Geocaching HQ

I believe you are asking whether Block Parties in 2025 will be given the opportunity to create a unique souvenir for their Attendees. The answer is "yes". Just like Mega-Events and Giga-Events, Block Parties will have the option to have a souvenir.

We are aware that some geocachers using API partner applications are running into an error during the authorization process since our last update. HQ has been providing notice to API partners for several months to update their authorization process ahead of an update that was implemented last week. It is very likely that users' inability to login to Wherigo Foundation results from the necessary update not being completed on the WF side. If you're having trouble updating on the WF side, then please contact HQ's API team. (We have not received contact from you via the partner email address as of today.)

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: Highly recommend checkbox) - April 8, 2024 With this release (version 1.28.0), the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ introduces a new checkbox on the “Review” screen for Premium members. If a Premium member completes an Adventure and rates the Adventure five stars, the following option appears: If a player selects the checkbox, an animation plays, and the checkbox is highlighted: If a player selects the checkbox “Yes, I highly recommend this Adventure *Premium member feature” Geocaching HQ evaluates that optional, anonymous feedback to determine “Highly recommended Adventures.” Future releases will utilize this feedback to recognize “Highly recommended Adventures.” Adam (Captain_Cookie), Adventure Lab® Support Manager, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

The team has rolled back this update for now. We will make some fixes and plan to release it again likely tomorrow. We will update the thread when it is live again.

Update to Release Notes (Website: Tech migrations) - April 2, 2024 With today's release, these pages have moved to the new tech stack: Homepage (when logged in) Search, Search filters, and Search results Search filter updates and fixes included in this release: A new "Undo" button allows players to revert filter changes back to their previous state. This button is only visible if the player makes changes to the filters after an initial search. Clicking "Undo" reverts the changes back to the player's previous filter configuration. This is different from the "Reset" button which resets the filters back to the "Factory Defaults". Filter date pickers are now localized. The filter button no longer indicates that filters are applied when they are not. Selecting/deselecting "Found by me" in the "Found status" filter now adds/removes the current user to/from the "Found by" filter. Collapsing any filter with a date picker will no longer display "undefined" in the sub-header. The player settings preference ‘Display search results directly on map’ is now fixed. Go to Settings > Preferences > and select this setting if you would like your search results to be displayed directly on the search map, instead of in a list format.

On Friday, March 29 at approximately 11:00 am (Pacific Daylight Time), we will conduct maintenance on the Geocaching Forums. Convert to your local time here. The forums will be offline for up to 2 hours. Normal service will resume after the window.

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: March 2024 credit distribution) - March 12, 2024 Today, Geocaching HQ distributed over 29,000 credits to players worldwide to create Adventures. This distribution provides credits both to new creators, as well as existing creators who have created quality content for the Adventure Lab community. Creators met the following criteria to receive a credit: Have a Premium membership Completed at least 2 Adventure Locations Logged a Location within the last year Didn't have any unused Adventure credits or draft Adventures Have all active owned Adventures with ratings in the top 90% of global Adventures If your account received a credit, you can see this new credit both within the Adventure Lab® app and the Builder. To see if you received a credit in the Adventure Lab® app, visit the “Profile” screen. A blue dot will appear next to “My Adventures” if your account has a newly distributed credit. Within the “My Adventures” page, the text “1 Available credit” will appear if your account has a credit. In the Builder, if your account was granted a credit, a “1” will appear next to “Available credits” and a box will appear with details about the credit. Select the “Get started” button to begin building your Adventure. Adam (Captain_Cookie), Adventure Lab® Support Manager, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

With today's release, these pages have moved to the new tech stack: List Hub List Details

