RevealWild is an Android app that is available in English, German and Spanish that aims to serve one simple purpose, and one simple purpose only; to let people know where you are. It’s primary goal is to make it easy for users to share their location when they’re hiking, or perhaps lost, and help others quickly find out where they are. RevealWild – with a little help from the user – formats an SMS message that lists your chosen name as well as your coordinates (longitude and latitude) to one of your chosen SMS numbers. This message can be used by friends and family, or other members of the expedition, to then find out exactly where you are and either meet up or come and rescue you. A great app for those traveling in new areas as well as hikers and explorers alike, let’s take a closer look at RevealWild.
First of all, those thinking of using RevealWild on their upcoming trip or hike, will need to download it from the Play Store. It’s not a free app and there’s no trial version available, which might be disappointing to some, but this does mean that there are no ads or in-app purchases to be found anywhere. Once launched, RevealWild gets to work right away, and will reveal your location – whether or not it’s in the wild.
Right away, it’s not difficult to see that RevealWild is a really, really simple application. However, this is definitely a good thing, especially given the sort of situations for which people might have to use such an app. For instance, if I were on a hike and was separated from my group, with a strained muscle, I might need some help or to catch up. With this, I can send my coordinates to someone and get them to come and find me.
The settings menu, while sparse, has everything that you need to accomplish this sort of thing. This includes your name, which can be either your full name, the name of your group or whatever else you feel is appropriate and helpful.
From here, users also have five different SMS numbers to choose from, which is where the message with your location will be sent to. Sadly however, it doesn’t look like you can rename these options. RevealWild is constantly being updated with new features and the developer is currently at work on version 1.1 which should be coming with a lot more features.
Whenever someone sends a message from RevealWild, it will read like this:
Bruce Perry
Coordinates: 50.0918,-122.8844
Elevation in feet (meters): 7,242 feet (2208)
URL: https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0918,-122.8844,13z.
This looks good, and the URL will open up the Android app with their location, and then of course give users the option to get directions to this point on the map.
RevealWild is a really simple Android app, there’s no getting around that fact, but then some of the best tools in the world are the easiest to use. This is just what RevealWild is, an excellent tool that doesn’t add too much on top of the core functionality. It’s a barebones tool that can help people on a hike, those exploring a new area, travelers in a foreign country, parents keeping track of kids who need a ride home, or whatever else keep in touch with each other, and it works really, really well. It’s available in German as well as Spanish, which is nice to see, but even more languages would help to keep this nice and useful for absolutely everyone. A simple, and effective tool is what’s best in situations where someone might panic when lost or injured. One thing that RevealWild does work well for is casual users, such as teenagers traveling together in a city they’re not familiar with and so on.
Ratings
- Speed (5/5) – RevealWild is super-quick, and if you have it all set up and ready to go, you can share your location in a matter of seconds.
- Theme (4/5) – There’s not much in the way of a UI here in the first place, so there’s neither much to complain about nor write home about, but it does work well and is easily-understood.
- Features (3.5/5) – Its simplicity is perhaps part of its charm as well as what makes it so easy and straightforward to use, but it’s something that might feel a little light on features, especially for more experienced hikers and travellers.
- Overall (4/5) – Despite its fairly barebones approach, RevealWild works well and gets the job that it promises to do, done. It’s a great tool that’s simple and easy to use and while it won’t appeal to everyone, there will be many user out there that will find a key use for RevealWild.
Pros
- Super-simple to use, with no need to go through a tutorial or anything like that, it’s very straightforward.
- No ads or in-app purchases at all, helping to keep the app light, quick and speedy off the mark.
- Creates an easy-to-read and informative message for people that might be looking to find out where you are or want to meet up.
- Very quick to open and send a message to someone, making this an app that will work well in emergency situations to help inform the rest of a group or whatever.
Cons
- Some might consider it a little pricey given its limited feature set.
- For some more experienced hikers and travelers it might feel a little basic.
All-in-all, RevealWild is the sort of app that focuses in on a niche audience and serves them well with a quick and easy-to-use tool that doesn’t take long to get to grips with. For families as well groups traveling together, RevealWild is quick and easy way to find out exactly where a member of the group is and it’s a nice safety blanket, too. Is it a little on the expensive side of things? Well, this is relative, but its simple functionality is always going to be a love it or hate it sort of thing. One thing we can say for sure about RevealWild is that it delivers on its promises.