Site Shows Cache as Basic--App shows as Premium

[+The Looney Bins]

I apologize if this has already been answered, but I did several forum searches and couldn't find an answer.

 

I am a Basic member and use the standard App for my iPhone.

 

While at home I do some looking around trying to plan out my next cache run. I have found several caches nearby that show up as Basic caches on the website, however when I look at them on my App, they show as Premium. Is there a reason for this? Here are a few of the examples: heythree5 hey3thousand, Ford Prefect (Hitchhiker's Guide Series), and My New Found Hobby.

 

Thank you.

[Pup Patrol]

I apologize if this has already been answered, but I did several forum searches and couldn't find an answer.

 

I am a Basic member and use the standard App for my iPhone.

 

While at home I do some looking around trying to plan out my next cache run. I have found several caches nearby that show up as Basic caches on the website, however when I look at them on my App, they show as Premium. Is there a reason for this? Here are a few of the examples: heythree5 hey3thousand, Ford Prefect (Hitchhiker's Guide Series), and My New Found Hobby.

 

Thank you.

 

Okay, so your 3 examples are not PMO.

 

http://coord.info/GCQK5P My New Found Hobby

 

http://coord.info/GC45ZXA heythree5 hey3thousand

 

http://coord.info/GC28K2Z Ford Prefect (Hitchhiker's Guide Series)

 

How do they show as PMO on your app? In the cache page? On the map?

 

PMO caches have circles around the symbol on the map.

 

 

B.

[+The Looney Bins]

I apologize if this has already been answered, but I did several forum searches and couldn't find an answer.

 

I am a Basic member and use the standard App for my iPhone.

 

While at home I do some looking around trying to plan out my next cache run. I have found several caches nearby that show up as Basic caches on the website, however when I look at them on my App, they show as Premium. Is there a reason for this? Here are a few of the examples: heythree5 hey3thousand, Ford Prefect (Hitchhiker's Guide Series), and My New Found Hobby.

 

Thank you.

 

Okay, so your 3 examples are not PMO.

 

http://coord.info/GCQK5P My New Found Hobby

 

http://coord.info/GC45ZXA heythree5 hey3thousand

 

http://coord.info/GC28K2Z Ford Prefect (Hitchhiker's Guide Series)

 

How do they show as PMO on your app? In the cache page? On the map?

 

PMO caches have circles around the symbol on the map.

 

 

B.

 

I think I just stumbled onto why. I was confusing "Premium" with "Advanced". I need to have the full App in order to see those. I appreciate the quick response though.

[+The A-Team]

I think I just stumbled onto why. I was confusing "Premium" with "Advanced". I need to have the full App in order to see those. I appreciate the quick response though.

Yes, this is one of the many flaws with the Intro App: it calls caches "Premium" that aren't. It applies this label to any cache that can't be displayed in the app due to its type, size, or D/T ratings. Your term "advanced" would be a much better one to use in the app, because it would better differentiate between the easy ones that are displayed and the harder ones that aren't.

[Pup Patrol]

I think I just stumbled onto why. I was confusing "Premium" with "Advanced". I need to have the full App in order to see those. I appreciate the quick response though.

Yes, this is one of the many flaws with the Intro App: it calls caches "Premium" that aren't. It applies this label to any cache that can't be displayed in the app due to its type, size, or D/T ratings. Your term "advanced" would be a much better one to use in the app, because it would better differentiate between the easy ones that are displayed and the harder ones that aren't.

 

 

I would call that a very big flaw.

 

Geez. That is not nice to do.

 

It's bad enough that the "Premium App" versus "Premium Membership" confusion continues, but I had no idea that GS would use "premium" to describe a cache that is not PMO.

 

Yes, "advanced" is a better term.

 

 

B.

Edited March 31, 2015 by Pup Patrol

[+The A-Team]

Yes, "advanced" is a better term.

The more I think about it, the more I think there actually needs to be three levels:

Easy: Caches that fit the type, size, and D/T criteria to be displayed for everyone

Advanced: Caches that don't fit the criteria, and aren't PMO

Premium: Caches that are truly Premium (may include both Easy and Advanced caches, but the point is that you need a Premium membership to view them)

[geoffshep69]

I'm a newbie to this too, and am still a bit confused about the basic / premium / advanced / free app / paid for app differences.

 

I haven't paid for anything yet, so I have the free membership on the website, and I'm using the free Intro app on Android.

 

On the website, I can look at the map and it seems like I can view all the caches, but I don't see way to tell whether a cache is marked as 'premium' or not. According to the key, they have the same icon and there's nothing obvious in the description, so am I missing something ?

