Straightforward

Straightforward user guide

Updated for the upcoming iPhone beta

Straightforward puts your address, nearby places, intersections, and transit information together. You can check your surroundings, choose what gets announced as you move, or explore somewhere before you go there. Straightpoint helps you point your phone toward a place. It gives you the straight-line direction to your chosen place.

If something is unclear or doesn’t match what happens on your phone, email contact@straightforwardnavigation.com.

Quick start: hear your surroundings

  1. Open Straightforward and select Location. Allow location access and keep Precise Location on. See Getting started for installation and permission setup.
  2. On Location, turn on the announcement switches for what you want to hear: for example, Street for street changes, Approaching intersection for crossings ahead as you travel, or Nearest POI for nearby places. Choose the ones useful to you, then hear updates as you move.
  3. If speech is muted, select Unmute speech near the start of Location.
  4. Open Settings → Location speech and select Preview voice to hear the app’s voice. Adjust the voice and volume there.
  5. To keep location announcements going while the phone is locked or you’re using another app, turn on Announce while app is in the background in Settings → Location speech and allow Always location access when requested.

Read Announcements and background awareness to choose and change what gets spoken.

Getting started

Install Straightforward

Install Apple’s TestFlight app, then open your Straightforward invitation and follow the installation steps. To request an invitation, email contact@straightforwardnavigation.com. The app appears on your Home Screen as Straightforward. Android is not available yet.

Allow location access

  1. Open Straightforward and select the Location tab.
  2. Allow location access when iOS asks. Keep Precise Location on so the app can give you useful distances and street information.
  3. Wait for the phone to find your position. If it can’t, select Retry location.

You can start with access while using the app. Features that continue while the phone is locked or you’re using another app request Always location permission when you turn them on. You can change permission later in iPhone Settings, or select Open location settings when the app offers it.

Check the sound

Select Unmute speech on Location if speech is muted, then open Settings → Location speech and select Preview voice. You can choose a different voice and adjust its volume there. App speech has its own settings; changing it doesn’t change your VoiceOver voice.

To hear your surroundings as you move, turn on the individual announcement switches on Location, as described in the Quick start.

If your hearing device cuts off the beginning of announcements, try Keep hearing device audio connected on the same page. See audio settings for how it works.

Finding your way around the app

The app has five tabs: Location, Intersections, Explore, Transit, and Settings. On Explore, choose the POIs, Favorites, or Routes section button. POI means point of interest: a place such as a store, restaurant, park, or public building. Ask Straightforward, above the tabs, opens the assistant.

In this guide, select a control by tapping it, or by focusing it and double-tapping with VoiceOver.

Some rows offer more than one action. With VoiceOver, focus the row, swipe up or down to find the command, and double-tap. Without VoiceOver, tap the row’s More menu for the same commands. For example, a place can offer walking directions, Straightpoint, and an option to save it.

For adjustable controls such as volume or speed, swipe up or down with VoiceOver to change the value. Without VoiceOver, adjust the slider or use the accompanying buttons where available.

Checking your location

Select the Location tab to check your address, the direction you’re moving, nearby intersections, and the nearest place. The information updates as your position changes.

The direction your phone points and the direction you’re traveling are separate:

The intersection rows answer different questions:

Nearest POI gives you a nearby place’s name, with its category, distance, and direction where available. Its actions let you open it in maps, get walking directions, or select it for Straightpoint.

Street shows a nearby mapped road. Near appears when the road is farther from your position or location accuracy is uncertain. In virtual mode, On describes your simulated position.

At a crossing, Street can briefly show the cross street while Approaching intersection continues to follow your direction of travel.

Street number is Apple’s estimate of a nearby address number. The other address fields also come from the location provider. Street shows the nearby mapped road separately.

When you’re exploring virtually, Location describes your simulated position instead. Virtual exploration explains how to start and return to your real location.

Announcements and background awareness

Straightforward can announce changes as you move, so you don’t have to keep checking the screen. Choose what you want to hear with the individual announcement switches on Location. In Settings → Location speech, Announce while app is in the background lets those announcements continue while your phone is locked or you’re using another app.

Choose your announcements

On the Location tab, turn on the switches for the information you want to hear, such as Street, Street number, Heading, Approaching intersection, or Nearest POI. Turn a switch off when you don’t want that information announced. Your choices are saved.

All rows keep updating, including those with announcements off. Phone facing, Facing intersection, and Nearest intersection are available to read on the screen.

Approaching-intersection announcements tell you about the crossing at distance milestones rather than speaking every small change. Nearest POI announces when the nearest place changes, rather than repeating the same place as its distance changes.

Keep location announcements going in the background

  1. Open Settings → Location speech and turn on Announce while app is in the background.
  2. Complete the Always location permission steps if requested.
  3. Check that the individual announcement switches you want are on.
  4. Lock the phone or switch to another app.

