iPhone · iOS 15 and later

Dog Walker

Dog Walker is a working iPhone app built around the ordinary routine of owning dogs: knowing when the next walk is, getting out of the door, and having the right information to hand when it matters. It opens on a PIN, because everything it holds — your dogs, their medical history, your address, the photos from your walks — stays on the device rather than on somebody else's server.

The home screen is a summary of where things stand: walks this month, how many dogs are on the account, and the next walk in the diary. If a walk is being tracked right now, it says so and gives you the distance so far. Everything else — the calendar, planning, tracking, medical records, first aid and the photo gallery — hangs off that one screen.

Tracking uses the phone's GPS to draw the route on a map with live distance, elapsed time and pace. While you walk you can log the things you actually need to remember afterwards: a wee, a poo, water, a treat, a written note or a voice memo. Hold the button to finish, and the walk joins the tracked history with its distance, duration and any pauses.

The app is sold as Tameside Tails on Trails, and it has its own site at tamesidetailsontrails.co.uk — that one advertises it, this one is about how it was built.

PlatformiPhone, portrait, iOS 15 and later
Its own sitetamesidetailsontrails.co.uk
StorageOn device only, PIN protected
ScreensHome, calendar, planner, tracker, profile, medical, first aid, gallery
StatusWorking app, tested on device

Free, and what a subscription unlocks

Tracking a walk, the dogs on your account and the whole first aid library are free and need no subscription. The first aid pages never will: a page telling somebody what to do about a choking dog has no business behind a payment screen.

A subscription unlocks the rest — the medical record with its jab and worming reminders, the photo gallery, the calendar, planning a walk in advance, and spoken notes. It comes in two lengths, monthly and quarterly, and it renews until you cancel it in the App Store.

Monthly £4.99 a month
Quarterly £12.99 every three months — £4.33 a month, saving £1.98

UK prices. The App Store shows the price in your own currency before you buy, and it is the App Store that takes the payment.

Cancelling takes nothing off your phone. Your dogs, their records and every walk you have tracked stay exactly where they are; the paid screens simply stop opening.

The one piece of personal information any of this involves is your email address, held so the subscription can be recognised as yours. It goes nowhere else. See the privacy policy and the terms of use.

Every screen in the app

Ten screens, three at a time — swipe, or use the arrows and dots. Tap a screenshot to see it full size. The apps are still being developed, so screens may look different in the version you download — these shots are not always updated the moment something changes.

Opening the app Home
The month so far — walks, dogs and photographs — and whatever is planned next.
The account Your dogs
Both dogs on the account, with breed, age and current weight.
The record Medical
Jabs, worming and flea treatment with their due dates, and what has already lapsed.
The record The rest of the record
Ongoing conditions, the vet’s number ready to dial, the microchip and the insurer.
In a hurry First aid
A library of what to do right now, sorted into emergency, injury, illness and environment.
In a hurry Just the emergencies
Narrowed to the four that cannot wait, with the emergency vet at the top of the screen.
In a hurry What to do
A topic opened out into numbered steps, and honest that it is reference rather than a vet.
Planning Plan a walk
Whose walk, what kind, how long and when — four choices, top to bottom.
Planning Before you save it
The plan totted up at the bottom, changing as each choice above it changes.
Planning The calendar
The month, and everything on it.

Interested in an app like this, or in something else for iPhone, iPad or Android? Get in touch.