Geocaching HQ

Announcing Virtual Rewards 4.0 Is there anything better than finding a well-crafted geocache? Perhaps the joy of creating one! Geocaching HQ is pleased to announce Virtual Rewards 4.0, an opportunity to reward 4,000 lucky cache owners who create inspired and noteworthy geocaches! Unlike prior Virtual Rewards, there’s no need to opt in or apply. Geocachers who meet the following criteria will automatically be eligible for selection on January 17, 2024. How can I qualify for a chance to hide a Virtual Cache? You must have a non-Event geocache published in 2023 that has earned at least 4 Favorite points by December 31, 2023. You must have created your geocaching account before June 13, 2023. Prior Virtual Reward recipients are eligible to participate. Players who opted-in for Virtual Reward 2.0 and 3.0, but did not receive a Virtual Cache will have a higher likelihood to receive a Virtual Reward 4.0. How does the process work? On January 17, 2024, Geocaching HQ will randomly select up to 4,000 eligible geocachers, with geographic distribution, to receive one Virtual Cache. Recipients will have one year to create their Virtual Cache page and submit it for review (January 17, 2024–January 17, 2025). The caches must comply with Virtual Cache-specific guidelines. All geocaching community volunteers (reviewers, moderators, and translators) who qualify will receive a Virtual Reward as thanks for giving their time to support the geocaching community. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Why do I have to hide a geocache to qualify? Adding new caches to the map is essential to the health of the game. It provides fresh content for experienced players who have often cached out the areas closest to them. And it offers quality content for new players who are still forming an impression of the game. Our goal is to reward those who are adding quality new caches to the gameboard. When do I need to hide a geocache to qualify? You must hide a non-Event geocache that is published by a geocaching community volunteer reviewer between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023. That same geocache must earn at least four Favorite points from the geocaching community before December 31, 2023. The publish date of a geocache is not the same as the placed date. You can find the date that your geocache was published by viewing your published caches, selecting a cache, and scrolling to the bottom of the page to view the Publish log on the cache. This is generally the first log. Does this mean Virtuals are back permanently? No. We hope to see 4,000 new Virtual Caches in 2024, but Virtuals will remain a legacy cache type. Are Virtual Rewards distributed evenly among countries? No. We use an algorithm to help distribute Virtuals, favoring countries newer to geocaching, which may not have many Virtuals, rather than basing it solely on land area or the number of active geocachers. Could an account receive more than one Virtual Reward from Geocaching HQ? Yes. Previous Virtual Reward recipients may receive a Virtual Reward 4.0. However, the likelihood of selection is lower than for geocachers who have never received a Virtual Reward. How do I find out when new Virtual Rewards are published? Premium members can set up Instant notifications to receive an email when new Virtual Rewards are published. All members can use filters to search for Virtual Caches worldwide. Will there be more Virtual Rewards in the future? We may consider a similar set of Virtuals in the future. As with prior Virtual Rewards, we would likely make changes to the criteria and selection process. Combined with previous Virtual Reward launches, are there too many Virtual Caches now? There are approximately 12,300 Virtual Caches worldwide, which is 0.4% of the world’s 3,371,000 active caches. Adding an additional 4,000 Virtual Caches will still only account for 0.5% of all active caches. Why not make Virtual Caches available for everyone to hide? Because today’s Virtual Caches are rare and generally well-liked, people often forget the problems that led to the Virtual becoming a legacy cache type in 2005. The Virtual Cache type was initially created to place a cache where physical caches were not permitted or where too many muggles made a physical cache impractical. While the intent of this cache type was positive, it created significant problems for geocaching community volunteer reviewers and often led to poor cache quality. Some players used Virtual Caches as a shortcut to create basic caches that did not require maintenance. Guidelines were eventually updated to require Virtuals to have special qualities to set them apart from other caches. However, the subjectivity introduced to the review process became difficult for both reviewers and cachers. The decision was finally made for the Virtual to become a legacy cache type to avoid the issues above. Virtual Rewards releases have helped to minimize the previous problems with Virtuals, while delivering more opportunities for the community to enjoy this beloved cache type. Most importantly, it’s a fun reward for cache owners who have contributed so much to the game.