Turn Announce while app is in the background off to stop background location awareness. Your individual announcement choices remain saved. The app remembers the background setting and restores it when you reopen the app with the required permission. Read any permission or startup message beneath the switch; Open location settings takes you to the iPhone permission settings when offered. After force-quitting, open Straightforward again to use it.

Straightpoint, live rides, and route recording or following manage their own background operation. Stop them with the Straightpoint switch, End ride, or the relevant recording/following controls.

Mute speech

Select Mute speech near the start of Location to stop spoken app announcements. Select Unmute speech to hear them again. This includes location, ride, saved-route, and Straightpoint speech, but doesn’t mute VoiceOver.

Control Straightpoint tones and vibrations in Settings → Straightpoint, and ride sounds and vibrations in the ride options.

Exploring intersections

Select the Intersections tab to browse crossings along your current road. Rows include distance and compass direction when available. In the live list, Selected: marks the nearest intersection. When browsing another street, it marks the intersection you used to enter that street instead.

The list follows the road geographically rather than putting the closest crossing first. On a mainly north–south road, crossings to the north come before your position and crossings to the south come after it. On a mainly east–west road, it uses east and west.

Follow a cross street

  1. Select a cross-street row to browse that street around the same intersection.
  2. If several cross streets meet there, Choose street opens. Select Browse [street name] for the street you want. Use the native Back control to leave the chooser without selecting a street.
  3. In the new street list, Selected: marks the same physical intersection, now labeled with the road you just left. With VoiceOver, focus moves to that row so you can continue from the same junction.

You can keep selecting cross streets to explore the surrounding streets without changing your real location. Use native Back to return through the streets you’ve browsed.

Reverse browse direction reverses the browsing direction. Return to my current street brings you back to the road where you are now.

Junction names can include an unnamed connection, such as Broadway and unnamed service road, unnamed driveway, or unnamed footpath. These labels describe the road or path type recorded in the map.

Check crossing details

Choose Open crossing details from an intersection row’s VoiceOver actions or More menu. You can do this from the Intersections list or from a populated Facing, Nearest, or Approaching intersection row on Location.

Details can include traffic control, pedestrian signals, accessible pedestrian signals, audible or vibrating indications, push buttons, tactile paving, kerbs, refuge islands, and crosswalks. The information comes from OpenStreetMap; the screen includes the data refresh date. Unlisted features have unknown status.

An approaching crossing may describe a cross street as left, right, ahead, or behind, relative to your travel direction. These descriptions help you understand the layout.

Finding places and addresses

Select Explore → POIs to browse nearby places or search for a business, category, address, or other destination. Selecting a result opens its details. You can also choose an action directly from the row.

Search nearby

  1. Choose Nearby, announced as Search nearby by VoiceOver.
  2. Enter your search in Search for a place.
  3. Press the keyboard’s Search key.

Nearby search starts within two miles. Expand search area to … and Reduce search area to … change the area and repeat your search. The available distances are 2, 5, 10, 25, and 50 miles, shown in your chosen units.

The nearby list loads when you open Explore. Refresh nearby places or pull-to-refresh updates that list. To submit a search you’ve typed, press the keyboard’s Search key.

Search somewhere else

Choose Anywhere, announced as Search anywhere by VoiceOver, then enter a place or address and press Search. Include the city or region to help find the right place. Repeat anywhere search runs the search again.

Use Anywhere to find a place in another city and start virtual exploration.

Read a place’s location

A result can include its name, category, address, distance, and direction. Southwest side of East 14th Street, for example, describes the side of the street where the place is located. Northeast describes the direction from you to the place. The street side and the direction from you are different pieces of information.

Street-side descriptions use the place’s address and mapped road geometry.

Open maps or choose another action

A place’s VoiceOver actions and More menu can include:

In Settings → General → Map provider, choose Apple Maps or Google Maps for opening places and walking routes. Straightforward uses Apple Maps for place searches.

Saving places

Favorites keep places you want to find again. You can save a business from search results or name the exact point where you’re standing, such as a meeting spot.

Save a listed place

  1. Find the place on Explore → POIs.
  2. Choose Add to favorites from its actions.
  3. Select Explore → Favorites to find it again.

A favorite offers map links, walking directions, Straightpoint, and an option to remove it. Favorites are stored on your phone. With a current position, the list shows the closest first and updates their distances. Without a position, it lists them alphabetically without a distance.

Save where you’re standing

  1. Select the Location tab and wait for a current position.
  2. With VoiceOver, focus Location and awareness and choose the Save current location action. Without VoiceOver, choose it from the heading’s More menu.
  3. In Name this location, check the accuracy information and enter a name in Location name.
  4. Select Save, announced as Save location by VoiceOver.

The named location appears in Explore → Favorites. The app saves your position when you choose Save current location. Map links open that saved coordinate.

