Anyone can find vs premium hides

[+mixwithh2o]

I am trying to get some newbies interested in caching and had thought I would send them to one of my series which I thought they would enjoy.  Come to find out that on a 4 series adventure 2 of the caches were unavailable as supposedly being premium caches.  When I went back in to check why,  as I never request my caches to be premium  only, I could see the box for making the cache premium and it was unchecked which should mean anyone should have it viewed on their map page.  Why is that happening when it is not what I want and how can I change it and check to make sure my caches are not listed as premium????  I am a premium member so everything shows up for me, but I didn't realize that was happening until now.  Anyone know why or how to fix this?  I can't see my caches except if I edit them and the ones I checked do not have the premium only box checked but are coming up on my friends maps that way.  Thanks

[+colleda]

9 minutes ago, mixwithh2o said:

I am trying to get some newbies interested in caching and had thought I would send them to one of my series which I thought they would enjoy.  Come to find out that on a 4 series adventure 2 of the caches were unavailable as supposedly being premium caches.  When I went back in to check why,  as I never request my caches to be premium  only, I could see the box for making the cache premium and it was unchecked which should mean anyone should have it viewed on their map page.  Why is that happening when it is not what I want and how can I change it and check to make sure my caches are not listed as premium????  I am a premium member so everything shows up for me, but I didn't realize that was happening until now.  Anyone know why or how to fix this?  I can't see my caches except if I edit them and the ones I checked do not have the premium only box checked but are coming up on my friends maps that way.  Thanks

I've just had a look at your all your Traditionals and none of them are PMO.

 Do any of the caches "unavailable" have a D/T greater than 2.

Edited March 28, 2020 by colleda

[+Michaelcycle]

I just did a search for all of your caches and none of them show as "premium member only" on the regular search page or when reviewing your profile. Not sure what your friends are seeing.

 

As an aside, when I ran your cache list I noticed that one of your hydrocaches (GCGVVV) got me over the hump for my Original Fizzy thanks!

 

[+kunarion]

23 minutes ago, mixwithh2o said:

I am trying to get some newbies interested in caching and had thought I would send them to one of my series which I thought they would enjoy.  Come to find out that on a 4 series adventure 2 of the caches were unavailable as supposedly being premium caches.  When I went back in to check why,  as I never request my caches to be premium  only, I could see the box for making the cache premium and it was unchecked which should mean anyone should have it viewed on their map page.  Why is that happening when it is not what I want and how can I change it and check to make sure my caches are not listed as premium????  I am a premium member so everything shows up for me, but I didn't realize that was happening until now.  Anyone know why or how to fix this?  I can't see my caches except if I edit them and the ones I checked do not have the premium only box checked but are coming up on my friends maps that way.  Thanks

Caches in the App, it depends on certain factors.  The App restricts free users to caches that may be easily found by a newbie, to see if the phone works and if they even like Geocaching.  The tougher caches are called “Advanced” (plus PMO don’t show up as you know).  However, it’s easy to enter coordinates to any cache manually.

 

If you mean caches shown in the web browser, they should appear.  For a couple of my easier caches, I explain in the cache description a little about how to use the web site to show caches that may not be in the App, and I mention particular cool ones for more adventurous cachers, and how to navigate to them.

 

Anyway, show them all about the web site.  It’s free. 

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by kunarion

[+IceColdUK]

This is explained in the Help Center:

 

Geocaching® app: Premium vs. Basic membership features chart

https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=102&pgid=764

 

Essentially, the App is restricted for Basic members:

- Geocache types: Traditional Caches. Event Caches

- Difficulty/Terrain (D/T): D2/T2 and below

Edited March 28, 2020 by IceColdUK

[+HHL]

7 hours ago, Michaelcycle said:

Not sure what your friends are seeing.

Actually they are NOT seeing his appr. 130 caches with T2.5 or higher.

[+Isonzo Karst]

As kunarion has posted, they use the site to see caches with D/T above 2.  

 

They can see any cache which is not PMO on the website. They can download the gpx from the site, though I expect most won't have any idea what to do with it ;-). They can print the page from the website.  They can manually load the coords into their phones (from any cache page that IS in the phone, click +waypoint, manually enter the coords, navigate to them).  They can find your caches.  They can log your caches from the site.    

 

Edited to add that you own some nice looking paddle caches!

Edited March 28, 2020 by Isonzo Karst

[+TriciaG]

Only the official Groundspeak app has the D/T restriction. If they want to move on to more advanced D/T caches after they've gotten over the newbie enthusiasm (so that they don't mess up others' caches with their lumbering ways), they could use a different app. (On other apps, they can only download/log/not-sure-about-this 3 caches per day, but they don't have the D/T restriction.)

 

Side thought: I wonder if someone downloaded, say, 3 different API approved apps, if they could then do 9 caches per day - 3 per app!

 

**Edited to add caveat about clumsy newbies**

Edited March 28, 2020 by TriciaG

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, TriciaG said:

Only the official Groundspeak app has the D/T restriction. Have them use a different app.

 

Maybe suggest a particular different App, one the OP is very familiar with. 

 

When instructing newbies, I'd prefer to not spend the session troubleshooting various phones vs. various Apps.  One's plenty, and The Official App doesn't even require "verification" just to get a feel for Geocaching.  Some of the newbies might turn out to be not be all that interested.  But I might bring them to a cool cache beyond "intro" rated caches, maybe my own cache, so I don't compromise somepne's cache to 'just everybody and his monkey' who otherwise don't care much.  "Sign up, verify, consider the value of a handheld GPS instead, learn the game and the site, and also, here's one of the kind I really like to find".  They don't all need to have The App All Set Up, for me to show them a cache, "visible on the map" or not.

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by kunarion

[+niraD]

1 hour ago, kunarion said:

When instructing newbies, I'd prefer to not spend the session troubleshooting various phones vs. various Apps.

When I introduce newbies, I try to ignore/hide the technology as much as possible. I take them to GZ and tell them to start looking, or I hand them a preloaded device and tell them to follow the arrow. That's as much as I ever expect of newbies, at least as far as the technology goes. I focus on what geocaches look like, and what they should do when they find one.

[+TriciaG]

My point still stands. If players, even newbies, find the "official" app restrictive, there are other options even for them.

 

Side question: how long is a newbie a newbie? When do the gurus deem them worthy of graduating to the ability to have options other than the "official" app?

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, TriciaG said:

Side question: how long is a newbie a newbie? When do the gurus deem them worthy of graduating to the ability to have options other than the "official" app?

 

They have those options after they "verify their email address", at which point the users also get access to the web site.  The Official App is different from 3rd party Apps in that you may try out Geocaching without any obligation.  I like that.  I've fully "signed up" with way too many web sites so that I could download a single "free file", then receive Spam from them forevermore.

[+cerberus1]

21 hours ago, kunarion said:

When instructing newbies, I'd prefer to not spend the session troubleshooting various phones vs. various Apps. 

One's plenty, and The Official App doesn't even require "verification" just to get a feel for Geocaching. 

Some of the newbies might turn out to be not be all that interested.  

Yep.

We prefer one-on one with new folks.  Easier on us.     

The rare time we take a group of brand-new folks out to learn this hobby, we give them handheld GPSrs with the same information.

 

We don't bother with apps at all anymore. 

 - Different phones have different "issues",  and it always seems someone's phone just won't work well in the woods. 

They're new, and we want to keep things simple...

We have a few older model handhelds, are able to get our paws on a couple more if need be, and have all caches for the day pre-loaded .

We even give them  their own Rite in Rain notepad, with hints n "stuff" already entered in, for them to keep.

We want them to feel comfortable walking in the woods, while "occasionally" looking at that gizmo. 

The hobby is more than steering to a container,  and they'll learn cache types, D/T, container types, and some guidelines, while keeping it simple. 

Later, if they're still interested but want to use their phone, we direct them to this site's app to start with (that the other 2/3rd's still on too).

So far most have gone premium when they first notice the differences using the app.  Only one is using another app (Cachly).

50/50 it seems whether they pick up a GPSr in addition.

[spookypants]

On 3/27/2020 at 8:57 PM, mixwithh2o said:

I am trying to get some newbies interested in caching and had thought I would send them to one of my series which I thought they would enjoy.  Come to find out that on a 4 series adventure 2 of the caches were unavailable as supposedly being premium caches.  When I went back in to check why,  as I never request my caches to be premium  only, I could see the box for making the cache premium and it was unchecked which should mean anyone should have it viewed on their map page.  Why is that happening when it is not what I want and how can I change it and check to make sure my caches are not listed as premium????  I am a premium member so everything shows up for me, but I didn't realize that was happening until now.  Anyone know why or how to fix this?  I can't see my caches except if I edit them and the ones I checked do not have the premium only box checked but are coming up on my friends maps that way.  Thanks

i'm not sure and i am not a good geocacher, but i think if you made your difficulty or terrain greater than 2 it is listed as premium. because i am basic and when i click on a premium cache on the app it says ¨this cache has a difficulty/terrain greater than 2 upgrade to find cache.¨. If you change those to be less than two than i think they will be basic hides.

Edited April 5, 2020 by spookypants

[+niraD]

23 minutes ago, spookypants said:

If you change those to be less than two than i think they will be basic hides.

But please do not specify an artificially low difficulty or terrain rating just to make your cache listing visible to basic members. Keep your difficulty and terrain ratings as accurate as possible.

 

(For that matter, don't inflate your difficulty or terrain ratings just to hide your cache listing from basic members using Groundspeak's app either.)

[+kunarion]

36 minutes ago, spookypants said:

i'm not sure and i am not a good geocacher, but i think if you made your difficulty or terrain greater than 2 it is listed as premium. because i am basic and when i click on a premium cache on the app it says ¨this cache has a difficulty/terrain greater than 2 upgrade to find cache.¨. If you change those to be less than two than i think they will be basic hides.

 

Caches with certain parameters that may be tough for beginners are called "Advanced" and not automatically shown in the App for free.  They are different from "Premium Member Only" caches which is a selection option for Cache Owners, even when a cache may be easy to find.

 

The App's expensive, all Apps are continually funded in some way (none are free), and if you pay for Premium, you may not even use The App, but those that do should support it with payment.  Or (if you like Geocaching enough to verify your email address) use the web site and see Advanced Caches for free, and use most any "Geocaching" App to hunt them.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by kunarion

[spookypants]

2 minutes ago, kunarion said:

 

Caches with certain parameters that may be tough for beginners are called "Advanced" and not automatically shown in the App for free.  They are different from "Premium Member Only" caches which is a selection option for Cache Owners, even when a cache may be easy to find.

 

The App's expensive, all Apps are continually funded in some way (none are free), and if you pay for Premium, you may not even use The App, but those that do should support it with payment.  Or (if you like Geocaching enough to verify your email address) use the web site and see Advanced Caches for free, and use most any "Geocaching" App to hunt them.

 

 

oh ok, sorry im not smart

[+kunarion]

2 minutes ago, spookypants said:

oh ok, sorry im not smart

 

You're fine.  There's a learning curve.