I purchased the Motorola Defy Satellite link in 2023 to support some of my longer flights and also give an SOS capability whilst walking away from mobile coverage. Recently I have taken to having it running in the car, even though I live less than 15 miles from Manchester, coverage at home is patchy an there is around 2-3 miles on the drive to work that mobile coverage drops consistently. At the moment I am paying the monthly £4.99/month service charge that is comparatively cheaper than the competition however I am concerned that this may not last.
Over this Christmas I noticed that the long awaited track sharing feature had been turned on and I have subscribed to this feature at a cost of £9.99/month.
Since then the App on the phone has been updated (around Jan 10th 2025) and the layout has changed significantly, matching the app for the newly released HMD device.
To start tracking select the Tracking tab:
You can also setup an update frequency, this is the gaps between sending messages, this can be set as low as 3 minutes but options of 10,30 or every hour. Within these times the device records 3 positions (so for the 3 minute setting you get a position every 1 minute, but they only send as a batch of 3 every three minutes).
Once you hit Start Tracking a notification that your contacts have been notified and they receive a text message with a link to open the map to view your live tracking status. (its odd that even if the contacts have the Bullitt app, it still gets sent by SMS).
Visiting app.bullitt.com/tracking you can see both live tracks and historic tracks, by default they are named Tracking-XXXX, but these can be renamed if you desire and an option to select a sharing link to send onwards. The tracks can also be deleted or Donwloaded as a .gpx file.
Here is an example of a walk that was set at 10 minute intervals (positions every 3 minutes, but only sent every 10 minutes). The map can have Satellite, and can be zoomed in and out.
Overall I found the new feature useful and will probably continue using this going forward.
The Check-in, and SOS functions were still available whilst tracking was turned on.
I noticed that the subscription packages have now been changed to annual models and will be considering whether to replace the Motorola Defy with the HMD version, which appears to be the Defy with a new manufacturer and case, but has better plans than the new ones Bullitt are offering, especially as the tracing feature drops from £9.99 to 4.99/month.