Record in a browser (iPhone, iPad, Android)

Last updated: 20 September 2026

What it does. Records a walk from the phone's browser, with no app to install. This is the only option on iPhone and iPad. On Android the app is better — it reads the phone's own Wi-Fi signal and keeps recording with the screen off — but the browser works there too.

Open the connect URL (or scan the QR) and the page you land on is the recorder. See Connect a device for getting there.

What a browser can and cannot do

It cannot read the phone's own Wi-Fi signal. No browser exposes that. With a controller configured, HollowMap records how the AP hears the phone instead, which is the number your controller already shows.
Without a controller it records position only — the track, and where you walked, with the AP columns empty. Name the device in Device, label & more so the walk is attributable.
The screen must stay awake. The page asks the phone to stay awake while recording (the awake chip). On iPhone, if the screen locks anyway, GPS stops until you open it again. Set Settings → Display & Brightness → Auto-Lock → Never for a long walk, and set it back afterwards.

How to use it

Before you start

iPhone/iPad: add it to the Home Screen. Safari offers this on the page. Launched from the Home Screen it behaves like an app and is less likely to be suspended mid-walk.
Allow Location when asked. On iPad in landscape the window can be wide enough that HollowMap treats it as a desktop and hides the recorder — turn it to portrait.

While you walk

Points / GPS / queued chips show what has been recorded and what is still waiting to send.
Out of Wi-Fi range, points queue on the phone and send when you are back. Nothing is thrown away because the PC refused a point: a wrong walk code or another tablet already recording stops the sending, it does not delete the walk.
If you are away for more than an hour with nothing sending, recording pauses and offers resume, so a forgotten tab does not run the battery flat.
Speed test measures the Wi-Fi link between this phone and the PC — not your internet — and stores the result on the current point.

Troubleshooting

Start recording does nothing — with a controller configured you must first pick which device you are carrying under Device, label & more. With no controller, name the device instead.
The walk stopped when the screen locked — expected on iPhone. Use Auto-Lock → Never, or use the Android app.
"reopen the link from the desktop app" — the access key changed. Scan the QR or open the connect URL again from the PC.

Still stuck? In the app, use Help → Contact support, or open a ticket here.