Locaria on your phone
GPS navigation that keeps running with the screen off, the whole catalogue already on your phone for when there's no signal, and your travel diary always in your pocket.
Scan with your phone
Open the camera on your Android phone and scan the code: it brings you to this page, and you download the app from there. An APK can't be installed on a computer.
Take Locaria onto your phone
The Android app does everything the website does — plus it carries the catalogue on your phone, so it works with no signal, and it unlocks the real GPS in your photos, which the browser can't read for privacy reasons.
⬇️ Download the app (APK)Version 1.3.15 · 48.6 MB · outside the Play Store
On first launch Android asks you to allow installation from “unknown sources”: that's normal for sideloaded apps outside the Play Store.
On a computer? Open this page from your Android phone to download it right away.
Turn-by-turn navigation
Follow your itineraries with live GPS: complete or skip stops as you go.
GPX track
Record your real route point by point and export it as a GPX file.
Photos with real GPS
Only the app reads the coordinates hidden in your gallery photos and places them on the map automatically.
What you are about to download
Published on October 9, 2026
- Version
- 1.3.15
- Size
- 48.6 MB
- Android
- 7.0 or later
- Processor
- 64-bit (arm64)
The file comes from our own servers and is signed with our key. On 32-bit phones — rare by now, roughly those released before 2015 — the install stops saying the app is not compatible.
How to install it, in three steps
Android is cautious with anything that doesn't come from the Play Store, so you will see a couple of warnings while installing. They are normal: here is what they are and what to tap.
- 1
Tap “Download the app”
An .apk file starts downloading. Chrome may warn you that “this type of file can harm your device”: that is the message it shows for any APK, not for this one in particular. Tap “Download anyway”.
- 2
Open the downloaded file
You'll find it in the download notification, or under Files → Downloads. The first time, Android asks you to allow installing from this source: it's the “Install unknown apps” switch, and it goes to the browser you downloaded from. Then tap “Install”.
- 3
Open Locaria and sign in
The app needs an account — Google works too, two taps. If you were already using the website you'll find everything there: saved places, visits, flavours you tasted, badges and level.
If Play Protect says “unsafe app”
Tap “More details”, then “Install anyway”. That's how Play Protect flags every app Google hasn't scanned in its store: it isn't a virus it found, it's an app it doesn't know. It will go away the day we're on the Play Store.
Website and app: what changes
The website isn't retiring: most of Locaria keeps working in the browser. These are the things only the app can do.
Browsing places, cities, regions and flavours
In the app the catalogue is already on your phone: it opens instantly, with no network and no data used.
Suggesting places, flavours and corrections
Both do it. In the app you can dictate by voice and attach photos that place themselves on the map.
Food passport and ratings
Tastings, 1-to-5 ratings and detail pages: identical on both.
Your diary: wishlist, visits, memories
From the website you save and mark visits on every page; the full collection is browsed in the app.
The explorable map
In the app it's a native map: it pans smoothly and remembers the areas you've already looked at.
Turn-by-turn navigation, even with the screen off
GPS running with the phone in your pocket and an alert as you approach a stop: the browser can't do that.
Recording the GPX track of your walk
Your actual route point by point, to export as a GPX file and share.
Photos with their real GPS position
Only the app reads the coordinates hidden in your gallery photos and places the spot by itself.
Chat, friends and community
Messages, your circle of friends and who else has been to a place: all in the app.
Badges, levels and presence
You still unlock badges from the website, but the board and the “where I am right now” live in the app.
Working without a connection
Pages and search come from the catalogue on your phone, and whatever you write with no signal is sent by itself as soon as you're back online.
✓ available · ~ partly available · – app only. On iPhone, as long as there is no iOS app, the website stays open even where this table says app-only.
What the app asks for, and why
No permission is requested at launch: Android asks for them one at a time, the first time you use the feature that needs one. You can say no and keep using everything else.
Location
To show you what's around you on the map, and to confirm a visit when you're really there.
Location with the screen off
Only while you're navigating a route: it keeps you on track and warns you that a stop is coming up, with the phone in your pocket. It stops when navigation ends.
Camera
To take a picture of the place or the dish you are suggesting.
Photos and photo location
To attach a photo you already took and read its coordinates, so the place positions itself instead of you hunting for it on the map.
Microphone
To dictate a suggestion instead of typing it. It only turns on while you hold the button down.
Notifications
For the alert as you approach a stop and for the ongoing-navigation bar. No promotional notifications.
Battery optimisation exemption
Optional, and only navigation asks for it: without it Android can put the GPS to sleep and your track comes out full of gaps.
What we do with your data is spelled out in the privacy policy.
Questions before you install
Why isn't it on the Play Store?▾
Publishing on Google Play means a registration fee and a review for every release. Locaria is an independent project and for now we'd rather put that time into the app itself: we'll get there, meanwhile we distribute the file ourselves.
Is it safe to install?▾
The file comes from our servers over HTTPS and is signed with our key: Android only accepts an update carrying the same signature, so nobody can swap it for another app. The warnings you see while installing are the standard ones for anything outside the Play Store, not a problem with this file.
How do updates arrive?▾
Outside the Play Store there are no automatic updates: when a new version is out the app tells you itself, with a strip at the top that leads to the download. It installs over the previous one and you lose nothing.
Do I need an account?▾
Yes. The website can be browsed without signing up, the app can't: everything you save — visits, wishlist, memories, flavours — belongs to your profile and syncs between phone and website. Signing up takes two taps, Google included.
Does it drain the battery?▾
Only while you're navigating a route, because that's when the GPS stays on: expect something close to a car sat-nav. Outside navigation the app doesn't use your location in the background.
How much space does it take?▾
The install starts at about 50 MB and grows with the catalogue the app keeps on your phone and the map areas you've already viewed — up to a 200 MB ceiling, past which the oldest ones are dropped automatically.
What about iPhone?▾
There's no iOS app yet. In the meantime you can install Locaria as a web app: in the browser, Share menu → “Add to Home Screen”. On iPhone the website stays complete.
I already had a Locaria app — do I keep it?▾
If you have the old app that opened the website inside a window — installed before summer 2026 — you can uninstall it: it's a different app, the new one installs alongside rather than replacing it. You lose nothing, your data lives on your account.
More questions? There are the frequently asked questions.