A guide made for one trip. Yours.

Your guide opens in the Basic view, with just what you need day to day. To see every tab and button, tap All features at the top of your guide (or ＋ All features at the end of the tabs). Tap Basic to go back. Each phone remembers your choice, and nothing is turned off in the Basic view: it's only tucked away.

• Basic, for the people on the trip: the Along the way, Bookings and Trip album tabs, and the buttons 📍 Location, 👪 Follow, ⏸ Pause, 🗣 Guide, ♫ Music, 💬 Messages and 🏠 Home.
• All features adds: the Trip map (every drive of the trip on one map), Weather, Open days, Know before you go, Guestbook, Costs and ⭐ Ratings tabs; on phones unlocked with your unlock link, 📓 Journal and Groceries too. It also adds the 📓 button, Print this day and Print all days, and the narrator, music and Start today over choices in 🔊 Guide settings.
• Family following along get Where are they?, Trip album, Guestbook and Along the way in Basic. All features adds the Trip map, Weather, Open days and Know before you go.

In the Basic view, How was it? stars show up on a stop once you tick it Done, or after that day has gone by. To see it all at a glance, look at Your guide, section by section at the top of Help.

Your guide has its own address, like yourtrip.makemyguide.com. Tap the link in your “Your guide is ready” message, or type your guide's name in the Open your guide box at the top of this page.

An icon for your guide appears on your Home Screen. From now on, open your guide from that icon.

Your phone keeps the icon's settings separate from your web browser's. When you unlock your guide, it's unlocked in the place you did it. Open it from the icon, and unlock it there, and everything stays together: your private details, your photos and Follow Us!

No. Your guide is a web page made just for your trip, so there's nothing to download, install or update. Adding it to your Home Screen makes it open like an app.

Because it's a web page, the stories and music play only while your guide is open on the screen. See The stories stopped. Why?

Yes. At the top of this page, under Open your guide, tap Get my guide's messages again. Type your guide name and your email, pick the message, and tap Email it to me.

We send it only to the email we have on file for your trip, so your private trip keys never go anywhere else. Someone new joining the trip? Reply to any Make My Guide email and we'll send them their own keys.

Your guide is a web page, so a few things stay off the public page: the street address where you're staying, door and gate codes, and the power to share where you are. Your keys unlock them on your own phone, and only there.

• Your unlock link unlocks everything on the phone that will share where you are: private details, the Trip album and Follow Us!
• Your trip code is for everyone else on the trip. It unlocks the private details and the Trip album.

They arrive in a separate message called “Your private trip keys.” Please don't forward that one. To invite family, use the Follow Us! invitation instead.

1. In your “Your private trip keys” message, press and hold the unlock link, then tap Copy. Please don't tap the link to open it.
2. Open your guide from its Home Screen icon.
3. Tap 🔑 Unlock in the top bar.
4. Paste the link (or type your trip code) and tap Unlock.

You'll see the gold 🔒 Just for travelers card at the top of your guide. If you used the unlock link, 👪 Follow appears in the top bar too.

Don't see 🔑 Unlock? Open 🔊 Guide settings at the bottom of Along the way, or open the Trip album tab and tap Turn on group sharing.

The real address only shows on an unlocked phone. Check two things:

1. You opened the guide from its Home Screen icon, not from a link in your web browser.
2. You unlocked it there. See How do I unlock my phone?

Until then, the guide shows nearby cross streets instead, so your address never sits on a public page.

New phone, or you removed the icon: add the guide to your Home Screen again, then unlock it with the same message. Your keys still work.

Forwarded your keys by mistake, or someone set up your link who shouldn't have: tell us, and we'll change your keys and send you new ones. The old link stops working. A phone that used the old link and isn't on your trip switches to the family view by itself the next time it opens the guide. Your own phones keep everything and just ask for the new link once. See My guide says Follow Us! was reset.

It stays unlocked. Once you paste your unlock link, the phone remembers it, even after you close the guide, restart the phone or don't open the guide for days. A weak signal never signs you out.

Tip: unlock the phone first, then put the guide on your Home Screen. The icon remembers the unlock too. See How do I put my guide on my Home Screen?

