Frequently Asked Questions

Findu is a friend-location and sharing app: with mutual consent you can view friends’ locations and history, and keep the places you have been in your own trail.

Do not use Findu for stalking, harassment, or any illegal purpose. You are responsible for misuse.

iOS: Search for “Findu” in the App Store, or install from the button on the official website.

Android: Scan the QR code on the website or tap APK Download. Install only the official package from this site. If the system warns that the app is unverified, risky, or high-risk, confirm the file came from the Findu website, then choose Continue, Install anyway, or Allow this install once. Do not install packages from unknown links.

Since Android 8 there is no single “unknown sources” switch. You allow the app that opens the APK. A browser download needs that browser allowed; a file manager needs the file manager allowed; opening the file inside WeChat or QQ needs WeChat or QQ allowed. If you are unsure, open the package with the system Files app and allow only that app.

Fastest path: open Settings and search for “安装未知应用”, “外部来源”, or “纯净模式” (menu names on Chinese phones are in Chinese). Paths differ by brand and OS version. Links marked with screenshots open the vendor’s own page. After installing, turn the install permission back off. If you turned off Pure mode or Enhanced protection only for this install, you can turn it back on.

Full guide: brand-by-brand steps, install errors, and HarmonyOS 5 via Zhuoyitong.

Check your network and make sure you have agreed to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

Verify your credentials; use in-app recovery if you forgot your password, or contact support.

If it still fails, note the error message and email/QQ us for help.

Your login token is valid for 365 days by default. You usually do not need to sign in again during that period.

Only one device can stay signed in at a time. Signing in on another device immediately invalidates the previous session, and that device will need to sign in again.

Confirm location sharing/upload is on and system Location Services are enabled.

Confirm the viewer is your friend and you granted them location visibility (not blocked or hidden).

If the OS kills the app or restricts background activity, uploads may pause. On Android, follow the keep-alive steps below; on iOS, see Continuous background GPS.

Indoors or weak GPS areas can reduce accuracy or delay updates — that is expected.

Go to Settings → Findu → Location, choose Always, and turn on Precise Location. If you first chose While Using, background reporting will not continue until you change it to Always.

The default is power-saving mode: after the app goes to the background, updates typically resume only after you move about 500 m (or switch cell towers). Sitting still or staying indoors with almost no updates is expected. For denser background traces, turn on Continuous background GPS as described below.

Keep Background App Refresh on. Off Wi‑Fi, open Settings → Findu and enable Cellular Data. Low Power Mode, Airplane Mode, or disabled Location Services will block updates.

No. iOS defaults to power-saving mode: with sharing on, the app reports on your chosen interval in the foreground; once it goes to the background, continuous GPS stops and only Significant Location Changes (about 500 m of movement or a cell-tower switch) trigger another report. Sitting still or staying indoors with almost no updates is the power-saving policy, not a bug.

If you need denser traces after the screen is off (walking, cycling, or driving with the app in the background), go to Me → Location settings → Background location (iOS) and turn on Continuous background GPS. You will be warned that battery use rises sharply. While it is on, GPS stays on in the background and the system status bar usually shows a location indicator. Leave it off if you do not need dense traces or you care about battery.

Before using background location, turn on location sharing, set system location to Always, enable Precise Location, and keep Background App Refresh on. Off Wi‑Fi, also turn on Cellular Data under Settings → Findu (iOS will not prompt for this, and the app cannot enable it automatically).

iOS has none of the Android keep-alive methods (independent keep-alive, dual-process, silent audio, and so on). Whether background reporting continues depends only on system location permission and the Continuous background GPS switch.

Android OEMs often restrict apps after the screen turns off. If the process is killed, GPS cannot keep uploading and friends see a frozen location. Findu offers the keep-alive options below for one purpose: keep the process alive so location can report stably at your chosen interval. If uploads stall after the screen is off, enable the matching items; otherwise you can keep the basics on and add extras only when needed.

In-app toggles (Me → Advanced settings → Background keep-alive (Android)): (1) Independent keep-alive — starts a protector when sharing is on, even if the location service is not up yet; (2) Dual-process watchdog — main and guard processes revive each other; (3) Silent-audio keep-alive — loops silent audio to raise priority (optional extra, may use more battery); (4) 1-pixel keep-alive — a 1-pixel UI while the screen is off (optional extra). Keep Independent keep-alive and Dual-process on while sharing; turn on the last two only if you need them.

System / OEM settings (Me → Location settings, or Background keep-alive on Service status): (1) Alarms & reminders (exact alarms; otherwise wakes may be delayed ~10 minutes); (2) Battery optimization whitelist; (3) Auto-start (boot and background activity); (4) High battery / background limits; (5) Location notification permission (the foreground location service needs a persistent notice). First turn on location sharing and set system location to Allow all the time. Auto-start and high-battery pages cannot be auto-detected — confirm them after the in-app jump.

