Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

What an incredibly simple idea - an app that lets you tell someone where you are to within a few metres

45 replies

chomalungma · 15/08/2019 08:38

Who needs latitude and longitude when you have 3 words? Those 3 words can let the police know your exact location. Love it.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-49319760

OP posts:
CigarsofthePharoahs · 15/08/2019 08:40

I just saw this news story and have downloaded the app! Clever idea.

Original poster
chomalungma · 15/08/2019 08:45

It's such an obvious idea in retrospect. I can just imagine it when the person realised it.

OP posts:
guiltynetter · 15/08/2019 08:45

this is great, I'll download.

TalkToMeAboutSocialWorkPlease · 15/08/2019 08:46

I just saw this too! So simple yet so useful.

Well done to the guy who made it.

TheFrenchLieutenantsMonkey · 15/08/2019 15:23

Just downloaded it and got the kids to too. Really good.

Original poster
chomalungma · 15/08/2019 15:52

This might be my new parking app.
I just love the number of possible combinations there are - to get to any location in the world.

OP posts:
MrsDimmond · 15/08/2019 16:00

It's amazing isnt it? I remember seeing the 3 word location system on QI and they used it to send a letter!
Its fantastic that it's now an app.

HollowTalk · 15/08/2019 16:01

Someone mentioned this on a thread the other day - it's such a great idea.

sirfredfredgeorge · 15/08/2019 16:15

It's a pretty pointless idea, with your phone you can share your exact location easily via SMS, WhatsApp, telegram etc. etc. And it doesn't mean the other people need to download and install an app to find out where you are. The few situations where having three simple words to give a location are not situations where you have a working mobile phone and app.

Their PR team sure work hard though.

brownjumper · 15/08/2019 16:15

I have the app as I like the idea but in what situation would you use it?
Can anyone give some examples of when it can be used and is helpful?

I can only think of finding my car in airport parking.

sirfredfredgeorge · 15/08/2019 16:18

I can only think of finding my car in airport parking

Surely remembering 3 words is harder than using your phones map function - indeed it can be automatic on most if you just Bluetooth your phone to your car when in it and it just remembers where you last lost Bluetooth connection.

Original poster
chomalungma · 15/08/2019 16:19

Can anyone give some examples of when it can be used and is helpful

If you are lost and struggle to give the exact latitude and longitude location?

If you want someone to find your exact address and can't give the exact lat and longitude?

It's a pretty pointless idea, with your phone you can share your exact location easily via SMS, WhatsApp, telegram etc

Can you? I am sure there are many people who struggle with that but could easily give 3 words.

OP posts:
Original poster
chomalungma · 15/08/2019 16:21

ndeed it can be automatic on most if you just Bluetooth your phone to your car when in it and it just remembers where you last lost Bluetooth connection

Maybe some people aren't as technical as you are but can easily save a location like this?

Or can tell someone at a massive concert the exact location they are at...or even in a crowded pub.

OP posts:
CruellaFeinberg · 15/08/2019 16:21

I saw this on facebook, quite a lot to think about

shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/03/why-bother-with-what-three-words/

BlueSkiesLies · 15/08/2019 16:21

&sirfredfredgeorge actually if you read the linked article you will see why it’s useful.

You don’t need any reception to get the location on the app.

Your friends falls and breaks there leg when hillwalking. There is no reception.

One of you gets the 3 word location then goes to seek help of phone reception, and you can give the exact location of the injured party.

BlueSkiesLies · 15/08/2019 16:23

@brownjumper hopefully you won’t ever really need to find out how useful it is! Mainly for emergency situations.

But for example if you arrange a picnic in st Regent’s Park (insert any other large park) you could message your friends and say ‘I’m st word 1 2 3’ and they can find you exactly rather than ‘I came in the west entrance, go to the fountain and head towards the band stand and then by the bushes I’m sort of to the right’

LazyDaisey · 15/08/2019 16:24

Not everyone wants to share their location with google maps.

SinkGirl · 15/08/2019 16:25

Wish local cab companies had it! We recently had an accident, front tyre exploded and we were stranded on a random very long country road - had to get a cab to come and find me so I could pick kids up from nursery on time. Sadly none of them had this or a way to go by latitude / longitude. Sigh.

BlueSkiesLies · 15/08/2019 16:25

I could use it at work. Meet me on level 13 at 123

MotherOfSoupDragons · 15/08/2019 16:27

Ok so who could possibly be behind the multiple threads about this app today? Hmmm.

spiderlight · 15/08/2019 16:27

Friends of ours have used it to locate their tent at a festival and to find people on a large, busy beach. We could really have done with it a few weeks back when we saw a tree fall across a main train line and were trying to explain to the world's most pedantic police call handler that we couldn't give her an exact address because we were on a cycle track half a mile from the nearest actual road.

Original poster
chomalungma · 15/08/2019 16:28

Ok so who could possibly be behind the multiple threads about this app today? Hmmm

Because maybe it was on BBC this morning and it's useful.

You don't pay for it and it's got a great safety potential. You don't have to get it if you don't want.

OP posts:
Propertyofhood · 15/08/2019 16:34

If you've got no reception, how does the app know where you are?

MsMightyTitanAndHerTroubadours · 15/08/2019 16:34

I love it, some of the three words are just hysterical....dd's bf's house has one that implies his mother is not a good cook. She is not. We laughed unkindly :o

It's MUCH easier to remember and tell someone three words than it is to work out and pass on strings of numbers for latitude/longitude.

HollowTalk · 15/08/2019 16:35

So if I have the app, I can immediately find out my location, which shows as three words. Then if I pass those words on to someone else, do they just enter them into the app and find the location? And there's no charge, you just both have to have the app?