myTracks on iOS/iPadOS does not start

Under certain circumstances it can happen that myTracks no longer starts on an iPhone or an iPad. Then the start screen appears briefly and then it disappears again. The cause is typically that a very long GPS recording was previously running. If myTracks was stopped during such a recording either by the user or by iOS, or the iPhone/iPad was restarted, then myTracks will try to restore this recording when it is restarted. However, if this is not possible due to the size of the recording, myTracks may crash.

It is important that in this case you do not simply delete myTracks from your iPhone/iPad. Then all your GPS tracks would also be deleted. In such a case you have to open the iOS Settings app and open the myTracks area there. Then tap Diagnostics there and then No Track Recovery. myTracks should then start correctly again.

As the name of the option suggests, the last recording will not be imported into myTracks. However, it is still available internally in myTracks. If you need this recording, please proceed as follows:

Current macOS version:

  1. Switch to Finder and open a new window.
  2. Click on your iPhone or iPad below 'Locations' on the left.
  3. Some tabs will appear in the following view. Click on the 'Files' tab.
  4. The following list shows many of your apps, including myTracks. Click on the small triangle to the left of 'myTracks' to load the files from myTracks.
  5. One or more files with the file extension '.pnts' should now appear below myTracks.
  6. Copy these files using drag and drop, for example to the Desktop or the Downloads folder.
  7. If you use 'myTracks for macOS', then you can simply drag and drop these files onto myTracks and the tracks will be imported into myTracks.
  8. Otherwise, send the files to the support address and I will convert the files to GPX files.

With older macOS versions, the above-mentioned iPhone/iPad view is available in iTunes instead of the Finder. Otherwise, the individual steps are analogous. If you're on Windows, you'll also need to use iTunes to follow these steps.