Release Notes (Adventure Lab® web builder: See archived Adventures) - June 12, 2023 With today’s release, the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ has added the ability for creators to see their archived (formerly “deleted”) Adventures on the web builder. Previously, creators have been able to “Delete” their Adventures on the Adventure Lab web builder. This action deleted the Adventure and removed all content related to the Adventure from the web builder and app so that it was no longer visible. With today’s update, “Delete” is now called “Archive” in the web builder. All Adventures that were “Deleted” after March 16, 2019 are now visible to their creator in a view-only format on the web builder. The action of “archiving” an Adventure continues to be the same as “deleting” - it is a permanent action that cannot be undone. We have updated this terminology in Adventure Lab to more closely match the terminology used for this action on geocaches. 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!

Release Notes (Adventure Lab® app: Search and Test copy deletion improvement) - May 30, 2023 With today’s release, the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ has added two features to the app: Search and an improved experience for deleting an Adventure test copy from the app. Search functionality is now available in the Adventure Lab® app for logged-in users to search based on city, state, country, region, address, postal code, or coordinates. We also made a small update on how test copies of Adventures can be deleted from the app. Now, to delete a test copy of an Adventure, a user will go to the Adventure Detail screen, select the ‘Delete test copy’ button, and confirm the deletion. Previously, a user had to swipe an Adventure preview card to the left from the Directory list of Adventures to delete it. We have updated this functionality for several reasons: the library we were using for this functionality is no longer supported by the third party who developed it, there was no visual indication that this feature existed in the app, and players were not provided with an opportunity to confirm they wanted to delete their test copy. Some users may not see these updates immediately, but they should be available to all users within a week. 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!

With today’s release, the Adventure Lab® team at Geocaching HQ has added a new ‘Featured Adventure’ icon to the Adventure Lab® app. This icon is very experimental and will only be visible on a limited number of partner Adventures at this time. Example of the Featured Adventure icon: Erin (Oceansazul) 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!

This information was shared today on the Geocaching Blog. We are sending a similar message to Premium and Basic members who are subscribed to our marketing emails. Here at Geocaching HQ, we have worked hard to maintain our original Geocaching Premium pricing for more than 21 years, despite significant cost increases. We are updating our pricing so that we can continue to deliver a high level of service to the global geocaching community while also rewarding current Premium members for their ongoing loyalty and support. On June 6, 2023, we will increase the prices of Premium membership for new subscribers to $39.99 USD per year or $6.99 USD per month. Pricing may vary in other currencies. This change will not affect existing Premium members so long as their membership does not lapse. If you would like to take advantage of our current prices, please upgrade to Geocaching Premium by June 6, 2023. For more information, please visit our frequently asked questions page. Thank you for being a part of the Geocaching community.

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at approximately 4:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time, Geocaching.com, Adventure Lab, Waymarking.com, Wherigo.com, and all related mobile applications, including 3rd party applications will be down for up to 30 minutes as we perform site maintenance. (Convert to your local time here).

Release Notes (Geocaching® app: Favorite point indicator) - February 14, 2023 With the latest release, we are adding an indicator that highlights the most-Favorited caches in an area. The indicator shows the number of Favorite points of the top 10% of most-Favorited caches right on the map. As you pan around the map, the algorithm highlights the top 10% of caches. While the top range of Favorited caches you see varies in every region, the algorithm only highlights caches with at least two Favorite points. With this feature you can see the most-Favorited caches in an area to plan your next outing or make an impromptu detour; easily find cache clusters of highly Favorited caches to plan your outings; filter out finds (Premium member feature) to see the most-Favorited caches to find or adjust the Filters and see the indicator of most-Favorited caches within filtered caches. If your caching goals are unrelated to Favorite points and you would like to turn this feature off, you can find the toggle to do so in the map settings. To commemorate this occasion (and to celebrate Valentine’s Day), we’re awarding Premium members with 10 extra Favorite points to give away, or 20 extra Favorite points for Premium members who currently own a cache (excluding Event Caches and Adventure Labs). Learn more in the Geocaching Blog. 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 (Geocaching® app & website: County lines on map) - January 17, 2023 With the latest release, we are rolling out county lines on the Geocaching map on Geocaching.com and the Geocaching® app. The county lines are based on OpenStreetMap data: Website search map (map style: Geocaching) Website browse map (map style: Geocaching) App map (map type: Premium Trails map) Rollout begins today and the county lines are showing on the website search map. (If you don’t see them right away, you might need to clear your browser cache or do a hard refresh.) However, for the website browse map and mobile app map, the rollout will take a couple weeks, during which time some areas/zoom levels will refresh before others. Additionally, we added details to highlight airports as potentially restricted areas. 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!

