Release history
What's new
Every release of Patchly, newest first. Open one to read everything it changed. The app shows the same notes under Settings once you have updated.
1.1 14 September 2026 New fire, LiDAR coverage and track layers in the Library, a recording you can pause for a break, and go-to routes and shapes you can edit by hand. 14 new 10 improved 8 fixed 32 changes on iOS New fire, LiDAR coverage and track layers in the Library, a recording you can pause for a break, and your tracks brought over from Gaia GPS. 15 new 9 improved 8 fixed 32 changes on Android
iOS
New fire, LiDAR coverage and track layers in the Library, a recording you can pause for a break, and go-to routes and shapes you can edit by hand.
New 14
- Active Fires shows where satellites saw fire burning in the last three days, free for everyone. Heat draws as a glow whose brightness follows the fire's measured power and whose colour follows how recently it was seen.
- Burnt Ground for all seven states and territories. Pro Each of the last three years carries its own colour, so you can tell at a glance when a patch of ground burnt.
- Free LiDAR Coverage layers show where bare-earth relief exists. Check a patch before a trip rather than finding it blank on the day. New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania, in one bundle.
- Victoria's 4WD tracks are free for everyone. The four-wheel-drive forest tracks that reach the goldfields, with the closures the road register holds against them and the months a seasonal track shuts and reopens.
- A recording can be paused for a break: the clock stops with you, and Patchly offers to resume when you start moving again.
- Go-to routes and saved shapes are editable by hand: tap a + on a route to add a stop, or reopen a shape to reshape it.
- Guided tutorials for offline regions, navigating to a spot, and building a Stack.
- The satellite map's roads and bush tracks are readable over bush at last. Redrawn in warm sand, with the tracks the base map leaves out, and switched off per Stack in Base map settings.
- A Patchly link on the website opens straight to the layer, bundle or tutorial it names.
- New goldfields bundles for Warwick and Palmerville.
- Library layers show a picture of what they draw.
- First-run setup asks how to lock your Stash and which marker colours to use.
- After an update, a What's New screen lists what changed.
- Settings sets whether Detecting draws as a line or as coverage, and any Stack can override it. Pro
Improved 10
- Victoria's historic workings draw as points. Pro A density field at a distance, resolving into depth-graded marks as you close in.
- Marker beds and chert bands draw as their own geology line type, and a tap names the rock. Pro
- A live layer reports how fresh it really is. It streams its current tiles instead of offering a full download it would only have to repeat.
- Offline downloads stretch much further: the device limit is now 500 map packs instead of 200, and downloaded regions keep drawing after weeks offline.
- Startup is quicker and scrolling stays smooth while a backup runs. The intro screen no longer holds you once the map is ready, and Library layers no longer blink out as it comes up.
- Tapping a feature on the map marks it, and the sheet rests below it instead of covering it.
- The Stack hub shows which Stack is active.
- Following a line starts from the nearest point on it, not from where your finger landed.
- Zoomed out, the map offers the goldfield you are standing on rather than the whole state.
- A locate, record or go-to tap that needs location says so, and points at the setting.
Fixed 8
- Patchly tells you on screen when a recording stops being saved.
- Find and pin markers no longer sink under your session tracks.
- A long recording keeps drawing its full line.
- Library layers recover on their own instead of leaving the map blank.
- Tenement dates read correctly, including leases held for decades.
- The map rotates while a drawing tool is armed, and a drawn point can no longer land too close to edit.
- Patchly asks before deleting a backup another of your devices is using.
- Slow, careful detecting no longer logs as travelling. Pro
Android
New fire, LiDAR coverage and track layers in the Library, a recording you can pause for a break, and your tracks brought over from Gaia GPS.
New 15
- Active Fires shows where satellites saw fire burning in the last three days, free for everyone. Heat draws as a glow whose brightness follows the fire's measured power and whose colour follows how recently it was seen.
- Burnt Ground for all seven states and territories. Pro Each of the last three years carries its own colour, so you can tell at a glance when a patch of ground burnt.
- Free LiDAR Coverage layers show where bare-earth relief exists. Check a patch before a trip rather than finding it blank on the day. New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania, in one bundle.
- Victoria's 4WD tracks are free for everyone. The four-wheel-drive forest tracks that reach the goldfields, with the closures the road register holds against them and the months a seasonal track shuts and reopens.
- Pause a recording for a break and pick it up where you left off.
- Import your tracks, waypoints and photos from Gaia GPS, with a guided walkthrough.
- Go-to routes and saved shapes are editable by hand. The route editor now works on the Google base map too.
- Tap a feature on the map and it stays marked while you read it.
- Three tutorials: offline areas, navigating to a spot, and making a Stack.
- The satellite map's roads and bush tracks are readable over bush at last. Redrawn in warm sand, with the tracks the base map leaves out, and switched off per Stack in Base map settings.
- A full backup check, with a Settings badge when backup is failing.
- A Patchly link from the website opens the app on the layer or bundle it names.
- New goldfields bundles for Warwick and Palmerville, and Library layers show a picture of what they draw.
- First-run setup asks how to lock your Stash and which marker colours to use.
- A What's New screen, and a notice when a new version is out.
Improved 9
- Victoria's historic workings draw as points. Pro A density field at a distance, resolving into depth-graded marks as you close in.
- Marker beds and chert bands draw as their own geology line type, and a tap names the rock. Pro
- A live layer reports how fresh it really is. It streams its current tiles instead of offering a full download it would only have to repeat.
- Offline downloads stretch much further: the device limit is now 500 map packs instead of 200. Pro
- Startup is quicker: the intro screen no longer holds you once the map is ready.
- Detecting is read more accurately: slow sweeping counts as detecting, not travelling. Pro
- Settings' battery warnings now cover every restriction that could stop a recording.
- A failed Google Play purchase names its cause instead of failing blankly.
- The layer-update prompt waits for a gap in your outing rather than interrupting it.
Fixed 8
- A recording that stops being saved now warns you on screen.
- Library layers no longer stop drawing part-way through a session.
- The map still draws when you open Patchly with no signal.
- A restored offline area gets its layers back, not just the imagery. Pro
- Google Drive backup no longer refuses a restore over a duplicate file.
- Navigation follows a track from the nearest point on it, not from its start.
- The map rotates while a drawing tool is armed.
- The tenement year filter no longer hides long-held leases. Pro
1.0.1 5 September 2026 Map fixes, and a faster iCloud restore. 5 changes 5 changes
Map fixes, and a faster iCloud restore.
Changes 5
- The map pans with one finger again on iOS 17 and later.
- The map keeps responding after you switch to another app and back.
- An iCloud restore is quicker, and its progress bar counts what actually arrived.
- The recording line breaks where the GPS signal dropped, instead of drawing a straight line across ground you did not cover.
- Smaller fixes to the Backup screen, tenement outlines and long map feature lists.
1.0 30 August 2026 Initial release. 0 changes
Initial release.