Delete several favorites

  1. Open Explore → Favorites, then select Edit.
  2. Select a favorite row to check it; select it again to uncheck it. In this mode, rows select favorites rather than opening their details. VoiceOver reads the checkbox state and confirms Selected [name] or Deselected [name].
  3. To select the whole list, including favorites not currently onscreen, choose Select All. Deselect All clears the selection. VoiceOver confirms the bulk selection, and the toolbar shows the selected count.
  4. Select Delete N favorites. Read the count in the confirmation, then select its Delete N favorites action to remove those favorites, or Cancel to keep them. Delete is unavailable when nothing is selected. Deletion can’t be undone.
  5. Select Done to leave selection mode and return to ordinary place details and actions. Done clears the selection.

Import Nearby Explorer favorites

Bring a Nearby Explorer favorites export into Straightforward without replacing your existing favorites.

  1. Save the Nearby Explorer .nefavs export in the iPhone Files app or an available Files provider such as iCloud Drive.
  2. In Straightforward, open Settings → Favorites → Import Nearby Explorer favorites.
  3. Select Choose export from Files, then choose the export.
  4. Read the preview: it gives the record count, valid favorites, invalid records skipped, already-imported records, new favorites to add, and provider ID conflicts. Different records with the same provider ID are kept separately. Unsupported metadata fields are counted but not imported.
  5. Select Import N favorites to save the new favorites. Choose Cancel import or Back before confirming to cancel.
  6. After the success message, open Explore → Favorites. Select a favorite for its details, including notes, accessibility notes, website, and floor when present. Native Back from the import screen returns to Favorites settings; Back again returns to Settings.

Choose a Nearby Explorer .nefavs export, up to 8 MB and 20,000 records. The app previews the file before importing it locally. It keeps the original file intact and retains names, coordinates, addresses, categories, phone numbers, websites, and notes.

Reimporting skips unchanged records and preserves your existing favorites and edits. Changed source records are added as separate favorites. Reimporting can restore an imported favorite you’ve deleted.

For imported named places, Open in maps searches your chosen map provider using the saved name and available address, with the coordinate as location context. It may offer several matches or no match. Walking directions, Straightpoint, and virtual starting points use the stored destination coordinate. Personal Save current location bookmarks continue to open as coordinate pins, not business-name searches.

Recording and following saved routes

A saved route records the path you travel, with named waypoints and notes you add along the way. You can follow it in either direction, replay it virtually, or share it with someone else. Routes work on streets and unmapped trails. Open Explore → Routes to find your recordings.

Record a route

  1. Select Record route to begin recording your position. Allow location access and complete the Always permission steps for recording while the phone is locked or you’re using another app. The recording screen reports whether background capture is active.
  2. Travel the path you want to save. To mark a place, select Add waypoint, enter a Waypoint name and, if useful, a Waypoint note, then select Save waypoint. The app captures the position when you select Add waypoint and keeps recording while you name it. Cancel waypoint returns to recording without adding the mark.
  3. Use Pause recording and Resume recording when you want a break. A pause separates the path into recorded sections.
  4. Select Finish recording, enter a Route name, and choose whether to keep Generate automatic guidance on. Automatic guidance adds points for bends and progress along the recorded path; your named waypoints stay part of the route either way.
  5. Select Save route. The saved route’s details open, with its recorded distance, sections, named waypoints, and guidance points.

Leaving the recording page keeps recording active. Open Explore → Routes → Current recording to return to its controls. Cancel save returns to the stopped recording controls; use Resume recording to continue. To remove an unfinished recording, select Discard recording, then Discard in the confirmation. Choose Cancel to keep it.

After an interruption, an unfinished route appears as a paused recording in Routes. Open it and select Resume recording to continue, or finish and save what you have.

Follow a saved route

  1. Open Explore → Routes and select the route.
  2. At its recorded starting point, select Follow route. To travel back from the recorded end, select Follow in reverse.
  3. Complete any location permission steps. The following screen reports whether following continues in the background.
  4. As you move, check the next bend and distance remaining along the recorded path. Named waypoints include your notes. Reverse following reverses the left and right bend descriptions.
  5. Select Pause following to pause, Resume following to continue, or End following to stop. These controls are also available on Location.

For spoken route cues, turn on Settings → Straightpoint → Announcements and select Unmute speech on Location if muted. This controls spoken bends, waypoints, progress, and recovery messages for saved routes, including virtual replay. Route speech uses your location-speech voice settings.

Turn local alignment feedback on enables phone-pointing feedback along the next part of the recorded path; Turn local alignment feedback off pauses that feedback while keeping route progress active. Its tones and vibrations use Settings → Straightpoint → Guidance tones, Haptics, and Tone volume. Turn your phone to line up with the path’s direction; route alignment uses a steady feedback cadence.

Following tracks your position in the recorded sequence, including repeated visits to the same place. If it says Finding your position on the route, continue along the current recorded section while it matches your movement. It says Route guidance resumed when ordered guidance returns. The next bend and remaining distance then update from the recovered position. Waiting for fresh location means the app is waiting for a current position; Off the recorded path pauses guidance until it can match your position again.

