Tetracom — Where am I? Help

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The Talk tab has a Where am I? button that drops a pin on a map at your current location. Useful when you’re trying to figure out where you are (lost, new city, hiking turn-off) without leaving the Tetracom app.

Starting in v0.6.3, the button opens an in-app map instead of throwing you out to Google Maps. You can still hand off to Google Maps from the in-app view if you want satellite imagery, directions, or Street View — there’s a button for that on the map screen.

Newer builds (v0.6.10+) add a related convenience: when you’re looking at a location a contact shared with you, you can also drop your own position on that same map to see where you are relative to them — jump to it.

Using the button

Open Tetracom and tap the Talk tab.
Tap the Where am I? button.
The first time you tap it, Android asks you to grant precise (FINE) location permission. Tap While using the app. (If you’ve granted it before for another feature like Send my location, no prompt is shown.)
The map screen opens. After a moment, Tetracom drops a blue pin at your current position and zooms in. The status line above the map reads “Your current location”.

Tetracom asks the phone for a fresh, high-accuracy fix every time you tap the button — not a cached one. If you’ve recently moved, the pin will reflect the new spot, not the spot where you were a few minutes ago. Indoors and in cities, the fix may take a few seconds while GPS settles.

Switching to Google Maps

The in-app map is fine for “a pin on a street grid” but it doesn’t do satellite imagery, directions, traffic, or Street View. If you want any of that:

On the in-app map, tap the Open in Google Maps button.
Google Maps opens with a pin at the same coordinates Tetracom got from the phone.
Tap and drag, switch to Satellite, ask for directions — whatever you need.
Use the back gesture or the back arrow to return to Tetracom when you’re done.

If Google Maps isn’t installed on your phone, Tetracom falls back to whichever app Android picks for a geo: link — usually Maps, sometimes a third-party Maps app, sometimes a web browser pointed at https://www.google.com/maps. Either way you’ll see the same pin.

Seeing yourself on a contact’s map (v0.6.10)

The Where am I? button shows only you. There’s a second, separate map experience: when a contact shares a location with you, tapping that received location opens an in-app map with their pin, titled “Location: <their handle>”. Starting in v0.6.10, that contact’s-location map lets you also drop your own position alongside theirs, so you can see how far apart you are without leaving Tetracom.

Open the location a contact shared with you. The in-app map opens with their pin, titled “Location: <their handle>”.
In the map’s top header (the strip with the back arrow, the title, and the Open in Google Maps icon), tap the location-crosshair icon button. