Support

Last updated 4 October 2026.

Email travelvault@pikeworks.co.uk, or use Send feedback in the app's Settings. I read every one myself, so please say which phone you're on and which version of the app you have. The version is at the bottom of Settings.

Common questions

How do I mark a country?

On the Map, with Countries chosen at the top, tap the country, then Been, Lived or Want to go. Tap the same one again to take the mark off. For lots at once, the list button on the right of the map has every country by continent with a tick beside each. The very small ones, like Monaco or Tuvalu, have a dot of their own on the world map, and search finds any of them.

What counts as a country?

You choose, in Settings, under What counts as a country: the 193 UN members; those plus Vatican City, Palestine, Kosovo and Taiwan (197, the default, or 200 with the UK as four); or every country and territory (250, from Greenland and Hong Kong to Réunion and the Falklands). The map always shows all of them, and a territory off your list still counts on its own line. Changing the list never changes your marks, only the counting.

Can England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland count separately?

They do from the start. The four nations are drawn and counted on their own, and a city or a flight into the UK knows which nation it's in. To count the UK as one country, turn off The UK as four countries in Settings. A mark on the UK as a whole colours all four nations; tap any of them to say which part you went to, or to take the mark off.

How do I mark a city or a town? (Pro)

Choose Cities at the top of the Map, zoom in and tap near the town. There are 64,000 places of 5,000 people or more on the map. Somewhere smaller, a beach or a cabin, can be added as a place of your own: tap where it is and give it a name. A country's page also lists its towns with a tick beside each, and marking a city marks its country for you.

How does the fog of war work? (Pro)

Choose Explored on the Map and turn on Clear fog as I go. The map clears in a path about 45 metres either side of wherever you walk, run or drive. A flight doesn't clear anything, and a stray line from a bad GPS fix can be put back under the fog with the brush button and Put fog back. With Add places I stay in on, a town or country you spend a quarter of an hour in is marked as been, and the app tells you when it does. Airports never count, so a layover isn't a visit.

Does fog clearing drain the battery?

It uses the GPS while you move and rests it when you stop for a few minutes, using the phone's network location until you move on. Balanced, the default, is the kindest. Detailed takes a fix every few seconds for every side street and uses more. On Android a notification shows while it runs, with a Stop button; on iPhone the blue location pill shows.

Fog clearing stopped by itself.

Some Android phones put apps to sleep to save battery. In Settings, If it stops on its own opens the phone's list where you can let Travel Vault run. On iPhone, closing the app from the app switcher stops fog clearing; it starts again when you open the app.

How do I add a flight?

On Flights, tap the plus. Scan a boarding pass reads the barcode on a paper pass or one on someone else's phone. For a pass in your own airline app or wallet, take a screenshot of it and choose Screenshot. Or type it in: two airports and a date are enough, and the distance and time in the air are worked out for you. A pass's barcode usually carries only the day, not the year, so the app reads the issue date where the pass has one, and otherwise picks the nearest year; check the date before you save.

Which flights are free?

Flights from the last three months and any flight still to come are free, as many as you like. Flights older than that, and bringing in your flying history from another app, come with Pro. Flights already in your log stay whatever their date.

Does adding a flight mark the country?

No, because a layover isn't a visit. A flight's page offers to mark the country you landed in, if you haven't already. If you delete the flight later, a mark made that way comes off with it, unless you've added more to that country since.

How do I bring in my Google Maps Timeline? (Pro)

Google keeps your Timeline on your phone now. On Android: Settings, Location, Location services, Timeline, Export Timeline data. On iPhone: in Google Maps, tap your picture, then Your Timeline, then the menu and Export Timeline data. Save the file, then in Travel Vault open Settings, Bring in your travels, and pick it. An old Google Takeout Records.json or Semantic Location History file works too. It clears the fog along the way and marks the places you stayed in. Everything is read on your phone and nothing is uploaded.

And my photos, or my old flight app? (Pro)

Under Bring in your travels: Your photos marks the cities and countries your photos were taken in, dated by the first photo there. On iPhone it reads your photo library after asking; on Android you pick the photos, a whole album at a time. Flights from another app reads a CSV export from Flighty, myFlightradar24 or OpenFlights, or any spreadsheet with a date and two airports, and shows what it found before anything is added. GPX tracks from Strava, Garmin, Komoot and the like clear the fog along the route.

How do I buy Pro, and get it back on a new phone?

Tap anything marked Pro, or the Pro panel at the top of Settings. It's one payment, never a subscription. On a new phone signed in to the same Google or Apple account, open the Pro sheet and tap Restore a purchase.

How do I back up my travels?

Settings, Save a backup, writes one file with every mark, place, flight and square of fog. Keep it somewhere other than your phone. Restore a backup adds a backup to what's on the phone. Export as spreadsheets gives your flights, and every country and place, as CSV files any app can open. All of these are free.

I'm getting a new phone.

If your phone backs up to your Google account or to iCloud, Travel Vault usually comes across with the rest of your apps. To be sure, save a backup on the old phone, copy the file to the new one, install Travel Vault and use Restore a backup. Then restore Pro from the Pro sheet if you bought it.

Does it work without a signal?

Yes. The countries, cities and airports are built into the app, so marking and searching work anywhere, flight mode included. The map's detail comes from OpenFreeMap when you have a signal, and the parts you've already looked at are kept on the phone.

Can I delete everything?

Settings has Erase everything, and Put all the fog back for just the fog. Uninstalling the app removes everything too, because all of it is on the phone. Save a backup first if you might want it again.