This information was shared today in the Geocaching Blog. As we count down to the 25th year of geocaching in 2025, community will be a huge part of the celebration because geocaching is all about people. We’re excited to share that Community Celebration Events (CCE) will return in 2025! To qualify for a CCE (to be held in 2025), geocachers: Must have at least one cache published between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. (Events and Adventures do not qualify.) Must host at least one Event (including CITOs) between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. Must have created a Geocaching account before the announcement date of February 20, 2024. Geocaching HQ will distribute CCEs to all geocachers who meet the criteria. Beginning July 1, 2024, we will distribute up to 2,025 CCEs each month, continuing until all qualifiers have received one. Additionally, we will distribute CCEs to all geocaching community volunteer reviewers, moderators, and translators. Each primary account hosting a Mega-Event, Giga-Event, or Block Party in 2025 will also receive a CCE. Those who receive a Community Celebration Event must host it between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Events must be a minimum of two hours, and cannot overlap with events associated with a Mega-Event, Giga-Event, or Block Party. We look forward to sharing more about the 25th anniversary of geocaching as the year 2025 approaches. With Block Parties, Community Celebrations, and more, it’s shaping up to be an amazing year of fun! Here are answers to some common questions: What are Community Celebration Events? This event type is a specially designated community gathering held during significant milestone years in geocaching. These events allow players to celebrate around the world. Community Celebration Events were hosted between 2020 and 2022 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of geocaching (see Geocaching blog post announcing these events). Why are you distributing 2,025 per month, instead of giving them all at once? We believe there will be a lot of excitement about publishing these events. We want to distribute the effort of reviewing them by community volunteer reviewers over time. And we hope this minimizes people choosing the same date and time for their event. I don’t qualify to host a Community Celebration Event, what can I do? You may not qualify to host this particular cache type, but you are still eligible to host a regular Event Cache with your own celebration theme! I want to celebrate a geocaching anniversary on a specific date, what can I do? Unfortunately, selected event hosts won’t be determined ahead of time, so we are unable to honor requests for cachers with a specific date in mind. We recommend hosting a regular Event Cache with your own celebration theme, instead. If I receive the opportunity to host a Community Celebration Event Cache, how soon can I submit it to my reviewer for publishing? Community Celebration Events may be submitted for review up to six (6) months and no less than two (2) weeks in advance of your chosen Event date. If I receive the opportunity to host a Community Celebration Event, how long do I have to submit my Community Celebration Event Cache for review? Events may be hosted from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025. The final date to submit the cache page of your Community Celebration Event is December 17, 2025. What else is planned to celebrate geocaching’s 25th anniversary? We previously announced that organizers of events that qualify for Mega- or Giga-Event status for 2025 may choose the Block Party icon for their event. We look forward to providing additional details in the future, and invite the community to continue sharing their ideas for celebrating 25 years!

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: Read to me) - January 24, 2024 With this release (version 1.23.0), the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ introduces Read to me, a feature that allows players to listen to the descriptions of Adventures and their Locations that are provided by the Adventure creator. Players can select the play button labeled “Read to me” to listen to either the “About this Adventure” text from an Adventure details page or the “About this Location” text from a Location details page. . After a player selects the play button, the text is spoken aloud; the play button will change to the pause button The player can pause the speech by pressing the pause button. The spoken text will stop and the pause button will change back to the play button. Players can restart the speech by pressing the play button. The reader will begin the speech where last paused if the player remains on the description screen. Players can select the “1x” text next to the “Read to me” button to open the “Playback speed” menu to adjust the speed of speech to “0.75x” for slower speech or “1.25x” for faster speech. The selected speed will remain as the default until changed. Adam (Captain_Cookie), Adventure Lab® Support Manager, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

On Monday, January 29, 2024 at approximately 2:00 pm Pacific Standard Time, Waymarking.com and Wherigo.com will be down for up to 3 hours as we perform site maintenance. (Convert to your local time here). Regular service will resume after the maintenance window.

On Monday, January 29, 2024 at approximately 2:00 pm Pacific Standard Time, Waymarking.com and Wherigo.com will be down for up to 3 hours as we perform site maintenance. (Convert to your local time here). Regular service will resume after the maintenance window.

On Monday, January 29, 2024 at approximately 2:00 pm Pacific Standard Time, Waymarking.com and Wherigo.com will be down for up to 3 hours as we perform site maintenance. (Convert to your local time here). Regular service will resume after the maintenance window.

This information was shared today on the Geocaching Blog. Let’s celebrate 25 years of geocaching with Block Parties around the world! HQ is thrilled to announce that organizers of events that qualify for Mega- or Giga-Event status for 2025 may choose the Block Party icon for their event. We recently asked the community to help us dream up exciting ways to celebrate 25 years of geocaching in 2025. Many of you suggested worldwide Block Parties, and we’re very happy to put the idea into motion! HQ hosted the original Block Parties in Seattle from 2011 to 2015. Only 5,064 geocachers received the Block Party icon during those years, which goes to show that it was a fairly exclusive activity. We’re excited that this plan for 2025 will enable thousands more people to join in the Block Party fun. In order for an event to qualify for the the Block Party icon, the event must: Take place between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025. Qualify as a Mega-Event or Giga-Event. Have at least 300 Will Attends. Be at least 6 hours long. Highlight celebrating 25 years of geocaching. Submit an application for Block Party status. The Event host will choose whether to apply for the Mega-Event icon or apply for the Block Party icon. Visit the Help Center for details about Block Party guidelines and the application process. We look forward to sharing additional details in the future. Do you have more ideas for celebrating 25 years of geocaching? Share them here!

