🧺 Youth event: kept private automatically, and please use a sail number, not a name — so a child’s live location isn’t public.
A track is the same recording, kept to yourself — practice starts, a tune-up, or checking it all still works.
1 Check the name above — change it if you like.
2 Tap START RECORDING and put the phone away.
3 Tap FINISH & UPLOAD when you’re done. That’s it.
2 Which race?
Kept private to you and whoever else records the same session name. Not published as a club race.
3 GPS
Getting a GPS fix… allow location when asked.
0:00
Elapsed
0.0
Speed (kn)
0.0
Distance (NM)
–
Heel
0
One tap starts recording your GPS. Tap again at the finish and it uploads to the
fleet replay — corrected on handicap. Free sign-in — a boat name and a GPS, nothing to install (a club tracking link needs no sign-in at all).
What stops it: answering a call, opening another app, or
locking the phone. Recording pauses until you come back, and you get a gap in the track — not a
lost race, but a hole in it. We hold the screen awake for you; screen-on in a pocket is fine.
The easy way round it: use a spare phone and leave it on the chart table. Below decks is fine
— GPS goes straight through fibreglass — and nobody needs to pick it up mid‑race. Or see all six ways →
📞 What if I get a call?
Nothing breaks. What actually happens:
A text or notification pops up — nothing at all. Keep sailing, it keeps recording.
You answer a call, or open another app — recording pauses while you’re away and
picks up again when you come back. You get a gap in the track for the time you were gone, and
we’ll say so on screen when it happens.
You lock the phone — same. Pauses, then carries on when you unlock it.
You won’t lose the race. The track is saved as you go, so even
if the phone goes flat or the page gets closed, it’s still there when you come back.
Want no gaps at all? Put a spare phone on the chart table, screen
on, and forget about it. Your own phone stays yours — calls, photos, weather, the lot.
📱 Honest heads-up: a phone is the easy way in and a great gap-filler, but phones fight hard to kill background apps — lock the screen or switch away and tracking can pause. More reliable for the whole race: a GPS watch or logger (Garmin and the like) records the lot on its own — just upload the GPX afterwards. And for live capture, an AIS transponder or a club receiver. Set one up →
I’m having trouble
iPhone
Location is off. Three places it can be off, from most to least likely. Check them in order and
come back here — no reload needed.
The phone. Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → on. In the list, Safari
Websites → While Using the App, and Precise Location on. (On a phone that’s never allowed
Safari location before, this is the one.)
This site. In Safari, tap aA at the left of the address bar → Website Settings →
Location → Allow.
The home-screen app. If you opened Telltale from an icon on your home screen, it has its own
permission, separate from Safari: Settings → scroll to the app list → Telltale → Location →
While Using the App. Or open it once from the icon and tap Allow when asked.
Still red after that? Pull down once to refresh. If it’s still red, it’s us — tap Send a report and
we’ll look.
Keep the screen on. An iPhone locks itself after 30 s to a few minutes and the recording stops
when it does. Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never for the race (put it back
after), or use the tracker’s dim button and leave the phone face-up. Low Power Mode forces a short
Auto-Lock — turn it off for the race.
It stopped when I switched apps. Safari pauses a page the moment it’s not on screen. Add Telltale
to the home screen (Share ↑ → Add to Home Screen) and open it from there — no tabs, nothing to
switch to by accident.
No GPS lock at the wharf. Stand where the phone can see sky; the first fix can take a minute.
Wi-Fi on helps, even if you’re not connected to anything.