Frequently Asked Questions

SpeleoMap launches on the App Store in early 2027. Get notified and we'll send one email the day it goes live.

Coming soon to theApp Store

Any iPhone on iOS 26 or later: iPhone 11 and iPhone SE (2nd generation) onward. Every one of them records Cave Lines, stations, Hike Lines, photos, video and workouts, and can measure LiDAR photos and video a teammate shares. LiDAR scans, LiDAR photos and LiDAR video need an iPhone Pro or Pro Max (iPhone 12 Pro or newer). iPad isn't supported. Find your iPhone to see what yours does.

The download is free. Start a plan and every feature is free for 14 days; Apple bills the plan when the 14 days end unless you cancel in iOS Settings first. After that, a subscription keeps you recording: $6.99 a month or $49.99 a year, billed through your Apple ID. Both include everything. See Pricing.

If you didn't cancel, your plan simply carries on. If you did, everything you recorded stays yours. Without a subscription you can still open, view, export and delete your projects, forever. Recording anything new (trips, scans, photos, video, imports and edits) needs a subscription. A caving or hiking workout that's running when the trial ends keeps everything open until you end it, so no one gets cut off mid-trip.

No. There's no login and no account, and SpeleoMap works fully offline underground. Your data lives on your iPhone.

• Camera: tracking, LiDAR, photos and video
• Motion & Fitness: recording your path through the cave
• Health: logging your trips as Apple Health workouts
• Location: the entrance fix and hike trails. It's off for the whole caving workout
• Microphone: sound on videos (you can turn video sound off)
• Bluetooth: only when you turn on a device in Settings, Devices
• Local Network: only to connect a thermal camera over its own Wi-Fi
• Photos: only to add your photos and videos to your library

Each one is separate; saying no to one doesn't break the others. Change any of them later in iOS Settings, SpeleoMap.

Make a project. At the entrance, start a caving workout and lock the entrance GPS and true north. Underground, start a Cave Line and walk the passage, dropping stations, scans, photos and notes as you go. Tap End Survey when you're out. The whole trip, step by step: A Cave Trip.

The survey line itself: SpeleoMap records your path in 3D as you walk, so there are no shots between stations to read or write down. A project can hold many Cave Lines, one per passage or side trip, and lines from the same trip share the entrance so they fit together. See Cave Line.

With a Cave Line recording, tap Drop Station and pick what goes on it: Media (photo, video, thermal), Scan, Measure (splay, tape line) or Log (note, annotation, environment reading). Long-press the map for a plain station. Stations are named A1, A2, A3 and you can rename them. See Stations.

Yes. Stow Mode keeps the Cave Line recording with the phone in a chest pocket or pack. Calibrate it once with a few short runs between two stations. See Stow Mode.

Yes. Cave Lines, stations, photos, video, the Navigator, Stow Mode, a laser meter and every export work on any supported iPhone. Only LiDAR scans, LiDAR photos and LiDAR video need a Pro.

Bluetooth laser meters and survey instruments, an environment sensor, a thermal camera and Bluetooth GPS receivers. Each one is set up once in Settings, Devices. The list, with setup notes: External devices.

On your iPhone, inside the app. Nothing is uploaded. It leaves your phone only when you export or share it.

Survex .svx and Therion .th (legs, splays and LRUD), KML and GeoJSON (the survey placed on the map), Stations CSV, a PDF report with a plan view and station table, OBJ, PLY and USDZ scan meshes, GPX for hikes, and the full Project Bundle. See Export Formats.

Yes. AirDrop a whole project as a bundle, or one Cave Line, scan, tape line or video, straight from SpeleoMap. It merges into their project. See Team Merge.

Yes. Import Survex .svx and .3d or Therion .th from a project's Details tab, then start a new Cave Line from any imported station. See Import.

Settings, Data, Backup makes one backup of every project and your settings; save it to Files, iCloud Drive or a drive. On a new iPhone, Settings, Data, Import restores it. Your iPhone's own iCloud backup also includes the app's data. See Data.

Yes. Export it as .zip, or rename .speleobundle to .zip, and open it: meshes, CSVs, photos, the PDF report and the Survex and Therion files are inside.

Send Diagnostics from the app right after it happens:

1. Open Settings, Support.
2. Leave Attach diagnostics on.
3. Tap Email support. Mail opens to support@speleomap.com with the Diagnostics attached.
4. Say what you were doing and what went wrong, then send.

Diagnostics cover your last 5 sessions. Before anything leaves your phone, SpeleoMap removes coordinates, altitude, magnetic readings, serial numbers, email addresses and project names. In a cave the email waits in Mail's Outbox until you have signal. See Contact Support.

In the Guide, in trip order: Troubleshooting.

• Carry a power bank on long trips; LiDAR, the camera and the workout all run at once
• Lower the screen brightness, or lock and stow the phone between stations
• End a scan when you have what you need

Settings, Data, Reset SpeleoMap erases everything SpeleoMap keeps on this iPhone. Make a Backup first. Your membership and free-trial days, Apple Health workouts and the Photos library are not touched.

Open iOS Settings, scroll to SpeleoMap and turn it on, then reopen the app.

iOS Settings, your name, Subscriptions, SpeleoMap, Cancel Subscription. You keep access until the end of the period you paid for. Apple handles all subscriptions, so we can't cancel for you.

Refunds go through Apple: visit reportaproblem.apple.com and sign in with the Apple ID you paid with.

Apple gives a grace period while it retries, and the app keeps working. Update your payment method in iOS Settings, your name, Payment & Shipping.

A portion of subscription proceeds may go toward cave conservation at AFDC's discretion: gating and access, restoration and cleanup, and support of caving organizations, grottos and conservancies. See Conservation.

When you set up the app you can name the caving organization you belong to: pick it from the list, type it, or skip it. It's optional and recorded once. It's a non-binding preference AFDC may consider; it doesn't change your subscription. See the Terms.

Apply on the Conservation Register. We verify your 501(c)(3) status with one of your officers, then add you to the in-app list.

The entrance fix ties the survey to the real world and sets magnetic declination. SpeleoMap never sends your location anywhere; it leaves your phone only in files you choose to export or share. See the Privacy Policy.

Caving is a workout: each trip logs time, distance, depth, heart rate and calories to Apple Health. The workout also keeps the survey recording while the phone is stowed. Say no and the survey still works; trips just won't show in Health.