Download & Permissions

Download Hereish

Hereish is available on the App Store for $2. It requires iOS 17 or later.

Download on the App Store

First Launch

When you open Hereish for the first time, it will ask for location permission. This is the only permission Hereish needs — it’s a location app, after all.

iOS presents this as a two-step process:

1. First prompt: You’ll see the standard iOS location dialog. Select “Allow While Using App” to get started.
2. Second prompt: At some point after that (iOS decides when), you’ll see a follow-up asking whether to upgrade to “Always Allow”. We recommend saying yes.

Understanding the Two Permission Levels

Allow While Using App

This is the baseline. With this permission:

• Hereish can read your location while the app is open.
• When you close the app, the cached location goes stale.
• Widgets attempt a live GPS fix on each 5-minute refresh cycle (with a 10-second timeout).
• If that fix fails, the widget shows whatever it last knew — which may be outdated.

This works, but widgets will often lag behind your actual location.

Always Allow (Recommended)

With “Always” permission, Hereish registers for Significant Location Change monitoring. This is a low-power iOS service that wakes the app briefly whenever you move roughly 500 meters. Each time it fires, Hereish updates the cached location and tells your widgets to refresh.

The result: widgets stay current without you ever opening the app.

A note on what “Always” actually means: It does not mean Hereish is continuously tracking you. It means iOS wakes the app for a moment when you’ve moved a meaningful distance. There is no persistent GPS polling, no background tracking, and no data leaving your device. The battery impact is minimal — Significant Location Change is the same low-power service that weather and transit apps use.

Why We Recommend “Always”

The difference between the two permission levels is significant for widget accuracy:

• “While Using” — widgets rely on periodic live GPS attempts that may fail or time out. If you haven’t opened the app recently, your widget could be showing a location from hours ago.
• “Always” — the location cache stays fresh automatically. Widgets almost always have current data to display immediately.

If you care about your widgets showing the right town, “Always” is the way to go.

Changing Permissions Later

You can change Hereish’s location permission at any time:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone
2. Tap Privacy & Security
3. Tap Location Services
4. Scroll down and tap Hereish
5. Select the permission level you want

If you previously denied permission or selected “While Using” and want to upgrade to “Always,” this is where you do it.

Background App Refresh

For widgets to update properly, Background App Refresh must be enabled for Hereish. This is usually on by default, but if your widgets seem stuck:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap General
3. Tap Background App Refresh
4. Make sure the master toggle is on, and Hereish is enabled in the list

Without Background App Refresh, iOS may prevent widgets from updating on schedule.

Privacy

Hereish stores your location locally on your device using a shared App Group container — this is how the app and its widgets communicate. No location data is sent to any server, no analytics are collected, and there are no third-party SDKs. Your location never leaves your device.