One travel journal for everyone on the trip
Two of you or a group of twenty, you can keep one journey between you instead of one each, as a couple, a family or a group of friends. Everyone tracks on their own phone and adds their own pebbls, and it all goes onto one map and one journal that people at home can follow.
Getting started
- Start the journey. Start it in the app as you would on your own, and tick “I'm travelling with someone”. The invite screen opens once the first chapter begins.
- Send the invite. Send the invite link by message, WhatsApp or email. If they're already on Pebbls, you can invite them by name instead.
- Say yes. Opening the link asks to join, and you say yes or no to each person, so a forwarded link doesn't let a stranger in.
- Everyone presses Track. Each phone tracks when its own person presses Track, and stopping one phone doesn't stop the others.
What the map shows
When you're out together, two phones record the same day. Pebbls puts them together so the map still reads as one trip.
One line between you
While you're together the map draws one line, taken from whichever phone recorded better, and a gap on one phone is filled in from another.
When you split up
If one of you is more than a kilometre away for more than ten minutes, their route shows as its own line in their colour until you meet up again.
How far each of you went
On the website, a chapter you tracked together shows its distance and how far each of you went, which helps on the days you didn't do the same thing.
Pebbls with your own name
Everyone adds their own photos and notes, and each pebbl shows the face and name of the person who added it.
Either of you starts a chapter
Anyone on the trip can start a new chapter and name it, and everyone's phone moves to it. A chapter lasts until someone starts the next one.
When a phone has no signal
It keeps tracking and sends the route and pebbls once it's back online. They go into the right chapter, even if someone started a new one in the meantime.
Who can do what
The person who starts the journey owns it. The people they let on can add to it, but they can't take it over.
Everyone on the trip can
- Track the route on their own phone
- Add pebbls and photos, with their name on them
- Start a new chapter for everyone
- See every pebbl on the journey, private ones too
What they can't do
- Change or delete your pebbls. They can change or delete only the ones they added
- Change the journey's name or details
- Let anyone else on. Only you say yes to people
You can take someone off at any time, and anyone can leave when they like. The pebbls they added stay on the journey with their name on them.
Hiding where you start and finish
Each chapter can have a location mask: a circle of 500 m, 1 km or 3 km round where it starts and where it finishes. It's off unless you pick one. With it on, it hides where each of you starts and finishes that chapter, even if you set off from different places. Your live dot only shows if you share your live location.
Free, or more with Explorer
One person can travel with you for free. With Explorer, the person who started the journey can have up to 20 people on it. If their Explorer ends, everyone already on the trip stays, but nobody new can join until it's renewed.
Questions
Do the others need the app?
Yes, to track the route they need Pebbls on their own phone and a free account. They can add pebbls in the app or on the website. People who only want to follow along don't need it. They can open the link in a web browser or get the weekly email.
What happens to someone's pebbls if they leave?
They stay on the journey with that person's name on them. If they want to, they can still delete the ones they added.
Who can see the journey?
The same people as any other journey: anyone if it's public, or only people with the link if it's private. Private pebbls are seen by the people on the trip and nobody else.
Do our followers hear about everything twice?
No. People who follow either of you hear about what's added once, not once for each of you.
Can we each keep a copy?
Yes. When you download your data you get your own route and pebbls in full, and the shared line for the days you were on the trip.
Set it up before you go
Get the app on everyone's phone, start the journey and send the invite. You can try it out on a walk round the block first.