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: Social Sharing) - December 11, 2023 With this release (version 1.21.0), the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ has developed a new way to view and share completed Adventures. After a player completes the final Location of an Adventure, the app will display a digital postcard that includes the Adventure’s cover image, a “postmarked” date of completion, the title of the Adventure, the name of the creator, and a customizable stamp. You can find your “Postcard collection” of public and private Adventures in the Profile tab on the Adventure Lab® app. From the collection screen, tap to view a postcard and share it on other apps, including social media platforms. After selecting a postcard, players can select from one of three stamp designs before sharing. Adam (Captain_Cookie), Adventure Lab® Support Manager, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

Release Notes (Website: New geocache and trackable logging flow) - November 2, 2023 Geocaching HQ is making an ongoing effort to create a consistent player experience across Geocaching.com. Today, we begin releasing a new geocache and trackable logging experience. We will gradually release this new experience to all players over the next few weeks. This latest web release creates a consistent experience across the following aspects: Logging Drafts Creating new geocache logs Editing existing geocache logs Viewing a geocache log Creating new trackable logs Editing existing trackable logs Viewing a trackable log The new logging flow combines the best features of the two legacy logging experiences that exist today, including: It includes a link to the geocache or trackable details page and the respective geocache or trackable owner’s profile page. They open in new tabs. It shows a label indicating the geocache’s status: disabled, archived, unpublished. Players must select log types from a dropdown menu. It includes all available log types depending on cache state and the player’s log history on the respective cache. Once a log type is selected, players will see an updated explanation of the intent behind the selected log type. The Needs Maintenance log type is renamed to Owner attention requested to more accurately reflect the intent behind the log type. The Needs Archived log type is renamed to Reviewer attention requested to more accurately reflect the intent behind the log type. The Log date field now has a “pin” icon to allow players to choose if they want to use today’s date for new logs, or to “pin” a different date. Once a date is pinned, the pinned date is used for all new logs until the player “un-pins” the date or when the browser session expires. The log text input field includes a user-friendly editor for formatting log text with markdown. A modal provides an updated overview of additional formatting options. Log text is now limited to 5000 characters. A log preview section gives an overview of the formatted log. This section is collapsible. It enforces that Favorite points can only be awarded when posting a Found it or Webcam photo taken log. Favorite points can be added or removed by editing an existing log. Image previews now better indicate whether the image is still uploading, is uploaded but has no custom description, or is uploaded and has a custom description. Players can edit uploaded images in a modal by clicking on the image preview links. A trackable inventory section allows players to visit or drop trackables with their cache log. This section is collapsible. We have removed the ability to encrypt logs on cache logs and trackable logs moving forward. Cache logs and trackable logs were not encrypted on the mobile app and very few users used the encryption feature. We have decided to streamline this functionality. We have removed the ability to add a ‘Write Note’ log to unpublished caches. That log type did not automatically archive upon cache publication and private information was occasionally shared. We recommend that players interested in dropping trackables into caches use a reviewer note instead. The cache and trackable log details view also received an overhaul. It remains available via the View Log links from various pages and via direct links. It now features: Additional detail of the current player’s relationships to the cache logs they’re viewing, e.g owned, found, DNFed, etc For cache owners, indication of whether a log had a Favorite point associated with it. Captures a log’s Great story and Helpful votes Updated image gallery utilizing additional space New share log modal Cache and trackable owners are required to provide a reason for deleting others’ logs or images. This reason is shared with the log author or image owner via an automated email. We also updated the image upload functionality for adding images to an existing geocache log, trackable log, and geocache details page. It is now more consistent with images uploaded to a new log, during the Cache Submission Process, and on the Edit Page. It now offers: Drag and drop file upload options Max image size of 5 MB, approved file types are PNG, JPG, and GIF Total number of images per log limited to 20 EXIF data is stripped from uploaded images Image editing in the same interface Adding an image name (limited to 50 characters) Adding an image description (limited to 125 characters) Rotating or flipping an image Please see this Help Center section for more details about logging your finds online. Ari (ari54321) is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: Statistics) - October 19, 2023 With this release (version 1.17.0), the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ introduces statistics to your profile. To access them, just go to your profile, tap Statistics, and you will see: Number of completed Adventures Number of Adventures in progress (at least one Location completed) Number of active Adventures that you own Find count (includes completed Adventure Lab Locations and Geocaching Finds) List of Themes for which you have completed any Adventures List of Themes for which you have not completed any Adventures Tapping into Completed Adventures, In progress, and My Adventures will show you a list of those Adventures. You can then tap any of those Adventures to take you to the Adventure details screen. Allison (alikelsea), Director of Product, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: Play nearby Locations) - September 19, 2023 With this release (version 1.15.0), the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ has made the experience of playing multiple Adventures much easier with a new Geocaching Premium feature. While playing an Adventure, users can now identify nearby Locations for other Adventures, denoted by blue pins on the Location map. Red pins represent Locations you have not found in the Adventure that you’re currently playing. This new feature, labeled "Play nearby Locations", is found in the new "Premium features" menu that is accessed from your player profile in the Adventure Lab® app. If you have Geocaching Premium membership: Tap into your Profile, then tap “Premium features.” You will see: Play nearby Locations Toggle the slider to enable or disable When the setting is enabled, and a player is viewing the Location map, Locations that you have not completed in other Adventures within the viewable map area are displayed as blue pins. When a blue pin is tapped, you will have the option to switch to the Adventure containing that Location. This allows you to avoid going back and forth to the Explore map to check which other Adventures may have Locations nearby. Allison (alikelsea), Director of Product, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

