Use Apple Watch Backtrack to Retrace Your Steps

[MacRumors]

On Apple Watch Ultra, Apple Watch SE, and Apple Watch Series 6 and later models running watchOS 9 and newer, you can use the Compass app's Backtrack feature to track your route and then help you retrace your steps in case you get lost.

Backtrack uses the GPS on your Apple Watch to create a virtual breadcrumb trail of your route so you don't have to worry about keeping track of where you're going. According to Apple, Backtrack is designed to be used in remote settings, away from familiar places like your home or workplace, and outside densely populated areas without Wi-Fi, but there's nothing stopping you from using it anywhere you need it.

The following steps show you how to use the feature. Note that Backtrack doesn't account for external conditions, such as changes in elevation or objects in the environment.

1. Open the Compass app on your Apple Watch.
2. Tap the Backtrack button in the bottom-right of the screen, then tap Record Path to begin recording your route.
   
   
   
   When you're ready to retrace your steps, tap the now-highlighted Backtrack button in the bottom-right of the screen, then tap Retrace Steps.
3. The path back to the location where you first tapped the Backtrack button will appear on the screen, while the initial location appears as a white dot at the beginning of the path. Follow the path back to return to where you first turned on Backtrack.
   
   
   
   When you've arrived at your starting location, tap the Backtrack button again, then tap Delete Path.

If you have an Apple Watch Ultra, you can start Backtrack with the Action button: Go to the Settings app on your watch and tap Action Button ➝ Action ➝ Backtrack, then tap the chevron to return to the list of actions. Then simply press the Action button to start Backtrack and tap Record Path. You can press the Action and side buttons at the same time to switch between recording your path and retracing your steps.

The Compass app also lets you create Compass Waypoints while you're on the move, which you can also use in combination with Backtrack. Click the link to learn more.

Article Link: Use Apple Watch Backtrack to Retrace Your Steps

 

[awshucks]

Wish I had known my Apple Watch had this when I lost myself in a huge botanical garden

 

[sgreen1403]

This feature saved me from a precarious situation last Saturday. I was doing an endurance trail race in a pretty remote forest. A tornado had gone through the area the night before and I don't think the organizers knew how many trees were down deep into the woods. I got off course trying to work my way through all of them and ended up getting lost with no one else around and no service. My AWU knew I was running trails which, I guess, automatically starts the backtrack feature. Right as I was about to panic, I decided to open my compass app and it asked if I wanted to retrace my path. From that, I was able to easily find my way back to the trail. I've been strongly considering going back to a Garmin, but that experience has made me reconsider.

 

[dominiongamma]

Wish I had known my Apple Watch had this when I lost myself in a huge botanical garden

Apple is the worse with advertising hidden useful features instead of emojis and playground

 

[cjsuk]

Yeah don't use this or rely on it.

Use conventional methods and fall back to this if it fails.

Safety first.

(apple watches never get brought on multi-day expeditions after the first time)

 

[arlomedia]

Yeah don't use this or rely on it.

Use conventional methods and fall back to this if it fails.

Or go ahead and try the convenient technology first but have conventional methods to fall back on. But please don't follow the suggestion in the article, which says "you don't have to worry about keeping track of where you're going." I frequently explore old trails and logging roads and that line made me cringe!

 

[Hank001]

Meanwhile, Garmin and every other sports watch has this since like 1998.

 

[ifxf]

Bet in won’t work in caves /s

 

[HiRez]

This is cool, but it's unfortunate you need to remember to tell it to record before you need to use it. Probably lots of situations people find themselves in where they could use it but they didn't activate it. When I go out for a walk, I often forget to "start the workout". Would be nice if the Apple Watch automatically started tracking these things for you. In the case of the breadcrumbs, maybe it could do a lower-resolution version automatically (to save battery on GPS) as an emergency backup.

 

[sich]

Wish I had known my Apple Watch had this when I lost myself in a huge botanical garden

Why didn't you just use GPS? My understanding is that Backtrack feature helps you when you need to get back exactly the way you came to your current location, which might be needed in some wild places where you can't be sure that just going towards the starting point is safe or has path. But in a botanic garden?