If it ever asks you to set up Follow Us! again:

1. Make sure you opened the guide from its Home Screen icon. On iPhone, Safari and the icon keep separate copies.
2. Paste your unlock link once more. See How do I unlock my phone?
3. Still asking? Tell us. Just reply to any email from Make My Guide.

That means your unlock link was changed, usually because the old one reached someone it shouldn't have. The old link stopped working on every phone at once, and we sent you a new “Your private trip keys” message.

1. In the new message, press and hold the unlock link, then tap Copy.
2. Open your guide from its Home Screen icon.
3. Tap 👪 Follow (it says Set up) or 🔑 Unlock, paste the link and tap Unlock.

Do this once on each phone that shares where you are. The phone remembers the new link from then on. Your photos, notes, Split costs and grocery list are all still there.

• Your guide isn't listed on search engines like Google.
• The public page never shows confirmation numbers, ticket barcodes or the street address of a home or rental.
• Private details reach only the phones you unlock.
• Family see where you are only while you're sharing, and we keep only your latest spot and today's route.
• Star ratings, Split costs and the grocery list are only for the people on the trip. Family following along never see them.
• Family see only the photos and videos you mark ♥. They never see the Bookings or Costs tabs, the day's tickets, what things cost, confirmation numbers or ticket QR codes. Those are for the people on the trip.

Yes. That page comes from Google, not from us. Gmail checks every link you tap, and it shows “Redirect Notice” for websites it doesn't know well yet. Make My Guide is new, so you may see it for a while. Make sure the address it shows ends in makemyguide.com, then tap it to continue.

Adding hello@makemyguide.com to your contacts helps. You can also text the link instead: in your guide, tap Send the Follow Us! link.

Your guide is a web page, not an app from the App Store, so the stories and music play only while the guide is open on your screen. They stop if the phone locks or you switch to another app, such as Google Maps. When you come back, the guide shows any stops you passed so you can hear them.

Need directions too? Keep your guide on the screen and let the maps app run behind it. See Can I use Google Maps or Apple Maps for directions at the same time?

While 📍 Location is on, the guide asks your phone to keep the screen on. If your screen still goes dark:

Plug the phone in and use a dash or vent mount. Set the screen back when you're home.

That's your phone at work. When the car's Bluetooth disconnects, a call comes in or someone taps pause on the lock screen, the phone pauses whatever is playing. Your guide notices, puts that story in You passed these marked (stopped partway), and keeps listening. The next story spot plays by itself as usual.

To hear the one that was cut off, tap it in You passed these at the top of Along the way. It plays from the start.

Expecting a call? Tap ⏸ Pause first, and ▶ Resume when you're done. See Is the guide listening? Why is nothing playing?

Yes, once you save it. Do this at home on Wi-Fi:

1. Open Along the way and tap ⬇ Save for offline at the top.
2. Wait for ✅ Saved for offline.

The Directions buttons open Google Maps, which keeps its own offline maps. In Google Maps, tap your profile picture, then Offline maps, then Select your own map, and download the area you're visiting.

Yes. The one rule: keep your guide on the screen, and let the maps app work behind it. The stories stop only when your guide isn't the app on the screen.

• CarPlay or Android Auto: the map shows on the car's screen while your guide stays on your phone. This works best of all.
• A car with its own navigation, like a Tesla: let the car's screen give directions, and your phone only runs the guide.
• Two of you? One phone for directions, the other for the guide.

The Directions links in your guide open your maps app at the right place. When you come back to the guide, it shows any stories you passed.

The wide button under them says what the guide is doing right now, like 🟢 Listening · next: Kula, 3 mi. Tap it to go to that story. See Is the guide listening? Why is nothing playing?

Family phones show only Basic | All features and Light / dark, plus the print buttons in All features.

Day by day and Along the way used to be two tabs that showed much the same trip. Now there's one, Along the way. Pick a day at the top. It lists that day's stops in order, and the drive between two stops shows right between them, with how long it takes and the stories you'll hear on the way. A drive before your first stop or after your last ("back to" your hotel) shows too.

• Tap ▶ next to a story to hear it; tap ■ to stop it.
• Tap a story's name to read it, with what to look for, maps, a photo idea and How was it? stars.
• The numbers match the red pins on the day's map.

The line at the top says what the guide is doing (and has ⬇ Save for offline until you've saved). The narrator choice, music, Start today over and sharing with family are in 🔊 Guide settings at the bottom of the day.

Tap 📍 Off in the top bar and allow it when your phone asks. Your guide then speaks up about a mile before each spot on today's drive, while you're driving. It follows today's plan: stories from other days' drives don't play by themselves, even if you pass them (tap one to hear it). On a day with no planned drive, any story you pass plays. Nothing plays while you're parked, so it won't start talking at your hotel. GPS works even with no cell signal.

Rather not share your location? Leave it off and tap ▶ on a story as you pass each spot.

Not sure what the guide is doing? See Is the guide listening? Why is nothing playing?

Look at the line at the top of Along the way. The wide button under the top controls says the same thing in short. It tells you what the guide is doing right now:

• 🟢 Listening and ready: all set. It names the next story on today's drive and how far away it is, and plays it by itself about a mile before you get there. Miles from the next story? Nothing plays until you're close, and nothing plays while you're stopped.
• ▶ Playing: a story is playing. Tap ■ on the story, or ■ Stop this story under the line, to end it. Show it takes you to the story. The guide keeps listening for the next one.
• ⏸ Paused: all sound is off, story and music. Stories you pass wait in the Stories you missed list; tap one to hear it. Tap ▶ Resume and the guide starts listening again. Nothing picks up where it stopped: the next story plays when you reach its spot.
• 📍 Location off: nothing plays by itself. Tap any story to hear it, or turn 📍 Location on.
• 🔇 Guide is off: the voice is off. Tap 🗣 Guide to turn it back on; it stays quiet until the next story spot. Tapping ▶ on a story turns it on and plays that story.
• 📡 Finding you: your phone is still getting a GPS fix. Keep the page open on screen.

Phone call coming in? Tap ⏸ Pause in the top bar. Everything goes quiet at once, and stays paused for the rest of the day until you tap ▶ Resume, even if the guide closes and reopens.

Stories start in only two ways: by themselves when you reach a story spot, or when you tap one. To hear any story at any time, tap ▶ next to it, or its numbered red pin on the day's map. Tapping a story's name only opens its text to read; it doesn't start talking.

On a long stretch with no story spots, your guide keeps you company with rolling narration: short pieces of little-known history and local know-how that need no stop, like how the Hawaiian alphabet works, using words you'll see on the signs that day. They also point out museums, gardens and tours you pass, and say plainly which are free and which are paid, with rough prices.

• They're marked 🎧 under the drive they belong to, in the order you'll hear them. The numbered stories are the stops with pins on the map.
• With 📍 Location on, each one plays by itself when you reach its stretch of road, and only on the way it belongs to: the pieces for the drive out don't play on the drive home.
• Tap ▶ to hear one any time, or its name to read it.

This happens when you lose signal near a stop, often at the end of an out-and-back road, so the guide never sees you get there. Three ways past it:

• Just keep driving. Once you're clearly heading away (about a mile and a quarter), the guide notices you turned back, puts that stop in You passed these and starts the drive-home stories. It remembers how close you got even if you restart the guide.
• Tap ⏭ Skip it under the guide's status line (“Already past …, or not going?”). The guide moves on to the next stop.
• Tap 🏠 Home in the guide's top bar, then ⏭ We're heading home now. It skips what's left of today's drive and plays the drive home. The same button gives you 🧭 Directions home to wherever you're staying tonight, which is also at the top of Bookings.

Nothing is lost: tap any stop in You passed these to hear it later. Tip: save the area for offline in Apple Maps or Google Maps too, so directions home keep working with no signal.

Yes. Open that day in Along the way. Under the day's title is ⏭ Skip this whole trip (“Not doing … today?”). One tap, and:

• None of that trip's stories play by themselves, even if you drive past their spots, and the guide's status line moves past them.
• The day shows as Skipped. Nothing is put in You passed these, since you chose not to go, but you can still tap ▶ on any story to hear it.
• Changed your mind? Tap ↩ Undo, we're going and the trip is back.

You can skip a trip on a later day ahead of time, too: open that day and tap the same button. It takes effect when the day comes. Each phone keeps its own choice, so tap it on the phone that's playing the guide. To skip just one stop, use ⏭ Skip it under the status line (see the guide keeps pointing back to a stop).

Each day in Along the way has its own map (Basic and All features). The numbered red pins are that day's stops, in order, with the same numbers as the list. ▶ pins are stories you can tap to hear, drive and walk times sit next to each leg, and with 📍 Location on your blue dot shows where you are. Walkable places, like a downtown or a campus, get close-up maps with streets and buildings.

In All features, the Trip map tab shows every drive of the trip at once. Tap a drive to open its day.

The Google Maps and Directions links open your maps app at the right place. See Can I use Google Maps or Apple Maps for directions at the same time?

Yes, in large, easy-to-read type, one day per page. Tap All features, then Print this day or Print all days at the top of your guide.

During the trip, both tabs open on what you need now, so you don't scroll past days you've already done:

• Bookings: first 🔑 Still going (bookings that started earlier and are still running, like where you're staying tonight and the rental car), then today (marked Today), then the days ahead.
• Weather: today's row is at the top and highlighted, then the days ahead.

Nothing is gone. Days that are over are folded into ⏪ Earlier days at the bottom of each tab; tap it to see them. Before the trip and after it, both tabs read in trip order as before.

Send them to us and we put them on the booking they belong to, for example the door code and the pool & gym code on your condo. On the phones of the people on the trip, they show in a gold 🔒 Codes box at the top of that booking, in Bookings and on the day, and they still show with no signal.

Codes are never in the guide's public page, so family following along, and anyone else who opens the link, never get them. Only phones you've unlocked do.

Open the Trip album tab and tap 📷 Photo or video, or 🖼 Upload from phone for pictures and videos you took with the regular camera. The first time, type your first name and the trip code (from your “Your private trip keys” message). After that, your photos go into one album for the whole group, labeled with your name. There's no Post button: they upload by themselves whenever you have a signal.

Uploaded photos land on the day and at the stop where you took them. To fix one, open Change day or place under the photo and pick a stop, or choose ✏️ Other place at the bottom of the list and type it, for example “Seattle layover”.

A photo that says ⏳ not uploaded yet is waiting for a signal or for the trip code. Check the line under the Trip album buttons: if it says Turn on group sharing, tap it.

Videos work the same way, up to 1 minute each. See Can I add videos to the Trip album? To see any photo full size, just tap it.

Yes, up to 1 minute each. In the Trip album tab, tap 📷 Photo or video: on an iPhone, choose Take Photo or Video; on an Android phone, choose 🎥 Video (or 📷 Photo) and the camera opens. Or tap 🖼 Upload from phone to pick one you already took.

• Sending: a video goes up in small pieces. Its tile says ⏳ sending video and how far along it is. Keep your guide open and it carries on by itself, even after a weak signal or a restart.
• A video shows ▶ and its length on its tile. Tap it to play it full screen.
• Family see a video once someone on the trip marks it ♥, just like photos.
• Saving or sending one: tap Share / Save once to fetch it (“Getting the video…”), then tap 📤 Ready to share or save it. Share all and ☑️ Select are for photos, so save each video with its own button.

Longer than a minute? Trim it, then add it again:

A video shared from an iPhone may not play on some older Android phones or Windows computers; they still see its picture and comments. To film in a format that plays everywhere, go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose Most Compatible. Those videos are bigger, so they take longer to send.

If your guide says videos aren't turned on yet, tell us and we'll switch them on.

Tap it in the Trip album. It fills the screen, with who took it, where, when, and its caption.

• Next or back: swipe left or right, or tap › and ‹.
• Zoom in: double-tap the photo, or pinch it. Double-tap again to zoom back out.
• Videos play with your phone's usual controls.
• Close: tap ✕, or use your phone's Back button.

In ☑️ Select mode, a tap picks the photo instead. Family get the same full-size view in their Trip album.

Anyone traveling on the trip can tap ♡ on any photo or video to make it a favorite. Favorites are shared: everyone on the trip sees the same ♥. Tap again to remove it.

Each time you open your guide, the Trip album starts on today's favorites. No favorites yet today? It shows today's photos. Use All photos, ♥ Favorites and the day buttons to see the rest. The newest photos are always at the top.

Family see only your favorites. A photo or video shows up for them when someone on the trip marks it ♥, and disappears if you take the ♥ away. They can't change favorites.

• One photo: tap Share / Save under it to put it in your camera roll or send it.
• Several: tap ☑️ Select, tap the photos you want (they get a check mark), then Share / Save in the bar at the bottom. Select all shown picks everything on screen.
• Everything: tap Share all. On a computer, the photos download as one .zip file.
• Videos: save each one with its own Share / Save button. See Can I add videos to the Trip album?

Save the whole album before you fly home, so you have every photo even after the trip.

In their Follow Us! link, family open Trip album to comment on a photo or video, or Guestbook to leave a note for you both.

In your guide, the 💬 button in the top bar (Basic and All features) shows what's new, for example 📷2 📖1: two photo comments and one guestbook note. Tap it to see the latest messages, newest first, and tap any one to jump right to it.

Reply under any photo in the Trip album, or in the Guestbook tab. The Guestbook tab is in All features; from Basic, tap 💬 and then 📖 Guestbook. Each tab shows its own count too.

Tap All features, open the Guestbook tab and look under 👪 Family & friends. Tap any name there, or the name on a note or photo comment. A card shows:

• their email, if you invited them by email
• who invited them, and when
• the kind of phone or computer they follow on
• when they first and last looked

If two people share a name, the card says so and shows the other person's email. Someone who opened the general Follow Us! link has no email on file; tap Invite … by email on their card to send them their own link.

Invite them from your guide (easiest): tap All features at the top, open the Guestbook tab, find 👪 Family & friends, type their first name and email, and tap ✉️ Send invite. Their link already knows their name and email, so there's nothing to type: it signs them in by itself. They show as Waiting until they open it, then move to Following. You can Resend or cancel (✕) an invite.

Or share the link yourself: forward the Follow Us! invitation we send you (it's safe to forward), or open 🔊 Guide settings at the bottom of Along the way and tap Send the Follow Us! link to text it. The first time, they type their first name. There's no account, password or app.

Family get these tabs:

• Where are they? Your spot on the map, updated about once a minute while you're sharing
• Trip album: the photos and videos you mark ♥, newest first, and they can comment on any of them
• Guestbook: notes to you both, and your replies
• Along the way: your plan, day by day, with the stories (never your bookings or costs)

In All features, they also get the Trip map, Weather, Open days and Know before you go.

Please ask them not to post the link publicly, for example on Facebook.

Yes. On a phone you unlocked with your unlock link, tap 👀 See what family & friends see. You'll find it in three places, and each one opens that part of their view:

• the 👪 Follow box: where they see you on the map
• the Trip album tab: the photos they see (only the ones you've marked ♥)
• the Guestbook tab (All features): their notes and your replies

A bar across the top tells you it's a preview. Nothing you do there is posted, and you don't show up as a follower. Tap Back to my guide to go back to the tab you came from.

Tap 👪 Follow in the top bar at any time. It always shows what family can see:

Sharing also stops by itself the day after your trip ends.

That's normal. The travelers may have paused sharing, turned 📍 Location off, closed the guide, or be out of cell signal. It also shows if their phone hasn't sent an update for 12 hours. Check back later.

Your guide's map covers just your trip's area. When you share from somewhere else, like an airport on the way or a layover, the map can't show you, so family see a message and a 📍 See where they are in Google Maps button instead. Once you arrive, the map and your blue dot come back.

Only your latest spot and today's route. Nothing older is kept, and nothing is shared unless both 📍 Location and 👪 Follow are on.

The Weather tab (All features) shows the forecast for where you'll be each day: the sky, high and low, chance of rain, wind, UV, sunrise and sunset. It comes from Open-Meteo, a free weather service, and updates by itself whenever you open your guide with a signal. During the trip, today's row is at the top and highlighted.

Days too far ahead for a forecast show the usual weather for that time of year until the forecast arrives. With no signal, you see the last forecast your phone saved. Where it matters, like mountain tops or flash-flood areas, the tab links the official weather pages too.