To start from a particular point, open the route’s Waypoints and guidance. Find the named waypoint or guidance point you recognize, using its distance from the recorded start and occurrence number. At that position, select Follow forward from [name] or Follow in reverse from [name], then confirm Follow. End an existing follow session before choosing a different starting point.

At a recording gap, go to the start of the next recorded section, select Choose next recorded section, then Select section. After an app interruption, open the route and select Resume interrupted following when offered to continue from the saved occurrence. End following clears that saved follow session.

Route recording and following request background access when you start or explicitly resume them. Their background operation is separate from Announce while app is in the background. If background access wasn’t granted, allow Always in iPhone Settings, return to the route, and resume recording or following to retry.

Following pauses personal Straightpoint guidance while retaining your selected place. After ending route following, turn Straightpoint on from Location to resume pointing toward that place.

Review and manage routes

Open a saved route to review its distance and recorded sections. Waypoints and guidance lists named marks, notes, and generated points in recording order. Generate guidance points regenerates guidance from the recording while retaining your named waypoints.

Places along this route finds places near the recorded path and gives their approximate distance from the recorded start and from the path. Select a place for details. Use Load more route places to search farther along the recording, Retry search after a failed lookup, and Show reverse order or Show forward order to change the list order. Read the search status for the portion of the route covered so far.

On a route’s name in the Routes list, swipe up or down with VoiceOver to choose Share route, Rename route, Explore virtually, Follow route, Follow in reverse, or Delete route, then double-tap. Without VoiceOver, use the row’s More menu. Opening the row itself opens details. Available actions reflect the current recording, following, or virtual session; finish recording, end following, or exit virtual mode before starting another.

To rename, choose Rename route, edit Route name, and select Save name, or choose Cancel rename. To delete, choose Delete route, then Delete in the confirmation. Deleting permanently removes the recording and its waypoints; Cancel keeps them.

Share and import a route

  1. Open a saved route and select Share route, or choose that action on its name in Routes.
  2. Choose the recipient, app, or Save to Files in the iPhone share sheet. The file is named Straightforward route - [route name].json and contains the complete recording, waypoints, notes, and guidance.
  3. To receive a route, save the shared file in Files, then open Explore → Routes → Import route and choose it.
  4. After Route imported. Saved as a new route on this device., select Open imported route to review it. Choose Follow or Explore virtually when you’re ready to use it.

Each import creates an independent saved copy, including when you import the same file again. Your existing routes remain in the library. Cancel the file picker to leave the library unchanged.

Exploring a saved route virtually

Replay moves a simulated position along a recorded route while you stay where you are. You can hear its bends and waypoints and check places, streets, and intersections around the simulated position.

  1. Open Explore → Routes, select a saved route, and choose Explore virtually.
  2. On Location, find Virtual recorded route: [name] and select Play route replay.
  3. Adjust Virtual travel speed to Slow walking, Normal walking, Fast walking, or Driving. With VoiceOver, swipe up or down on the speed control.
  4. Use Pause route replay, Step forward, Step back, Previous waypoint, or Next waypoint to explore at your own pace. Reverse replay changes direction; Return to route start restarts in the selected direction.
  5. Select Exit virtual mode to return to your real position.

Replay follows the recorded path automatically. It speaks bends in travel order, reverses left and right when replaying backward, and says End of route when it reaches the final endpoint. At a gap, select Jump to next recorded section to continue. Leaving the app or locking the phone pauses playback; select Play route replay after returning.

Turn on Settings → Straightpoint → Announcements to hear replay cues. Settings → General → Virtual navigation → Virtual sound effects controls its movement and turn sounds separately. Your personal Straightpoint target stays saved; after exiting replay, turn Straightpoint on when you want to use it again.

Pointing toward a place with Straightpoint

Straightpoint gives feedback when your phone points toward a selected place. You can use it while standing still.

Pick a place and turn it on

  1. Find a place, favorite, or transit stop and choose Watch with Straightpoint.
  2. Select Location and find the Straightpoint switch. The row shows the selected place and its distance and direction when available.
  3. Turn Straightpoint on and complete any permission steps.
  4. Turn your phone toward the place. You’ll get feedback when it lines up; turning away stops the alignment feedback.

If Straightpoint is already on, choosing another place updates the guidance after any required permission check. You can also choose a target through Ask Straightforward.

Tones and vibrations become more frequent as you get closer, and the tones change pitch. Spoken feedback can give the place’s name, straight-line distance, and compass direction. A separate Near [place] cue tells you you’re close to the selected coordinate.

The distance on Location remains readable even with guidance off or the phone pointing away.

The target can include a street-side description alongside its direction from you. Loading street side, Street side temporarily unavailable, and Street side could not be determined report the street-side lookup status. Straightpoint’s pointing feedback works separately.