 

[srbNYC]

Thanks, MacRumors. This sort of tidbit is a great feature of your site.

 

[klasma]

This is cool, but it's unfortunate you need to remember to tell it to record before you need to use it. Probably lots of situations people find themselves in where they could use it but they didn't activate it. When I go out for a walk, I often forget to "start the workout". Would be nice if the Apple Watch automatically started tracking these things for you. In the case of the breadcrumbs, maybe it could do a lower-resolution version automatically (to save battery on GPS) as an emergency backup.

Yeah, but then police and spouses would start asking you to reveal where you were the last two hours.

Human nature is why we can’t have nice things.

 

[jonnysods]

It sounds handy, but I bet it kills your battery.

 

[svish]

Good article. Have used it once on my Series 10. Found it useful and helpful.

 

[Minato1990]

Could it work for when I lose my car in the costco parking lot?

 

[TechWhisperer]

You can walk 20 meters before the battery dies. LOL.

 

[Plutonius]

Apple is getting pretty good at back tracking .

 

[AL2TEACH]

Apple is the worse with advertising hidden useful features instead of emojis and playground

They found it was far cheaper to let YouTubers do the lifting and Apple doesn't have to pay them win win all around.

 

[tennisproha]

Apple is the worse with advertising hidden useful features instead of emojis and playground

Seriously, literally no guide for new features after an update. Sometimes the Tips app pops up at random inconvenient times.

 

[tennisproha]

If you don't have the action button, you can start backtrack any time on any watch by holding the side button

 

[AL2TEACH]

If you don't have the action button, you can start backtrack any time on any watch by holding the side button

thanks for that info.

 

[CarlJ]

When I go out for a walk, I often forget to "start the workout". Would be nice if the Apple Watch automatically started tracking these things for you. In the case of the breadcrumbs, maybe it could do a lower-resolution version automatically (to save battery on GPS) as an emergency backup.

I've had a number of times when I'm ten minutes into my daily walk, and Siri breaks into whatever I'm listening to via my AirPods to say it looks like I'm doing a walking workout, and would I like to start it, and I nod yes (love that feature), and Siri/iPhone/Watch starts the workout, and it records it from when I started walking (10 minutes earlier - both time and path), rather than from the current moment. I was pretty pleased the first time that happened.

I would love to see the breadcrumbs feature you suggest, though battery could be a problem (perhaps having it ask your phone for the current GPS coordinates rather than doing it onboard the watch could mitigate that somewhat), but I imagine there might also be some security/privacy implications (e.g. scenarios with police seizing your watch to try to get a detailed history of your whereabouts for the past 24 hours).

 

[CarlJ]

If you don't have the action button, you can start backtrack any time on any watch by holding the side button

If I hold the side button, I get the shutdown screen.

Oh, nevermind, "Compass Backtrack" is also one of the choices there. Odd juxtaposition of features (shutdown, medical id, or start backtrack).

 

[Maxis]

This is cool, but it's unfortunate you need to remember to tell it to record before you need to use it. Probably lots of situations people find themselves in where they could use it but they didn't activate it. When I go out for a walk, I often forget to "start the workout". Would be nice if the Apple Watch automatically started tracking these things for you. In the case of the breadcrumbs, maybe it could do a lower-resolution version automatically (to save battery on GPS) as an emergency backup.

I think there was a setting to do it automatically but it drains your battery. Maybe it’s a removed function?

 

[Asthmatic Kitty]

Has anyone found this feature to drain their watch's battery really fast? I'm not sure if that was the case for me, but I did a long hike a few weeks ago and Backtrack was started automatically when I started the workout, which I think happens when you're in a low-signal area. A couple of hours later my watch's battery was almost dead, even with cinema mode on. I attributed the battery drain to Backtrack, and have since avoided it when doing long workouts, but I'm not sure if it was a separate watchOS bug instead.