An open day is one with nothing booked. Your guide fills each one with ideas you might enjoy, shown as dashed options: nice to have, never a commitment. The Open days tab (All features) lists them with the best time to go, what each one needs, and booking buttons for the ones that take a booking. Pick one, or none at all.

Every day in Along the way starts with a Know before you go card (Basic and All features): when to set off, what to bring, money and tickets, calls to make, what to watch out for, and the day's photo ops.

The Know before you go tab (All features) holds the tips for the whole trip, plus how-tos like saving maps for offline. Some guides add tabs of their own in All features, like Playgrounds or Rainy days.

Split costs and Costs are now one tab, called Costs (in All features), so everything about money is in one place. It reads top to bottom:

1. 🤝 Split costs: your groups, who paid what, and 🤝 Settle up.
2. 💵 Trip budget: what's booked and paid, and what's still to price.
3. 🌺 Free or nearly free: the best things that cost little or nothing.

The buttons at the top of the tab jump straight to each part. Nothing moved or was lost: your groups, expenses and receipts are just where they were, and old links and invite links still open Split costs.

People you invite to a group see the same tab. Family following along never see Costs or Split costs.

Split costs keeps track of who paid for what on the trip, so you can square up at the end with as few payments as possible. Tap All features and open the Costs tab on a phone you unlocked with your unlock link: Split costs is the first part, above the trip budget.

1. Tap ＋ New group. Give it a name, pick the currency to total in, and add the people. Everyone splits evenly unless you change the default split (for example, 100% for someone who is covering everything).
2. Tap ＋ Expense each time someone pays: what for and the Total Amount. Under Equally you see each person's share (two people at $200: $100 each) and a paid box next to each name, filled in with that share. Type what each person really paid: if one paid $150 and the other $50, the running tally shows the second one owes the first $50. If one person paid it all, just pick them in Paid by. Tap Amounts, Percent or Shares to split this one differently.
3. Tap 💸 Payment when someone pays someone back.

Receipts: add a photo or PDF to any expense. Other currencies: pick the currency and the exchange rate fills in by itself; you can change it. No signal: what you add waits on the phone and sends itself later.

Only you, and people you invite to a group, can see Split costs. Family following along never do.

Open a group and tap 🤝 Settle up at any time. It gathers the latest from every phone and recalculates. Everyone starts at $0, and the tally shows each person's:

• Paid: what they've paid so far
• Share: what their part comes to, and its percent
• Balance: + means they get money back, − means they owe

So with an even split, if only one person has paid, the other shows what they still owe. Under the tally are the fewest payments that square everyone. Tap one when it's paid to record it.

Want it all on paper? Tap ⬇ Download as a spreadsheet (CSV) at the bottom of the group. It lists every expense, each person's share and the full tally.

Yes, anyone you're sharing costs with, such as friends you rent a house with. Open the group and tap ✎ Group & invite.

1. Add them under People and tap Save.
2. Open ✎ Group & invite again and tap Send the invite link (or Copy link).

Their guide shows the Costs tab even in the Basic view, and their link opens that group only: not your other groups, not your location and not your private details. Never send them your own unlock link. To stop a link from working, tap Make a new link.

Anything with a cost can be marked, and each person marks only their own share. This is for the trip's owners only: family following along never see it.

• In Split costs: add or open an expense. Under 💼 Business expense, tick each person whose share was for work, and add the business purpose. The activity list then shows 💼 business.
• In the Trip budget: tap 💼 at the end of any line, already paid or still to price. Tick whose share was for work. Each share starts as an even split of the whole amount; change it if one of you paid more. For a line with no price yet, type the amount.

Everything marked goes into 💼 Business expenses in Costs (there's a 💼 Business button at the top of the tab). It shows each person's business total, by category and by day. Tap ⬇ Spreadsheet (CSV) for a file that opens in Excel, or 🖨 Large-print report to print it or save it as a PDF. Amounts in other currencies are shown in US dollars at today's rate.

Business names (optional): when you tick a person, a box opens for the name of their business, so a report can be split by business. The guide remembers each person's last business name for next time.