That is the full keep-alive surface in Findu. There are no other hidden or secretly enabled keep-alive methods. Every item has a visible name, description, and toggle/jump in the app, and Service status shows what is running. All keep-alive options are transparent and under your control — you can turn them off anytime.

After setup, open Service status to check the foreground location service, independent keep-alive, battery whitelist, notifications, and exact alarms. Do not swipe Findu out of Recents or use “boost / clean RAM” tools. Menu names differ by OEM — use the in-app jump buttons.

No. To keep location uploads stable, Findu only uses the keep-alive methods listed in this FAQ and in the app (Independent keep-alive, Dual-process watchdog, Silent audio, 1-pixel, plus Alarms & reminders, battery whitelist, auto-start, high-battery limits, and location notifications).

There is no undisclosed keep-alive you cannot turn off. Everything is transparent and controllable: toggles in Advanced settings, system permissions in Location settings / Service status, and live status on the Service status page.

Check notifications: with sharing on you should see the location foreground notice; with independent keep-alive on there is usually a “background protection” notice too. Turning notifications off disables keep-alive.

In Location settings, watch Total reports increase and Last report update on your interval. You can also tap Report once now to verify location and the API.

On Service status, Foreground location service should be Running; Battery whitelist Ignored; Location notification On; Exact-alarm Allowed. Auto-start and high-battery limits cannot be auto-detected — trust the system page.

If uploads stop after the screen is off for a while, re-check battery optimization, auto-start, and OEM background limits, and avoid clearing the app; you can also enable optional extras such as Silent audio or 1-pixel. Weak indoor GPS makes points sparse, but the report count should still keep rising.

The client throttles uploads (about 3 minutes by default; 1 minute or less requires Trace History). It does not hammer GPS every second.

On iOS, GPS is not kept on in the background by default (see Continuous background GPS); only that switch uses much more power. On Android, enable keep-alive items as needed — you do not have to turn every extra on.

Turn off location upload in the app when you do not need sharing — saves power and protects privacy.

Trace History is an optional paid feature, and you only need it to look further back. Location sharing, friends, the map, navigation, and end-to-end encryption are free.

Free accounts can view today's trail (from 00:00 in your local time zone), with a report interval of 3 minutes or longer and an iOS distance filter of 100 m or more.

With Trace History you can: view any past day; report every 10s / 20s / 30s / 1 min; and on iOS use a distance filter of 5 / 10 / 30 / 50 m.

Pricing: ¥68 per year, or ¥298 as a one-time lifetime purchase. Buy or restore in Me → Trace History.

Viewing a friend's trails checks your own entitlement only — the friend does not need to buy it.

Coordinates come from the system (GPS, Wi‑Fi, cell). Outdoors in the open, error is often a few to about ten meters; indoors, underground, urban canyons, or Airplane Mode make it worse — that is expected.

On iOS, turn on Precise Location. The accuracy value is the system’s estimated error radius, not a guarantee; weak signal can cause jumps or lag.

iOS also has a distance filter: the system delivers a location after the device moves that far horizontally. Smaller values are more sensitive and use more power. Free tiers are 100 m / 200 m; under 100 m (5 / 10 / 30 / 50 m) requires Trace History.

Even with denser sampling, the client still throttles by your report interval and may skip points with little movement, so map track points are not every GPS callback.

Choose the interval in Me → Location settings. The default is about 3 minutes. Free options: 3 / 5 / 10 minutes, plus a custom interval greater than 10 minutes.

1 minute or less (10s / 20s / 30s / 1 min) requires Trace History. If you are not subscribed, a previously selected high-frequency preset is reset to 3 minutes.

Background or low-battery policies may slow reporting further. Turn off location sharing to stop automatic uploads.

The Location History page shows your own or an authorized friend’s past coordinates. Free users can query by recent point count, up to 100 points (50 or 100).

Trace History lets you pick any date, including last week or last month. Viewing a friend’s trails depends on your own entitlement only. A single query spans at most 1 month, purely to cap response size.

Points come from past uploads: shorter intervals and a more sensitive distance filter usually mean denser points; when still or in poor signal they look sparse or clustered. The line on the map is a path hint, not a full navigation trace.

Servers currently keep about the last year of history by default; you can clear it in the app. See “How long is location history kept?” below.

By default we currently keep about the last year of footprint / location history. Records older than that may no longer be retained.

You can clear this account’s historical coordinates at any time in the app (plaintext and ciphertext, typically under Me → Location encryption). That action is irreversible, so confirm carefully.