 

On the app, each cache shows as either a green dot or a grey dot. The green ones work fine, but clicking on a grey dot generates a message saying "Advanced. Upgrade to Geocaching Premium to see advanced geocaches". Does this mean that I need to upgrade my membership on the website, or download the paid for app, or both ?

 

Apologies for the questions !

 

On the plus side, today was my first day out and about looking for caches and we had a very pleasant walk and managed to find 5 caches,

[+K13]

I'm a newbie to this too, and am still a bit confused about the basic / premium / advanced / free app / paid for app differences.

 

I haven't paid for anything yet, so I have the free membership on the website, and I'm using the free Intro app on Android.

 

On the website, I can look at the map and it seems like I can view all the caches, but I don't see way to tell whether a cache is marked as 'premium' or not. According to the key, they have the same icon and there's nothing obvious in the description, so am I missing something ?

 

On the app, each cache shows as either a green dot or a grey dot. The green ones work fine, but clicking on a grey dot generates a message saying "Advanced. Upgrade to Geocaching Premium to see advanced geocaches". Does this mean that I need to upgrade my membership on the website, or download the paid for app, or both ?

 

Apologies for the questions !

 

On the plus side, today was my first day out and about looking for caches and we had a very pleasant walk and managed to find 5 caches,

 

Congrats on finding the 5 caches! and welcome to the hobby.

 

On the website map view, the PMO (Premium Member Only) caches will have a circular icon, while the regular ones have a square icon. As you zoom in. the PMO icons disappear at a set zoom level, reappearing as you zoom out. Usually there is little difference in the description (or even the actual caches) between regular and PMO caches, except that as a regular member, you cannot see the PMO cache pages.

 

The app difference, free intro vs. paid version ($10-ish one time purchase, per operating system) has nothing to do with the membership, free regular vs. paid Premium membership (recurring $30/year subscription)

 

Some people use paid apps with their regular membership. I am a Premium Member (but don't use the GS phone app)and use a dedicated GPS.

[geoffshep69]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. Had another look at the map and realise now that they are different shapes, I was only looking at the icon itself, doh!

 

Did some further reading after posting my question, and have discovered that the free app only shows caches up to a difficulty level of 1.5. Will probably buy the full version, as it looks like about 2/3 of the nearby caches are not visible in the app.

 

Really enjoyed our first experience yesterday, was a great way to get our 13 year old interested in going for a walk. Wife enjoyed it too and wants to know when we can go again.

 

Thanks again for helping.

[+Bear and Ragged]

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. Had another look at the map and realise now that they are different shapes, I was only looking at the icon itself, doh!

 

Did some further reading after posting my question, and have discovered that the free app only shows caches up to a difficulty level of 1.5. Will probably buy the full version, as it looks like about 2/3 of the nearby caches are not visible in the app.

 

Really enjoyed our first experience yesterday, was a great way to get our 13 year old interested in going for a walk. Wife enjoyed it too and wants to know when we can go again.

 

Thanks again for helping.

 

IF you go for the Paid App, make sure you get the paid app, and NOT Premium Membership!

Many have paid for the wrong thing!

 

You will see more caches, and more verities of caches, with the paid app.

You may find that it fills your needs, without paying for Premium Membership. (Unless your area has a large percentage of PMO caches.)

[geoffshep69]

I went ahead and bought the paid version of the app, so I can now see all the caches, rather than just the low difficulty ones that are visible on the free app.

 

However, maybe its just because I had got used to looking at the maps and icons on the free version, but the paid version doesn’t look nearly as good in the map view, it looks a bit dated to be honest. I’ve also found that when searching for nearby caches, it only seems to load up 20 at a time and you then have to scroll the map and search again. The free version seemed to show loads more, even if a lot of these were greyed out as the difficulty level was too high.

[+AlfT & Co]

To further add to what has been said, the grey dots on the Free App are ones that are more than a certain distance from your current location. You should find that as you get nearer the grey dots will show up after a refresh of the map.

 

Glad you are enjoying the experience, it is most certainly more enjoyable if the whole family gets involved. Also the young ones can make it easier to hunt as they can go places and do things where adults look a little more suspect.

[Glenn&Bo]

To further add to what has been said, the grey dots on the Free App are ones that are more than a certain distance from your current location. You should find that as you get nearer the grey dots will show up after a refresh of the map.

 

Glad you are enjoying the experience, it is most certainly more enjoyable if the whole family gets involved. Also the young ones can make it easier to hunt as they can go places and do things where adults look a little more suspect.

