Starting your trip
How to start an active trip, what happens when you tap Start, and what to do if the safety timer fires unexpectedly.
The control panel is a persistent bar inside the Trip Planner. Its buttons and tools change based on trip status — planning, active, or completed.
Screenshot coming soon
Trip control panel in planning state — Start button and tools overflow menu.
Before you tap Start
You need at least an end date set in the trip calendar. The end date drives the calendar-based overdue check — if your trip is still active after this date without being completed, an alert fires.
Start date is optional and is not required to begin a trip.
You can only have one active trip at a time. Complete your current trip before starting a new one.
What happens when you tap Start
Screenshot coming soon
Trip control panel in active state — Complete, Timer, Chat, GPS buttons visible.
When you start a trip, Trailkeep:
- Requests your GPS location to record trailhead coordinates. If GPS is unavailable or you decline, the trip still starts — a warning indicator appears in the control panel.
- Ensures a shared link exists for your trip — required for the chat, QR code, and safety features to work. If a link already exists, this is a no-op.
- Activates trip chat — anyone with your shared trip link can now send messages.
- Starts the safety timer (Pro / Pioneer accounts) — the countdown begins from the moment you tap Start. Free accounts get calendar-based overdue monitoring only, triggered at the trip end date.
There is no need to tap Start more than once. If you are hiking a months-long route, this button gets pressed once at the trailhead and not again.
The QR code — an access gate
The Safety QR acts as an access gate. In normal state, anyone who scans it sees only a status check: "Trip Active — Everything is going according to plan." No itinerary, no personal details.
If your safety alert fires and you are overdue, the gate opens — the QR redirects to your full shared trip page so emergency contacts or responders get everything they need, exactly when they need it.
This means you can share your QR freely — stick it on your car dashboard, leave a copy at a trailhead register, send it digitally — without worrying that anyone who scans it will see your personal information unless you are actually in trouble.
The shared trip link is different. Anyone with the direct /trip/… URL can always see your full itinerary, route, and dates. Emergency contacts and personal details (name, medical notes) remain hidden on that page until an alert is active. Think of the shared link as your trip page, and the QR code as the emergency gate.
Trip chat
The chat is active while your trip is running. Anyone with your shared trip link can send messages — all participants see all messages. It is a public thread. Avoid anything sensitive.
The intended use is coordination: if you are overdue, family, SAR coordinators, and volunteers can all communicate in one place without accounts or apps.
Once you complete your trip, the chat section disappears from the shared page. Messages are not deleted but are no longer displayed.
Completing a trip
Click Complete when you are safely off the trail. This:
- Records your end time
- Turns off the safety timer and all monitoring
- Hides the chat from the shared page
- Cleans up Trail Companion subscriptions
If there is an active safety alert or your trip is showing as overdue, the Complete button is disabled. Cancel the alert first, then complete.
Resetting a trip
Screenshot coming soon
Trip control panel in completed state — Completed badge and Reset icon.
After completion, a Reset button (circular arrow icon) appears alongside the "Completed" badge. Use this if you tested the trip flow and want to return it to the planning state as if it was never started.
Reset clears:
- Trip status (back to planning)
- All start and end timestamps
- All day completion progress
- All GPS breadcrumbs
Reset does not clear your itinerary, waypoints, trail notes, or the shared link.