Support

So it can keep recording your route while your phone is locked or in a dry bag. Headwater only uses location in the background while a paddle is recording. With "While Using the App", recording can stop or leave gaps when the screen locks. You can change this in the Settings app under Privacy & Security > Location Services > Headwater.

GPS can drop out under heavy tree cover, in steep valleys, or when location access is set to "While Using the App" and the screen locks. Make sure location is set to "Always" with Precise Location on, and keep Low Power Mode off during long paddles if you can.

Usually not. Headwater keeps a recording journal while you paddle and offers to recover it the next time you open the app. If the paddle was saved to Apple Health, you can also bring it back from Settings > Recover paddles.

Yes. Headwater can import past trips from GPX files, which most GPS watches and tracking apps can export.

Watch recordings transfer to your paired iPhone when both are nearby with Bluetooth on. Open Headwater on your iPhone and keep the Watch close for a minute. The Watch holds onto the recording until the transfer finishes, so it's safe to wait.

Go to Settings > Workouts in Headwater and turn off workout saving. The iPhone and Apple Watch each have their own setting, and the choice applies from the start of the next paddle. To change what Headwater can read or write, use the Health app's sharing settings.

Both paddlers need Headwater, with Bluetooth on and the phones (or Watches) close together. Invitations travel over Bluetooth, so no cell signal or account is needed. Once you've verified each other, photos and videos from the shared paddle sync between your devices at the take-out.

No. Photos imported from your Photos library stay private until you approve them in the paddle's photo review. Photos and videos captured in Headwater during a shared paddle can sync with verified crew automatically. You can control photo collection in Settings > Camera & photos.

New York and New England: the Adirondacks, Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Long Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Recording and your logbook work anywhere. Guidebooks are stored on your device, so they work without a connection. Manage them in Settings > Guidebooks.

We'd love to know where you paddle. If your version of Headwater has a Request a region button in Settings > Guidebooks, use that. Otherwise, email support@getheadwater.app with the region or waters you have in mind. Requests decide which guidebooks we build next, though we can't promise a date.

Thanks for catching it. Email us the water's name and what's changed (a closed launch, new rules, a moved carry). Always check posted rules and the managing agency linked from each guide before you go.

No. Headwater has no account and no sign-in. Your logbook lives on your devices.

Your logbook is included in your iPhone backups, depending on your backup settings. You can also tap Export all local data in Settings > Privacy & data to save everything as a ZIP archive. Keep exports somewhere private, since they contain your routes and health readings.

Go to Settings > Privacy & data and tap Delete all data on this iPhone. That removes the iPhone app's logbook, profile, crew links, boats, media, recovery files, saved maps and preferences. It doesn't remove Apple Health workouts, Watch data, Photos library copies, exports, device backups or copies held by other paddlers. See the privacy policy for details.