Mystery cache solution requiring "special" tool

[+ruylopez]

The guidelines for a mystery cache states: "The information needed to find the geocache must be available to the general caching community." Does a mystery cache requiring a specific iPhone app to solve qualify as something available to the general caching community?

[+L0ne.R]

Does a mystery cache requiring a specific iPhone app to solve qualify as something available to the general caching community?

I'm pretty sure it doesn't. But to be sure, ask your local reviewer. Edited October 5, 2014 by L0ne.R

[+Touchstone]

You'd have to provide a specific example in order to answer your questions completely. Some "special equipment" Listings like you describe are vetted by Groundspeak and are sometime deemed "an experiment", in the interest of expanding the possibilities of the sport (Garmin CHIRP comes to mind). Others might seem like they are proprietory to to a particular platform at first read, but often have workarounds that don't require specific devices.

[+Pork King]

... Others might seem like they are proprietory to to a particular platform at first read, but often have workarounds that don't require specific devices.

 

Wherigo comes to mind

[+NYPaddleCacher]

... Others might seem like they are proprietory to to a particular platform at first read, but often have workarounds that don't require specific devices.

 

Wherigo comes to mind

 

There are at least a couple of apps for the iPhone that can be used for Wherigo caches (including the official GS app) and I assume there are apps available for droid devices as well. Some GPSr models support Wherigo caches (e.g. Garmin Oregon). As there are several means to do a Wherigo cache that isn't really the same as requiring a specific app for a specific device. The guidelines include some text about a required specific download and is why a puzzle cache which requires downloading a specific application would not get published whereas a cache which can most easily be solved using some some sort of photo viewer/editor (photoshop, Irfanview, xnview, gimp...) might.

[+ruylopez]

The specific application is steganography.

[+Team Microdot]

The specific application is steganography.

 

And does this application exist on platforms other than iPhone such as Android?

[Keystone]

So long as there's a way to solve the puzzle online without downloading some specific app to a specific type of device, you'd be fine. You will want to demonstrate the online alternative to your reviewer when submitting the cache.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

The specific application is steganography.

 

Steganography isn't an application. It's a method of hiding a message, image or file in another message, image, or file. There are lots of ways of doing that, and some that wouldn't require any sort of app to solve.

 

 

[+ras_oscar]

Steanography has been used to hide coord long before Iphones were prevelant. I recommend you contact a local puzzle afficianado, give him/her the unpublished page and ask if s/he can solve the steanography puzzle without the Iphone app.

[+The A-Team]

The specific application is steganography.

I just did a search in the App Store, and I can't see an app called "Steganography". There are a number that use that concept in various ways, and some with names that are slight variations of the word, but none called exactly that.

 

Regardless, as mentioned by Keystone, requiring a specific app won't fly. You need to make it such that your puzzle can be solved with several different software packages.