Retention may later be adjusted dynamically based on user volume and data volume. If it changes, we will note it in the app or on this page.

The Findu App offers two map basemaps: Tianditu (China’s national geospatial platform) and OpenFreeMap (a global open vector map). The choice only affects the map display and place names, not location uploads or friend permissions.

At launch the app picks by your public IP: Tianditu on China networks, OpenFreeMap elsewhere. You can change it anytime in Me → Advanced settings → Map engine.

Tianditu has richer roads and place names inside China. OpenFreeMap covers the world, so it is better outside China or when Tianditu is unreachable.

OpenFreeMap is App-only for now; the web (H5) version still uses Tianditu.

Tianditu mainly serves China networks. On overseas networks, some VPNs/proxies, or when your public IP is outside China, Tianditu may fail to load. The map can stay blank, and friend locations or the relationship map may not appear.

Go to Me → Advanced settings and switch the map engine to OpenFreeMap. If the app already detected a non-China network at launch, it selects OpenFreeMap automatically; it also tries to switch if Tianditu fails to load.

If you are outside China and still chose Tianditu manually, switch back to OpenFreeMap so friend locations can display on the current network.

If OpenFreeMap is already selected and the map is still blank, check that OpenFreeMap tiles are reachable, and that system location permission and in-app location sharing are on.

Live Follow is a real-time location session inside a Youyue group: once you join, the map shows all online members’ positions, headings, and speeds, refreshed about every 2 seconds.

The follow board ranks members by distance from you, with gaps, direction, and speed. Tap a member to focus, and use “Back to me” to return to your own position. After a rally point is set, the board ranks by distance to that point instead — see “Rally point” below.

Follow positions live only in server session cache — they are never written to location history and expire after you leave or stop refreshing. Positions are visible to group members only.

Yes. Each Youyue group's follow session has exactly one rally point, shared by everyone currently on the follow page. When any member sets or clears it, the others pick up the change automatically on the next heartbeat — nobody else needs to set it again.

To set it, tap the rally-point button on the follow page and choose “Search place” or “Pick on map” (drag the map until the center pin sits on the spot, then confirm). When a point already exists, the same button lets you change or clear it.

Once set, a rally marker appears on the map and the follow board re-ranks by who is closer to the rally point (labeled “to rally”); your own straight-line distance to it is shown too. Clearing it restores ranking by distance from you.

The rally point lives only in the follow-session cache and is never written to location history. It stays valid while someone is still following, expires after everyone leaves, and is deleted when the group is dissolved.

Follow needs the follow page to stay in the foreground: going to the background or locking the screen pauses the heartbeat, and returning to the page resumes it automatically.

Make sure the other member has joined the follow session (the board shows the online count) and both sides have a working network.

Make sure system location permission is on (Always allow plus Precise Location is recommended). Indoors or underground, accuracy drops and points may jump — that is expected.

If nothing refreshes for a long time, leave and rejoin the follow session. If it keeps happening, note what you saw and contact us.

Tap “Navigate” on a friend’s location or the map, then pick driving, walking, or riding.

By default Findu launches the native AMap navigator: a full-screen page with route planning, turn-by-turn guidance, and voice prompts. CarPlay is supported on iOS.

Under Me → Advanced settings → In-app navigation you can switch to the built-in Tianditu page. The app also uses that page when the AMap navigation plugin is not in the package. CarPlay always uses AMap and ignores this switch.

To see whether the plugin is in your install, open Me → Advanced settings → Navigation engine. The value on the right is the FinduAMapNavi version; “Not installed” means this package does not include it.

Navigation currently works only inside China. If either your location or your friend’s destination is abroad, tapping Navigate shows “Navigation isn't available abroad” and does not start. Findu does not fall back to the built-in page in that case.

The same applies when you start navigation from the CarPlay home screen: the phone shows the message, and the car shows it too. Tap OK to dismiss the car alert.

You can still view the map abroad. On a non-China network the map engine uses OpenFreeMap to show friend locations. That is a basemap only, not navigation.

If the message is “Navigation isn't available abroad”, one endpoint is outside China. See the previous answer — that is not a planning failure.

Walking route planning is limited to about 100 km and riding to about 500 km (an AMap server limit). Longer trips fail outright; use driving instead.

Check your network, and get a fresh location outdoors before you start. A poor GPS fix shifts the endpoints and the route with them.

If the page stays on a city overview with no turn guidance, or voice keeps playing and the app stops responding after you exit, open Me → Advanced settings → Navigation engine, confirm the FinduAMapNavi version, and install the latest official package that includes the plugin.

Check media volume and the system mute switch first; on iOS make sure the device is not in silent mode.

Tap Settings on the navigation page and check the voice mode: Detail and Concise speak, Mute does not.

