trip page, completed days show:
- A "Completed" badge with a green checkmark and the completion timestamp
- If GPS was captured: a collapsible "Location details" section showing latitude, longitude, accuracy, recording time, and a "View on Map" link to Google Maps
- Completed days are always shown on the shared page, even if they have no waypoints or itinerary content (normally, empty days are filtered from the shared view)
Undoing completion
The Check in button is a toggle. Tap a checked-in day again to undo the check-in. If the day had GPS coordinates saved, a confirmation dialog warns that undoing will erase the location record. If the day had no GPS data, it reverts immediately with no dialog.
Tips
- Check in when you reach camp, not the next morning. GPS accuracy is better when you have a signal, and the timer resets to a full window from that moment.
- GPS denial does not block the check-in. If you are in a canyon or indoors, check in without GPS — you can always tap through the permission prompt.