Choose the feedback

Open Settings → Straightpoint to set Guidance tones, Haptics (vibrations), and Announcements separately. Tone volume changes the tones, not speech volume.

Require level phone is off by default. Turning it on limits feedback to when you hold the phone roughly level. Raising it upright pauses feedback; lowering it resumes when the sensors are ready. With this option off, Straightpoint works with the phone upright or level.

Live Straightpoint can continue while locked or in another app with the required permission. Open the app again after force-quitting to use it.

Pause or change your target

Turn Straightpoint off to stop feedback without losing the selected place. Turn it on again to continue.

Its Location row also offers Open watched place in maps, Walking directions to watched place, and Clear Straightpoint watched place. Clearing removes the place but doesn’t change the switch. If the switch is on with No watched place, it waits until you choose one.

For a watched transit stop, Open bus stop times opens its details and departures.

Use a shared map pin

You can send a static destination pin from Maps to Straightforward and use it as a Straightpoint target or a starting point for virtual exploration. For example, someone can send a meeting point in Messages without having Straightforward themselves.

  1. In Apple Maps, select the destination or drop a pin at the intended stationary location. If someone sent you a location card in Messages, open that pin in Maps first.
  2. Choose Share, then Straightforward. If it isn’t listed, check the share sheet’s More list.
  3. On Shared location, review the static pin and its name. Edit Pin name if you want another label. Latitude and longitude appear in the preview.
  4. Select Set Straightpoint to replace the selected target. If Straightpoint is on, guidance updates to the new pin. Otherwise, turn it on from Location when you want guidance. Or select Start virtual navigation from this pin to explore streets from that location; this opens the virtual controls on Location.
  5. To leave without changing the old target, choose Cancel or native Back before confirming.

The pin marks a fixed destination. If the meeting point changes, ask for a fresh pin.

Share a static destination pin from Apple Maps or a Google Maps pin with explicit coordinates. If the app can’t read the link, open Maps, drop a pin at the destination, and share that pin. If it still fails, send feedback.

Transit stops and departures

Select the Transit tab to load nearby stops. Stop rows show the name, service direction, distance, routes, destinations, and near-side or far-side placement where available. Stops across the street can share a name, so choose the physical stop for the direction you want to travel.

Near side means before the cross street in the bus’s direction of travel. Far side means after it. These descriptions refer to the bus’s direction, not your walking direction. Near-side and far-side descriptions appear when the stop and road data support them.

Select a stop to open its departures. Refresh or pull-to-refresh updates nearby stops or the stop details you’re reading. Stop rows and detail headings also offer Open in maps, Walking directions, and Watch with Straightpoint. These use the selected stop’s coordinate, not a search for another stop with the same name.

Filter departures

  1. Open a stop and read any service notices.
  2. Select Filter routes.
  3. Check the routes you want and select Done. Leaving all routes unchecked shows every route.
  4. Select Clear filters to show all routes again.

Load more departures adds up to ten departures at a time, up to 100. Filters and the expanded list stay in place when you refresh or return from a trip. Stop details also refresh periodically while you’re on that screen.

Scheduled means a timetable time. Realtime or Predicted means the app has a matching, current prediction. If one isn’t available, the departure stays labeled as scheduled. Feed updated tells you when the source data changed, not when your phone last checked. Clock times use your phone’s local time.

See the stops on a trip

Select a departure to open Stops on this trip. It shows the selected stop and the stops after it for that particular journey. Show previous stops includes earlier stops; Hide previous stops hides them again. Select a stop to open its details.

The list follows that departure’s trip and service day, rather than combining every branch of a route. On a loop, the same stop may appear more than once because the bus visits it more than once.

An arrival is only a prediction if there’s a matching arrival update. Scheduled arrival …, realtime arrival unavailable is still a schedule. Skipped or canceled stops are marked as not boarding. Read any notices, and select Open publisher notice for the agency’s full instructions when offered.

Transit covers selected operators in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Each stop shows its available departures, predictions, notices, and placement details. Use Start stop announcements on a supported departure to set up a ride.

Stop announcements and get-off reminders

Ride watch follows your phone’s position along a selected bus trip. It can announce each stop, remind you before your get-off stop, or do both. Choose your trip from its departures to start.

Start a ride

  1. On Transit, open a stop and find the departure for your route, direction, destination, and stopping pattern.
  2. Choose Start stop announcements from the departure’s actions. The same action is available after opening Stops on this trip.
  3. Turn Announce each stop on to hear every stop, or leave it off for a get-off reminder only.
  4. Select Choose get-off stop if you want a reminder, then choose the stop. You can also use a stop’s Get off here action. On loops, choose the visit you intend to use.
  5. Set Speech, Sound, and Haptics separately. These choices are saved. Read any special drop-off instructions.
  6. Select Start onboard, complete any permission steps, and wait for the ride to start before locking the phone.

You can start before boarding or partway through the trip despite the Start onboard label. Once it starts, the app opens Location, where Current ride shows your progress.