 

Even when i'm standing on a grey dot, the dot doesnt change to green so its not loggable with the Free app.

[+cerberus1]

To further add to what has been said, the grey dots on the Free App are ones that are more than a certain distance from your current location. You should find that as you get nearer the grey dots will show up after a refresh of the map.

 

Glad you are enjoying the experience, it is most certainly more enjoyable if the whole family gets involved. Also the young ones can make it easier to hunt as they can go places and do things where adults look a little more suspect.

 

Even when i'm standing on a grey dot, the dot doesnt change to green so its not loggable with the Free app.

Distance isn't a factor.

Are you speaking of "advanced" caches?

Green dots denote all traditional geocaches, up to level 1.5 Difficulty and level 1.5 Terrain, Grey circles denote all other geocache types (Mystery, Multi, Earth, Letterbox, Event, CITO, Virtual, Webcam).

[Eorthdraca]

I was wondering about this too.

 

We went on holiday last week with some friends who have been geocaching for years. I have had the free app on my phone for a while but hadn't yet found any caches. I noticed that a lot of the caches on their app were greyed on mine and I couldn't do anything to find them.

 

I've logged in on my laptop and found that a lot of the caches that aren't accessible on my phone app are actually available but the phone app doesn't like them.

 

Is it possible to find these caches using the phone but without paying for the app (which I've read isn't as good as the free version anyway)?

 

It seems that most of the caches around where I live are actually standard caches and it's just the app being a nuisance.

 

Thanks

[+colleda]

I was wondering about this too.

 

We went on holiday last week with some friends who have been geocaching for years. I have had the free app on my phone for a while but hadn't yet found any caches. I noticed that a lot of the caches on their app were greyed on mine and I couldn't do anything to find them.

 

I've logged in on my laptop and found that a lot of the caches that aren't accessible on my phone app are actually available but the phone app doesn't like them.

 

Is it possible to find these caches using the phone but without paying for the app (which I've read isn't as good as the free version anyway)?

 

It seems that most of the caches around where I live are actually standard caches and it's just the app being a nuisance.

 

Thanks

 

Why not cough up the one time payment then you'll have all them caches you can't see. That has to be better. You still wont see the Premium ones though but you'll have plenty to keep you going for a long time.

[+cerberus1]

I was wondering about this too.

 

We went on holiday last week with some friends who have been geocaching for years. I have had the free app on my phone for a while but hadn't yet found any caches. I noticed that a lot of the caches on their app were greyed on mine and I couldn't do anything to find them.

 

I've logged in on my laptop and found that a lot of the caches that aren't accessible on my phone app are actually available but the phone app doesn't like them.

 

Is it possible to find these caches using the phone but without paying for the app (which I've read isn't as good as the free version anyway)?

 

It seems that most of the caches around where I live are actually standard caches and it's just the app being a nuisance.

 

Thanks

A basic member using a hand-held GPS can access all but premium member only caches (as you noticed by going online).

 

For those using phones, Geocaching Intro (free app) was designed to start you off, getting you interested (and teased by the "advanced" caches) to either purchase the Geocaching (paid) app, or a premium membership.

Lackeys have already said that eventually the more up to date free app will be the app (when, who knows...), with options opening by membership.

Since none of us knows when the Geocaching (paid) app's phased out, you'll have to decide if "coughing up the one-time payment" is prudent.

[Eorthdraca]

I bought the app. Figured that like 95% of the caches are included in free membership, but the free app doesn't let me see them (don't know whether it would if I bought the premium membership). So paid the £8. There are not many caches around me that are paid, and I don't mind missing a few here and there, if it's going to save me money. Maybe if/when I get more into it, I'll pay the £25 but for now, £8 seems like a better option.

[+TriciaG]

It's a shame I didn't see this thread before. I was going to suggest one of the non-Groundspeak apps. There are good, free apps out there that will show you all the (non-Premium Member Only) caches.

[+cerberus1]

It's a shame I didn't see this thread before. I was going to suggest one of the non-Groundspeak apps. There are good, free apps out there that will show you all the (non-Premium Member Only) caches.

My other 2/3rds continues to use the Groundspeak app for her iPhone, as all shes found for the non-Groundspeak apps either weren't updated since '11 or so, or didn't have enough (or any) reviews to warrant a switch.

Has that changed?

[+TriciaG]

I don't know about iThings. I was working from the Android side. The OP does mention an iPhone, but the more recent poster didn't say what OS they're using. Sorry for the confusion.