We are updating these release notes to inform you that the benchmark retirement is complete as outlined in the original post. Sven (Bl4ckH4wkGER) 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 (Geocaching® app: Report a problem log type names) - December 9, 2022 With the most recent release, we have renamed log types in the Geocaching® app that are used to report potential problems with geocaches so that they more accurately reflect the intent of the logs. The Needs Maintenance / Maintenance suggested log type is now Owner attention requested. The Needs Archived log type is now Reviewer attention requested. To use these log types in the Geocaching® app, go to the bottom of a cache details screen and tap “Report a problem with this geocache.” The log choices will appear. You may then choose one of the log types, type a message, and post the log. After the log is posted, the next steps are unchanged from what happened with the old names. Owner attention requested: the cache owner is notified that there may be a problem with their cache. Reviewer attention requested: a geocaching community volunteer reviewer is notified that the cache may have a problem. We will rename the Needs Maintenance and Needs Archived logs on the Geocaching.com website in early 2023. 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!

We do appreciate the feedback shared in this thread, and understand how disruptive this change will be to benchmarkers. However, for the reasons stated in the original post and in subsequent posts by the Product Manager, we wish to confirm that we will remove benchmarking from the Geocaching.com website on January 4, 2023. This is slightly later than the original time frame, due to the holidays.

On Monday, November 21 at approximately 9:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), 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.

With today’s release, we are making key improvements to the Pocket Query API, aka part of the infrastructure powering Pocket Queries behind the scenes. The user interface, including how and where you can create Pocket Queries, will remain unchanged. Pocket Queries will remain available to API partners and scheduled queries will continue to be generated around midnight Pacific Time. Players should benefit from Pocket Queries generating more quickly and more reliably going forward. If you experience any unexpected behavior, please let us know in the comments below. Please see this Help Center article for more details about Pocket Queries. Sven (Bl4ckH4wkGER) 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!

These pre-release notes give advance notice of an upcoming change to Geocaching.com. On January 4, 2023, we will remove Benchmarking from the Geocaching.com website. We understand this is disappointing to those who enjoy benchmarking. However, benchmarks are only available in the United States, and were added to the website when geocaches were less available. Today, they are not in line with the global game geocaching has become. In addition, because benchmarks are not owned by community members, “maintenance” is not possible like with geocaches. Many benchmark listings refer to marks that were removed or destroyed long ago, which makes for an uneven game experience. Therefore, we have decided to retire them from Geocaching.com. These changes will remove the following pages: mark/default.aspx mark/details.aspx mark/gallery.aspx mark/limage.aspx mark/log.aspx mark/nearest.aspx mark/upload.aspx my/benchmarks.aspx my/logs.aspx?s=3&lt=2 my/logs.aspx?s=3 These changes will include updates to the following pages: Old dashboard Cache details pages Public profile Help Center Public forums The “NGS Benchmarks” entry and find count on public profiles will be retained to preserve statistics and player accomplishments. Since logging benchmarks on Geocaching.com will no longer be possible, any challenge caches requiring finding and logging benchmarks will be archived on January 2, 2023. We will post this information on challenge caches we have identified which require finding and logging benchmarks. Players who wish to continue finding and logging benchmarks are welcome to do so on Waymarking.com, which offers categories for U.S. benchmarks and Canadian benchmarks. Sven (Bl4ckH4wkGER) 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 (Geocaching® app: Favorite point indicator) - October 10, 2022 At Geocaching HQ, we're often testing and launching improvements and new features. This means you might see something in the Geocaching® app that your friend doesn't, or you could get a new feature or experience to try temporarily. With today’s release, we are beginning such a test in the Geocaching® app. Some of you will see a Favorite point indicator on the top 10% most Favorited caches on the map. At most, 300 caches load on the map, so approximately 30 caches will be highlighted. (In some cases, it will be more than 30, since we are including all caches that have the same amount of Favorite points as the cut off). Why don’t we use FP percentage? How did we come up with the algorithm of top 10%? We compared multiple different algorithms (Favorite points, Favorite point percentage, Wilson score, Fun score) and found that even though there were some differences, they were not significant within our samples (e.g. Favorite points and Wilson score resulted in a very similar set of highlighted caches). Favorite point percentage is more meaningful in some cases, but it also highlights newer caches that have few logs disproportionately. Knowing that no algorithm will ever be perfect, we decided to test Favorite points since they are already in the app and the algorithm is easy to explain and understand. 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!

