Location, GPS distance and your route

When Mova uses your location

• Only during an outdoor walk you start, and only if you allow it.
• Only while you use the app, never all the time. Mova never asks for “Always” location.
• Treadmill and indoor workouts never use location.

Mova uses it to draw your route and measure your distance and pace. Without location, your walk still records its time and steps.

Who sees your route

Mova records your route only during a walk, while the app is in use. The map is shown only to you. Mova never shows coordinates and never shares your route.

Routes are stored, encrypted, on the phone that recorded them. They aren’t uploaded to your Mova account and aren’t saved to Apple Health or Health Connect. That’s why a walk you recorded on another phone says Route maps stay on the phone that recorded them. Your data export includes the routes on that phone as GPX files.

Turn route recording off

Go to Profile & settings › Units & preferences and turn off Record route for outdoor walks (Routes stay on this phone). Mova then doesn’t ask for location, and outdoor walks record time and steps without a route or GPS distance.

Location settings on your phone

How distance is measured

Mova measures distance from GPS points during the walk. To keep it honest, it ignores very inaccurate points and sudden jumps, and doesn’t guess across gaps where GPS was lost. Pace appears once you’ve walked about 200 metres.

With approximate location, Mova notes Distance may be less precise.

Maps

The map on your walk summary and walk details is a picture of your route. On Android, if a map can’t be shown, Mova says Route saved · the map can’t be shown here; your route is still saved on the phone.

Something looks off? See Distance or route looks wrong.