Hiiker app rant, after an experiment I did using it today

I've posted about hiking apps previously, comparing a few.  I used to use one called ViewRanger, which was great, until it became OutdoorActive and lost the functionality that made it so great.  For the past year or two I've been battling with the Hiiker app, but only for training/fitness hikes - not ones where my life/safety depends on it, and only for recording the hike as I do it, but I have major issues with it.

The first problem is that sometimes the app will stop working (for example, it may not show the map) and until you do an update (assuming the problem has been fixed), it doesn't work correctly again.  If this happened during one of my U.K. walking holidays, I would not be happy.  For my last, 93 day, U.K. walking holiday I used the aforementioned ViewRanger app (on my previous phone, a Motorla E5 Play), but that is no longer an option.  As I am planning on doing a 3 month U.K. walking holiday next year I need an app that will be reliable.  I'm not sure the Hiiker app will be up to that task.

The more recent problem I have with the Hiiker app is that it does not show my position, or my walked route, correctly - sometimes it might be 100m or so out from where I actually am.  For a few weeks, when trying to record my hike, the app would cease to 'track' my progress, drawing the route in short disjointed segments, and when I hit the 'ping my GPS location and centre the map on me' button it would show me positioned somewhere other than where I actually am.  An update fixed that problem ... for a few weeks.  Now the app has me all over the map (pardon the pun) when recording a hike.

Let me point out a few things before talking about the 'experiment' I did today:

- I surmised that the problem could be with the phone, or with satellite signal, rather than the app.  Neither of these seem likely however.  I don't think the problem is with my Samsung A31, as I've been using the app on this phone for almost a year, and it is not wonky all of the time.  I don't think it is satellite connectivity, as you will see with today's experiment when I did the second circuit it tracked me fairly accurately.

- with the Hiiker app, you have to change your phone settings so if it goes into battery saver mode the apps recording function is not affected.  I made that change a long time ago, and I charged my phone last night, and after today's experiment I still had 70% charge, so this could not have been the problem.

The experiment.

Today I walked the 5km Tarawera River loop in Kawerau 3 times consecutively, keeping exactly to the same trail (with only one tiny diversion to unsuccessfully attempt to avoid a threatening dog during the first circuit).  For at least half of the trail it is less than 2 metres wide, with bush/forest crowding both sides.

The first time I did the circuit, I used my phone occasionally to take a photo, or to check the Hiiker app progress.  The app would pinpoint where I was sporadically, and consequently the route had many straight lines between two moments when it pinged my position, showing that I walked straight through houses, or walked on water on a number of occasions (note, there only two places one can cross the river - at the top and bottom of the circuit).  On the attached image, this recorded circuit is one with a number of straight lines, that more closely follows the second circuit route, but not the one that bounces way out on the map and back, or straight up the river.  Although the route is approximately 5km, the app told me my first circuit was only 4.3km.

The second time I did the circuit I kept the app open and kept hitting the 'ping my GPS location and centre the map on me' button repeatedly throughout the walk (not really feasible when out hiking all day).  On the attached image, this recorded route is the one where there is a lot of twists and turns as I walked the trail, without any straight lines, and no weird river crossings or walking through walls.  The app probably correctly recorded this circuit as 4.9km.

The third time I did the circuit, other than at the start and end, I only opened the app and hit the 'ping my GPS location and centre the map on me' button twice, once at each of the bridges crossing the river (at the south and north ends of the loop).  On the attached image, this recorded circuit is the one where it looks like I veered well away from the route to points further afield before boomeranging back in, or I somehow flew directly up the river ignoring where the water was.  Not surprisingly, the app recorded this circuit as 5.7km.

Take a look at the image showing the 3 circuits (which, in reality, should completely overlap each other).

Somehow, I think I will be trialing other hiking apps in my pursuit of one that can do the job.

Edit: I forgot to mention 2 others issues I currently have with this app.  The first is that you can no longer lock it to North (although I was told by the creator that he was planning on re-establishing that) - even tapping the compass icon in the upper right only spins it to North for a split second.  The other issue is that the average speed is highly inaccurate, always reporting my speed at least 1km/hour less than my actual speed.