A trip-stop row’s Notify me before this stop action opens ride setup with that stop selected. Select Start onboard when you’re ready to begin the watch.

If Start is unavailable, read the explanation. When choosing another departure, check its destination and stopping pattern.

Follow your progress

The watch needs usable GPS fixes and movement to establish where you are along the trip. Once it can track you, Current ride shows Next stop and remaining-stop information. Tracking uncertain means it can’t confidently place you on the trip, for example during a GPS gap or on similar or repeated route sections.

Get-off reminders tell you when you’re three stops away, when your stop is next, and when you’re approaching it. Ordinary stop announcements and the three-stop reminder use the ordinary chime; the imminent get-off reminder has a distinct urgent cue. The app doesn’t replay passed stops or missed reminder stages after a late start or GPS gap. Arrival predictions don’t move the tracker forward; your position does.

After you start a ride and allow permission, it can continue while your phone is locked or you’re using another app.

End or resume a ride

Select End ride under Location → Current ride to stop tracking and cues and remove the saved ride. To ride again after ending, start a new watch. Your Straightpoint target stays selected.

After an interruption or a later launch, a saved ride may appear paused. Read its status and select Resume, announced as Resume ride watch by VoiceOver, if offered. You can select End ride instead. If cleanup doesn’t finish, follow the retry message. A canceled or changed trip may need a new selection.

You can also start a ride by route name or change its get-off reminder through Ask Straightforward.

Exploring streets virtually

Virtual mode lets you explore mapped streets without going there. It moves a simulated position while you stay where you are. Location, places, and intersections describe the virtual surroundings until you exit.

Choose where to start

  1. Open Explore → POIs → Anywhere and search for a place or address.
  2. On the result you want, choose Explore virtually from here.
  3. Select Location to find Virtual mode: [place] and the movement controls.

You can also start from a nearby place or another row that offers the same action.

Move a step at a time

Select Manual, announced as Manual mode by VoiceOver. Adjust Virtual step distance with VoiceOver swipes up or down, or with Less and More. Choose a distance or Next intersection, then select a road-direction button to move that way.

Location updates for the new position. You can check the other tabs to explore nearby places and crossings. Directions follow connected mapped roads, rather than moving through buildings or across unmapped space.

Move by pointing the phone

  1. Select Auto, announced as Auto mode by VoiceOver.
  2. Set Virtual travel speed to Slow walking, Normal walking, Fast walking, or Driving.
  3. Face the phone toward an available road direction and hold it roughly level to move.
  4. Raise the phone upright to pause.
  5. At an intersection, Auto stops. Face another road to take it. To keep going in the original direction, raise the phone upright and lower it again.

Walking plays footsteps; Driving plays a continuous movement sound. There’s a brief cue at intersections. A repeating blocked sound means there isn’t a mapped continuation in that direction. Turn these effects on or off with Settings → General → Virtual navigation → Virtual sound effects. Spoken announcements are controlled separately.

Leaving Location or switching away from the app pauses Auto. When you return, it needs usable heading and tilt information. Select Manual to stop Auto movement or Exit to finish exploring.

Start over or return to your location

Start over, announced as Return to virtual starting place by VoiceOver, brings you back to the original virtual starting point.

You can choose Watch with Straightpoint while exploring, then turn on Virtual Straightpoint on Location. It points from your simulated position using the phone’s facing direction. This temporary target doesn’t replace your saved live target.

Select Exit, announced as Exit virtual mode by VoiceOver, to return to your real location. Previously active live features can be restored, so check their switches. A live ride suspended by virtual exploration stays paused until you explicitly Resume it. Exit virtual mode before requesting walking directions.

If Waiting for road data appears, give it time to load and try again.

Taking a virtual bus ride

A virtual bus ride follows a selected trip’s path and stops. Unlike Auto street exploration, it doesn’t follow the direction you point the phone.

  1. On Transit, find a departure and choose Explore this trip virtually. You can also choose it after opening Stops on this trip.
  2. Optionally select Choose get-off stop and choose a visit.
  3. Set Announce each stop, Speech, Sound, and Haptics.
  4. Select Play virtual ride.
  5. On Location, find Virtual bus ride and use Play, Pause, Next stop, and Virtual bus speed. The speed choices are Slow, Normal, Fast, and Very fast.
  6. Select Exit virtual mode when you’re finished.

Playback starts at the stop where you looked up the departure. Next stop moves along the path to the next stop, then pauses. Stop announcements and get-off reminders use the same feedback as live rides.

Locking the phone or leaving the app pauses playback. Select Play after returning. If you had a live ride running, entering virtual mode suspends it; it stays paused after exit until you Resume it.

Ask Straightforward

Ask Straightforward lets you request location information, find places, choose Straightpoint targets, and set up ride announcements in your own words.

It needs iOS 27, an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone, Apple Intelligence enabled, and Apple’s system model downloaded and ready. These requirements apply to the assistant, not the ordinary tabs. If it isn’t ready, the app explains why.