If there is still no sound, exit navigation and start it again. If it stays silent, tell us your device model and scenario so we can investigate.

Follow sends and fetches a heartbeat about every 2 seconds, so data and battery are consumed only while the follow page is in the foreground; leaving stops it, and nothing runs in the background.

Navigation behaves like any map navigation app: continuous GPS and network use. The navigation page keeps the screen on, so watch your battery on long trips.

CarPlay is iPhone-only: connect your iPhone to a CarPlay-enabled head unit with a cable (or wirelessly), then open Findu in the car's CarPlay interface.

You can start navigation on the phone, or tap a friend on the CarPlay home screen. The car shows the destination, remaining distance and time, and turn instructions. The full route and voice guidance stay on the phone.

If you or your friend is abroad, home-screen navigation does not start. The car and the phone both show “Navigation isn't available abroad”.

You can end navigation from the car screen, and the phone stops in sync.

Make sure the iPhone is connected, the head unit supports CarPlay, and the car is in the CarPlay interface (some vehicles need it enabled in system settings).

On iOS, check Settings → General → CarPlay to confirm the car is paired; some vehicles let you adjust Findu's display permission in car settings.

Start navigation on the phone, or tap a friend on the CarPlay home screen. The car screen refreshes along with the trip. If nothing appears, disconnect and reconnect CarPlay, then try again.

No. CarPlay is part of the Apple ecosystem and works with iPhones only. On Android, use the in-app full-screen navigator.

Android navigation (driving / walking / riding with routes and voice guidance) matches iOS; only CarPlay projection is unavailable.

You can enable keys and upload new coordinates as ciphertext. With encrypted upload on, the server cannot read plaintext locations; decryption happens only on your device and authorized friends’ devices.

“Enable keys” and “Encrypt uploads” are separate switches; uploads stay plaintext by default. Youyue group check-ins are not covered — see the data note below. See the Privacy Policy and Terms for details.

It means your account already has a location-key profile, but this phone has no local key material (common after switching devices, clearing data, or reinstalling without restore).

If “Encrypt uploads” is also on for the account: the app pauses all GPS reporting (including native background and Report once now). Location sharing can stay toggled on, but coordinates are not uploaded — so the app does not fake success or fall back to plaintext while encryption is required.

Encrypted history on Trails / maps cannot be decrypted until you restore keys; coordinates often show as “-” with only the time visible. That is expected, not a broken GPS fix.

Go to Me → Location encryption and restore with your original recovery key. After a successful restore, if sharing is still on, reporting resumes automatically and encrypted history can display again.

When “Encrypt uploads” is on but this device still needs recovery, the app blocks both manual and background reports and asks you to restore keys first.

This avoids showing a successful upload when no usable new trail point appears, or uploading incorrectly without keys.

If you do not want encrypted uploads for now, restore keys first, then turn off “Encrypt uploads” to continue with plaintext. Until keys are restored, this device cannot safely continue encrypted uploads.

No. Youyue group check-in data (including check-in coordinates) is stored in plaintext and is not encrypted.

Even if you have end-to-end location encryption / “Encrypt uploads” turned on, Youyue check-ins are still submitted and saved in plaintext so group members can see the day’s check-in location. This is separate from continuous GPS and footprint uploads.

The recovery key is only for you to restore keys after switching devices or clearing data. We cannot recover it for you.

If it is lost and this device has no keys, encrypted location history may be permanently undecryptable. Store it offline (password manager or written copy); never share screenshots in chat or cloud drives.

If you cannot recover it, the only option in the app is to abandon the old keys and re-enable with a new recovery key (new keys usually cannot decrypt old ciphertext; plaintext history is generally kept). Read the in-app risk warnings before confirming.

Both sides need keys enabled, you must grant them location permission, and key sharing must complete.

Users without keys may be unable to decrypt ciphertext points; both sides also need a working network and in-app sync.

If this device shows “Recovery needed” and encrypt uploads is on, your continuous reporting is paused too — friends will not see fresh locations until you restore keys.

No. Only friends you authorize can view it. You can stop uploads or change visibility at any time.

Do not share your account. Respect friends’ privacy — do not publish their location or chat content.

You can clear historical coordinates for your account in the app (plaintext and ciphertext). This is usually irreversible. By default we currently keep about the last year of footprint history; older records may no longer be retained.

Account deletion: after signing in, go to Me → Advanced Settings → Delete Account and enter your password; or email root@obaby.org.cn (subject “Account deletion”) or contact QQ 382291381 / QQ Group 462214191. See Section 9 of the Privacy Policy.

Email: root@obaby.org.cn

QQ: 382291381; QQ Group: 462214191

You can also read the Terms, Privacy Policy, and Changelog on the website.