On Monday, September 12 at approximately 6:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), we will conduct maintenance on sites including the Geocaching Forums and Geocaching Blog. The downtime will not affect Geocaching.com. Convert to your local time here. The sites will be offline for up to 2 hours. Normal service will resume after the window.

With today’s release (app version 9.9.0), we are bringing more friends features to the Geocaching® app. From your profile, you can now see Your friends list - and access their profiles or the Message Center to chat with them. All incoming friend requests - and accept or delete them. You can also access a QR code for others to scan. Scanning the QR code will open your profile in the app. When viewing another player’s profile, you can See if that player is already your friend. Send a friend request to that player, or cancel a pending friend request. Thank you to Premium members who opted into the friends features when they were available via the Experimental features menu. Your feedback was helpful as we were actively developing the features. 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!

(This announcement is from today's Geocaching Blog.) “I never would have known about this place if not for geocaching.” The sentiment is voiced so often that it’s almost a cliché in the geocaching community. As the Year of the Hide celebration continues, we’re thrilled to launch GC9FAVE – Discovered while geocaching – Locationless Cache. By logging this cache, you’ll score a rare cache icon and share a favorite local place that you discovered with geocaching! Maybe you’ll choose a place where you hid a cache, or perhaps somewhere you discovered when searching for a cache. This Locationless Cache is available to log August 17, 2022 through December 31, 2023. Once you’ve visited your favorite local spot, follow these steps: Go to the Locationless Cache page: Via the direct link By searching for GC9FAVE on Geocaching.com or in the‎ Geocaching® app. In order to log a find on the Locationless Cache, you must include one (1) photo of yourself or a personal item at your favorite local place that you discovered while geocaching. (Old photos are not permitted.) Be sure to tell us where the place is located (for example, the city of Prague, or the GC code of a geocache if it does not contain a spoiler). While the cache page is now published, it will not open for logging until August 17, 2022. This gives you some time to think about which favorite local place you would like to revisit. Check out the new episode of the Inside Geocaching HQ podcast to hear more about this Locationless Cache. We can’t wait to see the favorite local places you share with the world!