Ask a question

  1. Select Ask Straightforward above the tabs. You can also open it from the Location heading’s actions.
  2. Type your request or use iOS keyboard dictation.
  3. Press Return or select Send.
  4. Read the answer. With VoiceOver, focus moves to the completed reply.
  5. If it offers choices, select a numbered result button.

The assistant shows up to ten full results at a time. Load more continues the list; Done with results returns you to typing. While it needs a selection, the request field and Send are disabled, so choose a button rather than typing a number or another question. No thanks declines an offered wider search.

After it saves a target, you can type again without closing chat. Ask it to start Straightpoint when you’re ready for guidance.

Leaving chat cancels a running text request. Conversation history and still-valid choices can remain when you return, but aren’t permanently saved. Scroll to read earlier messages. If an old result has expired, ask again. Text chat and Siri have separate conversations and result lists.

Check your surroundings or find a target

Try requests such as:

For a saved place, ask for the name you saved. To use Home, save your home as a favorite named Home. If several saved places match, choose the right one from the results.

Say Nearby for a local search or Anywhere for a remote place or address. Transit searches use your nearby area. If a nearby place search fails, the assistant may offer Search Anywhere for this name; you decide whether to widen it.

Start a ride by route name

You don’t have to open a departure first. For example:

The last example asks for a get-off reminder without every-stop announcements. Route discovery is nearby. Include the direction to narrow your request, then select the matching route, destination, and stopping pattern from the results. Complete any permission steps to start.

After a successful start, the app opens Location → Current ride. During that ride, you can say “Tell me when we get to Broadway and Mosholu Avenue” to add or change the reminder. Repeated or ambiguous stop names need a selection. “What is my ride status?” checks the ride, and “End ride” stops it.

What the assistant handles

Apple’s on-device model interprets requests. Place and transit searches use online services. Siri recognition and keyboard dictation follow Apple’s settings.

Using Siri

  1. Say “Hey Siri, Ask Straightforward.”
  2. Approve any first-use shortcut confirmation.
  3. Wait for “What would you like to ask Straightforward?”
  4. Say your request.

Keep the invocation and request separate. Combining them can send your question to Siri’s own search instead.

Siri reads up to five choices at a time. Answer with a name, number, or distinguishing destination. Say more for another page or done to finish. “First one” means the first result on the current page. If Siri can’t distinguish your answer, use more of the name or destination it read.

The conversation has a limited lifetime and number of follow-ups. If it expires, invoke Ask Straightforward again or use the in-app list. The shortcut opens the app to carry out the request without opening text chat. Siri handles its spoken replies; choices from a separate text conversation don’t carry over.

Voices, units, and other settings

Select the Settings tab, then choose General, Location speech, Ride announcements, Straightpoint, Favorites, or Diagnostics. Favorites contains Import Nearby Explorer favorites. Changes are saved on your phone.

Distance units and maps

In General → Distance units, choose Feet and miles or Meters and kilometers. Feet and miles is the default. Changing units updates distances, search areas, virtual controls, and new assistant answers. It doesn’t change the size of a search area or movement step, and earlier chat messages keep their original wording.

Map provider chooses Apple Maps or Google Maps for opening places and walking directions.

In General → Virtual navigation, Virtual sound effects controls walking, engine, and turn sounds for street exploration and recorded-route replay. Spoken announcements and haptics are separate.

Location speech

  1. Open Location speech → Language and choose a language, then a voice. Voice lets you change voices within that language. System default follows the system speech default.
  2. Adjust Speech rate, Pitch, and Volume.
  3. Select Preview voice to listen. Unmute app speech first if needed.

Reload voices updates the list of installed voices. Reset speech settings restores defaults. If your selected voice becomes unavailable, the app explains the fallback without discarding your saved choice.

Keep hearing device audio connected plays digital silence between announcements to help prevent a hearing device from cutting off the start of speech. It’s off by default. It works while the app is open or background location announcements are active, with app speech unmuted. Turning it off stops the digital silence.

Ride voice

Ride announcements have their own voice, initially System default. Choose Independent ride voice, then Ride language and Ride voice. Or choose Use location speech voice to use that voice for rides too. This links the voice, not the location speech rate, pitch, or volume.

Preview ride voice lets you listen, and Reload ride voices updates the voice list. Choose Speech, Sound, Haptics, and whether to announce every stop when setting up the ride itself.

Straightpoint settings

The Straightpoint page has Guidance tones, Tone volume, Haptics, Announcements, and Require level phone. See Straightpoint for how these affect feedback.

What needs an Internet connection?

Place searches, fresh road information, and transit lookups generally need a connection.

Favorites and saved routes stay on your phone offline. You can record, follow, and replay a route, including an unmapped trail, using its recorded path and named waypoints. Straightpoint uses the selected coordinate and phone sensors for direction.