When a business pays, not a traveler: in Split costs, tick 🏢 The whole cost is a business's and type its name. Then nobody owes anybody for that expense. In the Trip budget, tick 🏢 Charged to a business; its part starts as whatever the people's shares leave of the whole amount, or the whole amount if nobody else is ticked. In the report, the business shows as its own column, marked 🏢, and there's a By business table.

No signal? A Trip budget mark waits on your phone and sends itself when you're back online.

Tap All features and open the Groceries tab on a phone you unlocked with your unlock link. Everyone traveling with an unlocked phone shares the same list, and it stays in step on each phone, even without a signal.

• Add: type an item and tap Enter or ＋. Each item is for 1 unless you change it, and it's sorted by aisle (Fruit & veg, Dairy & eggs, and so on). The Again: buttons add things you've bought before in one tap.
• Change: tap ✎ to change the name, how many, the price, the aisle or a note.
• Delete: tap 🗑. Wrong one? Tap Undo at the bottom of the screen within a few seconds.

The top of the tab shows how many things are still to buy and how many are already in the cart. Tap either one to open the shopping checklist.

1. In the Groceries tab, tap 🛒 Go shopping. A big checklist opens.
2. Tap the box next to each item as it goes in the cart. A check mark shows, and it moves to ✅ In the cart. Add the price if you like; the prices add up as you go.
3. At the register, tap ✅ Check out. Type the Total paid, pick who Paid by and who to split it between, and add a receipt photo if you like.

With Add to Split costs checked, the shop goes straight into Split costs, so nobody has to type it twice. See How does Split costs work?

It's optional, and handy when someone else is shopping and you want the right brand. Tap an item's name, in the list or in the shopping checklist.

• 📷 Add a photo of the item or its shelf tag. Everyone sharing the list sees it.
• 🔍 Scan the barcode: allow the camera, then hold the striped barcode inside the box. It reads it by itself and looks up the product in a free product database.
• Camera won't open? Tap Type the barcode number instead.

Not every product is in the database, especially local ones. The barcode is saved either way, and a photo helps.

Give anything in your guide 1 to 5 stars: stops, bookings, restaurants, open-day ideas, free things and the stories along each drive. Look for How was it? under each one.

1. Tap a star to rate it: 1 is “not for us”, 5 is “loved it”. Tap the same star again to take it back.
2. Tap ＋ Note to say what made it great, or not, like “ask for a window table”.

The first time, the guide asks for your first name so everyone knows whose stars are whose. Each person on the trip rates on their own phone, and you see each other's stars and the average.

In the Basic view, the stars show up on a stop once you tick it Done, or after that day has gone by. In All features, the ⭐ Ratings tab lists everything you've rated, best first, plus a How was it? list of stops you ticked Done and bookings from days that have passed. Tap ⬇ Download all ratings (CSV) to keep them. No signal? Your stars wait on the phone and send themselves later.

Only the people on the trip can see the ratings. Family following along never do.

Tap All features, then the 📓 Journal tab (or 📓 in the top bar), and tap Start my journal. It's on phones unlocked with your unlock link, and stays tucked away in the Basic view. Write what happened, tap a prompt like “Best moment today?”, record a 🎙 voice memo or add 📷 photos. Each entry is stamped with the day, that day's plan and where you are.

• Only you can read it. Each person on the trip has their own journal, locked with a key that lives on their phone. What's saved online is scrambled: not your travel partner, not family, and not us can read it.
• Save your recovery link when it asks (email it to yourself). It's the only way back in if your phone is lost, and it opens your journal on another phone or in the Home Screen app.
• No signal? Write anyway. It saves on your phone and sends itself later.
• Keep it: ⬇ Download my journal saves one file with every entry, photo and memo, to keep or print.

Sharing is always your choice: Share… on an entry sends just that one, the way you pick.

Start at plan.makemyguide.com. The short form takes about 5 minutes; the full one, 20 to 30 minutes, gives the most personal guide. You can save and come back. Please send it at least three weeks before you leave.

Yes, as often as you like while you're still deciding. Once you tell us you're ready for us to build your guide, later changes may cost extra. We'll always tell you the cost first.

Tell us, and we'll make it right. Just reply to any email or text from Make My Guide.