Release Notes (Geocaching® app for iOS: Widget) - June 28, 2022 With the 9.5.0 release, we are introducing a new widget on the Geocaching® app for iOS. The widget shows nearby caches that you haven’t found and do not own, allowing a quick view of what’s available to find near you! . Widget features: The widget shows the closest caches up to a 20 mile radius. It comes in two sizes: Large shows the five closest caches, while Medium shows the two closest caches. The widget will refresh whenever the app is opened from being in the background, or when a significant location change occurs. Outside of this, it will also attempt to refresh after a certain interval (currently 10 minutes). If the widget cannot refresh, you will see the latest data available or an error message. The Large version also includes the last time the widget was updated. The distance to the closest cache(s) will go as low as 0.1 miles or 0.1 km (depending on your settings). Dark mode support You can install the widget directly on your device’s home screen. Follow these steps: From the home screen, touch and hold an empty area until the apps jiggle. Tap the + button in the upper-left corner. Select the Geocaching widget and choose your widget size. Tap Add Widget. Tap Done. 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 (Website, Geocaching® app, Adventure Lab®: Account deletion request submission) - May 31, 2022 Geocaching HQ is making an ongoing effort to comply with a growing number of global privacy laws. One requirement of these laws is to offer users the option to delete their account and all associated data. With today’s release, the process is more easily accessible and more automated. On the website: The account settings page now includes a “Delete your account” button. Please review the information closely before clicking the button to ensure a smooth process. Players must then again confirm their intention to delete their account. This is to avoid misclicks. Players then have the opportunity to provide feedback on why they wish to delete their account. This is optional. Once their request is submitted, players will be logged out and see a confirmation screen that their request has been received. They will also receive a confirmation email. Account deletion takes place within 30 days after this point. While account deletion is pending, players may log in and cancel their current deletion request on the account settings page. Players will receive an email confirming that their account has been deleted. IMPORTANT We ask that players do not submit bogus deletion requests for testing purposes. Deletion requests may occur right away, but no later than 30 days from request submission. If you submit a request and cannot cancel it before deletion takes place, your account cannot be restored. Deletion is final. In the Geocaching® app We have added a link in the Geocaching® app that transfers you to the previously described web experience. When you click the link and reach the website, you must log in again. This is for security reasons. In the Adventure Lab® app In the next few weeks, we will add the same link in the Adventure Lab® app that transfers you to the previously described web experience. When you click the link, there is an explanation of why you must visit Geocaching.com to request account deletion. Once you reach the website, you must log in again. This is for security reasons. Please see this Help Center article for more details about the account deletion process. More details about Geocaching HQ’s privacy law compliance can be found in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Sven (Bl4ckH4wkGER) 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, May 16 at approximately 9:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), 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 (Geocaching® app: New profile view) - May 9, 2022 With today’s release, we are introducing an update to the Geocaching® mobile app. The profile has a new look and added functionality. When viewing your own profile Tap your profile icon to expand the header, and see your membership status and the date you joined. Update your profile picture from the expanded header view. Collapse the header to see more content on your profile. Explore active souvenir and trackable challenges in a carousel. Premium-only: See how many caches you’ve found this month and when you’ll reach your next milestone. View a list of your finds and hides. Premium members can also sort by distance, Geocache name, and Favorite points. See a preview of your last three souvenirs earned Other players’ profiles also feature the new style. In addition, you can now view another player’s list of hides. Premium members can also sort by distance, Geocache name, and Favorite points. To view the new profile, make sure you have the app version 9.1.0 or higher. Thank you to all who opted into the new profile when it was available via the Experimental features menu, and to everyone who gave feedback in the forum and via our survey. Disclaimer: We are finishing fixing some last bugs while this release is rolling out. Mobile profile before update: New mobile profile (with collapsed and expanded header): 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 (Website: User privacy controls) - March 23, 2022 As part of our ongoing commitment to give you more control of your privacy on Geocaching.com, we have added new user privacy controls to the account settings menu. With this release, you will be able to control who sees certain parts of your Geocaching.com profile, including your profile picture, your photo gallery, and your list of finds. Learn more about the new user privacy controls in our Help Center. Your profile contains all the information about your game play and is a helpful place for other geocachers to see your experience level in the game or get to know you. With these new controls, you’ll be able to decide which details are visible to others when they view your profile. You can change your settings to private, friends only, or leave them public. In addition, we are making some updates to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Our Privacy Policy is the best place to learn about what information we collect from you and how we use it. Privacy Policy Formatting and general changes for readability Addition of Nevada Privacy Notice Addition of UK representative contact information Updated information about transfers of data to the US, including clarification that Privacy Shield is no longer a legal mechanism for transfers outside of the EEA Provided more detail about the cookies and analytics providers that we use, including more information about how to withdraw your consent if you are in a jurisdiction that requires this Included references to applicable GDPR articles where relevant Provided greater detail on the ways we use and share your information, including our legal bases for doing so Terms of Use Updated to include/apply to the Adventure Lab® mobile app General changes for readability 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!

The best way to report a bug: First, see if someone else has already reported this issue. Add new information to an existing thread. Start a new thread if no one has reported the bug yet. Be sure to use a specific topic title and description. For example: "Caches not showing on the map". When you start a new thread, include information and steps to reproduce the issue: App platform in the thread title (iOS or Android). Specific steps to reproduce the bug. The area of the app causing the issue Example: the Map page, List page, etc. GC code if the bug occurred on a cache page. Screenshots are very helpful. Your current app version (found in the app under More > Version info). If you are not able to get your answer in the forums or need specific follow up, please contact us.

Wherigo in the Geocaching Help Center In an effort to reduce the number of pinned threads after the merging of Wherigo forums, here are links to several of those threads. Earwigo Media specs? Supporting Wherigo Player Hardware Urwigo Wherigo Builder and 64-bit Windows Wherigo\\kit Wrong Unlock Code?