TODAY, August 29, 2023, at approximately 3:00 pm PDT, we will conduct maintenance on Wherigo.com that will require downtime. Convert to your local time here. The expected downtime is approximately 10 minutes. Normal service will resume after the window.

The release notes are updated. The feature is available on both platforms.

Release Notes (Geocaching® app: Navigation screen improvements for Traditional Caches) - August 15, 2023 Today we are releasing a new feature on the navigation map in the Geocaching® app (available for version 9.34.0+): When navigating to a Traditional Cache, the navigation map now shows a section at the bottom of the screen with additional information about the cache to help with finding and logging. When you tap “Navigate” on the cache details screen of a Traditional Cache, there is a new card at the bottom of the screen. As you navigate to the coordinates, you can swipe up on the card to review it. At the coordinates, the card will automatically expand and you have a one-tap option to view additional information that might be helpful while searching for the cache: Details about Difficulty, Terrain, Size (these are also available in shorthand without tapping the button) The hint (if available) Logs When you have found the cache (or decided you won’t be able to find it), you can start logging directly from the navigation screen. When tapping “I found it”, new players will see additional information about signing the log sheet and replacing the cache. Players with one find or more can start writing their Found it log right away. When tapping “I didn’t find it”, once per login you’ll see additional help on how to find a cache, otherwise you can start writing the DNF log right away. Nicole (nykkole), Product Manager, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: ‘Can’t complete stage’ reporting) - August 10, 2023 With this release, players can use the ‘Can’t complete stage’ link in the Adventure Lab® app to report issues with Adventure stages to Adventure creators. When a player submits a report about a stage, the Adventure creator will receive an email notification including the player’s description of any issues with the stage, along with the player’s email address if they have chosen to share it. Pooja (onepooja), Product Manager, is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!

On Thursday, July 13, 2023 at approximately 5:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time, the Geocaching Forums will be down for up to one hour as we perform site maintenance. Convert to your local time here.

Adventure Lab® platform update: reduced geofence limit Today we are announcing a change to the Adventure Lab® platform. As of a few weeks ago, all new Adventures and edited Adventures are subject to a maximum geofence of 500 meters for each stage. In the near future, we will be retroactively reducing the maximum geofence to 500 meters (0.31 miles) for all Adventure Locations that currently have a geofence limit higher than 500 meters. Adventures with geofences within 500 meters will not be affected. Adventure Lab is intended to be a location-based game; this is core to our vision for the platform and to Geocaching HQ’s mission to inspire and enable outdoor adventure, exploration and community. Our intent with this geofence adjustment is to require players to physically visit the Adventure Locations in order to complete an Adventure, as opposed to completing them without having to physically visit the locations. We recognize that this change may negatively impact some existing Adventures with larger geofences. While this is regrettable, we believe that this change is in the best long-term interest of the Adventure Lab platform. If you have created an Adventure that will be unplayable as a result of this change, for any reason, you are welcome to archive your Adventure, fill out this form by August 1, 2023, and we will issue you a new credit to create a new Adventure after August 1st. If you wish to archive your Adventure, please visit the Adventure Lab builder, open your Adventure, and click the "Delete" button. If you archive your Adventure, you can always view all of the descriptions, location data, journal entries, Activity Logs, etc. in the new "Archived Adventures" section of the builder. Please note that, once archived, Adventures can not be unarchived. We genuinely appreciate all Adventure creators and players who help us shape the future of this experimental platform. We are working hard to bring new features and functionality to the Adventure Lab platform and we are very excited to share future developments with all of you. We look forward to granting more opportunities to create Adventures in the near future. Thank you!

Release Notes (Adventure Lab®: Email to Adventure creator when a review is added) - July 3, 2023 With today’s release, the Adventure creator will receive an email notification when a player adds a written review or photo(s) to a completed Adventure. Stuart (syntaxerror) is watching this thread to answer questions whenever possible. Any posts in this thread should relate to features in this release. Comments unrelated to the release may be removed. Please direct unrelated comments to other appropriate threads. Thanks!