A ride that’s already started may keep tracking with its saved trip information and usable GPS. Reconnect to receive cancellations and other service updates.

Mapped road coverage includes the United States, Canada, and Germany. Road connections and crossing details come from the available mapped data. Road coverage and transit coverage are separate.

Installation usage and privacy

Requests to Straightforward’s road and transit services can include a random identifier saved for this installation, the app version and build, and whether the app is in the foreground or background. This helps measure active installations and service failures.

The separate usage-metrics records store a digest of that random identifier, hourly service counts and outcomes, and coarse app metadata for up to 90 days. They don’t include coordinates, searches, favorite names, email addresses, or device fingerprints, and aren’t joined to operational access logs. The identifier isn’t sent to Apple or Google Maps. These limited service metrics are separate from the local diagnostic logs you explicitly export below.

Sending feedback and diagnostic logs

Email contact@straightforwardnavigation.com with your build number, what you tried, and what happened. Include the exact control or message if you can. For incorrect transit placement, include the stop, route, service direction, and the missing or wrong near-side/far-side description.

Share diagnostic logs

  1. Reproduce the issue if practical, then open Settings → Diagnostics.
  2. Select Share diagnostic logs.
  3. Review the description of the log contents, then select Continue.
  4. Choose a destination in the iOS share sheet, such as Messages or Save to Files.

If Send diagnostic logs is available, it opens an addressed email draft. Add a description and send it through Mail. If Mail won’t send, close the draft and use Share diagnostic logs instead. Keep the logs until you’ve exported what you need.

Logs are kept locally with a size limit and can include precise real or virtual locations, searches, and target details. This export flow doesn’t upload them automatically. You choose who receives the file and approve sending in the destination app.

Clear local diagnostic logs removes the retained logs and the app’s export copy. It doesn’t delete a report you’ve already sent or saved elsewhere. Exporting or canceling an export doesn’t clear the logs.

Troubleshooting

Location or distances are unavailable

Check Straightforward’s location permission and Precise Location in iPhone Settings, then return and select Retry location. GPS can be limited indoors or between buildings. The phone can have a position even if the address provider can’t supply an address.

Phone facing works, but Heading or Approaching intersection doesn’t

Those fields need movement, not a compass turn. As you travel, give the app time to collect usable location fixes. You can check Nearest intersection or browse Intersections in the meantime.

You can’t hear announcements

Check that the individual announcement switches you want on Location are on. Select Unmute speech if muted, check iPhone volume and the audio device receiving sound, and try Settings → Location speech → Preview voice. For locked-screen location announcements, check Announce while app is in the background on that settings page and Always location permission.

For Straightpoint, check its switch, selected place, alignment, feedback settings, Tone volume, and Require level phone option. For a ride, check Speech and Sound separately. VoiceOver and app speech have different volume controls.

A search has no results

Check Nearby or Anywhere, then submit the search with the keyboard’s Search key. You can expand a nearby search area. If the service is unavailable, check the connection and retry; that message doesn’t mean there are no places or stops. You can use the ordinary tabs if an assistant search isn’t completing.

A saved route is finding your position

Continue along the current recorded section and listen for Route guidance resumed. If you’re starting somewhere else on the recording, end following, open Waypoints and guidance, and choose the known occurrence where you’re standing. At a gap, use Choose next recorded section after reaching that section’s start. See Following a saved route for the controls.

Recording or following paused when you left the app

Check the route screen’s background status and Always location permission in iPhone Settings. Return and use Resume recording or Resume following. To find a recording again, open Explore → Routes → Current recording or its paused-recording entry. To recover interrupted following, open the saved route and choose Resume interrupted following when offered.

Road or crossing information is missing

Some road data unavailable means coverage is partial. Waiting for road data means the virtual road information hasn’t loaded, not that you’ve reached a dead end. Wait and retry a Manual direction, or let Auto retry. OpenStreetMap crossing details are incomplete in many areas.

A departure has no prediction or ride Start option

Scheduled departures aren’t live tracking. Predictions need a matching current agency update, and ride watch needs additional trip-path and passenger-stop information. Check the selected departure and the app’s explanation. Transit departures may still work even when live ride announcements aren’t available.

Current ride says Tracking uncertain

The watch is still running unless its status says paused or ended, but it can’t confidently track your progress. A next-stop count that hasn’t changed may be out of date. You can end the ride. If a restored ride is paused, select Resume when offered.

Ask Straightforward isn’t working

Read its readiness explanation. It needs the supported iOS version, eligible hardware, enabled Apple Intelligence, and a ready model. The ordinary tabs don’t need that model. If the request field is disabled, finish the pending choices or select Done with results. If Siri searches the web instead, invoke Ask Straightforward first, wait for its prompt, then ask.

Your controls differ from the guide

Check your installed build in TestFlight and whether a newer invited build is available. This guide is updated for the upcoming iPhone beta. If a feature asks for an updated client, install the newer invited build in TestFlight.

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