Waypost, the Wherigo Player app for iPhone and Android
Install Waypost, the CacheSleuth Wherigo Player, as a real app on an iPhone, an iPad or an Android phone, with cartridges the phone knows how to open. In beta, and being changed often.
Play cartridges without a browser in the way
The Wherigo Player already runs in any browser, and you can add it to your
home screen from there. The app adds the two things a browser tab cannot do:
your phone treats a .gwc file as something it
knows how to open, so a cartridge in your downloads, in Files, in Mail or on
a share sheet opens straight in the player, and the whole player ships
inside the app, so it starts with no signal at all. On both phones it adds a
third: a cartridge keeps running with the phone in your pocket, then tells
you when you have arrived.
This app is in beta
It is here to be tested, and it is being changed often. Expect rough edges, and expect a new build to arrive fairly regularly. Your cartridges and saved games live on your phone, and unless you sign in, nothing you do here can affect anything on the website. If something is wrong, the contact page reaches us.
Signed out, which is how it starts, nothing you load leaves your phone. There is an optional CacheSleuth account you can sign in to if you want your cartridges and saved games on more than one device, and everything it stores is encrypted on your phone before it is sent, so we cannot read it. There are no analytics, and the location permission is only used to move you on the map while you play. The Waypost privacy policy has the detail.
Getting it on your phone
Same app and same player either way. How you install it, and how it stays up to date, is where the two phones differ.
Waypost is distributed through TestFlight, Apple's own app for trying apps before they reach the App Store. Two taps, no sideloading, and nothing to trust by hand.
Join the beta on TestFlightiPhone or iPad on iOS 15 or newer. Free, and no account with us is needed.
- Tap the button above on the iPhone or iPad you want to play on. Opened on a computer it only shows you a page about the app.
- If you do not have TestFlight yet, the page sends you to the App Store to get it. It is Apple's own app and it is free.
- Back in TestFlight, tap Accept, then Install. Waypost lands on your home screen like any other app.
- Open it. Load a cartridge from the launch screen, or open a
.gwcfrom Files, Mail or a share sheet.
What it asks you for and when
One thing at a time, and each one at the moment it means something. Pressing Start asks for your location, which is what moves you on the map. Nothing else is asked yet.
The first time you put the phone away mid-game, the app notices that it stopped following you and offers to keep playing in your pocket. Take it and iOS asks for Always location, and only then for notifications: that pair is what lets a cartridge reach you with the screen off, when you arrive somewhere. Decline any of it and the game still works, it just needs the screen on. You can change your mind later in the phone's own Settings.
Keeping it up to date
The player inside the app updates itself quietly, so fixes to the map, the tabs and the cartridge engine arrive on their own the next time you open it, with nothing to download. Now and then the app around it changes too, and that arrives as a new build in TestFlight: it tells you, and one tap installs it. Your cartridges and saved games are kept either way.
A TestFlight build stops working 90 days after it was uploaded, which is Apple's rule for every beta and not something the app decides. Keeping the app current is all it takes to never see it.
Apple does tell us how many people installed a build and which builds crashed. TestFlight also has a Send Feedback button that reaches us, and so does the contact page if you would rather ask before installing anything.
Looking up the latest build...
Android 7 or newer. The app updates its own player automatically, so this download only needs repeating when there is a new app version.
This app does not come from the Play Store, so Android will check with you twice. Both warnings are normal, neither means anything is wrong, and the second one only appears after you have dealt with the first.
- Tap the downloaded file. Android may say your phone is not allowed to install unknown apps from this source. That permission belongs to the app you tapped the file in, your browser or your files app, and not to this download. Tap Settings, turn on Allow from this source, press back, then tap the file again.
- Play Protect says the developer is unknown. Tap More details, then Install anyway.
- Open the app. Load a cartridge from the launch screen, or share a
.gwcto it from anywhere on the phone.
Keeping it up to date
You only do the above once. The player inside the app updates itself quietly, so fixes to the map, the tabs and the cartridge engine arrive on their own the next time you open it, with nothing to download.
Now and then the app around it changes too, and that part cannot update itself silently on Android. When it happens the app says so and offers to do it: tap Update and it fetches the new version and hands it to Android, which asks you to confirm. The first time, it will ask you to let Waypost install apps, which is a switch you flick once. Play Protect may also offer to scan the update first, and letting it is fine, but declining the scan cancels the install. Your cartridges and saved games are kept either way, because this is an update and not a fresh install.
Read this first
A Wherigo is a game you play by walking, and the player has a map, three movement modes, four lists and a settings sheet behind it. The how to use page is a picture of every one of those screens with the parts named, and it is worth ten minutes before you are standing outside with a cartridge running.
How to use the Wherigo PlayerIt is also inside the app, under Settings, How to play.
Not ready to install anything
On either phone you can skip the app: open the Wherigo Player in Safari or Chrome and add it to your home screen. You get the same player, the same offline play and the same cartridge library. Only the file handling, the share sheet and playing with the phone in your pocket are app specific.
Wherigo is a trademark of Groundspeak, Inc. Waypost is an independent player and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Groundspeak. TestFlight and App Store are trademarks of Apple Inc.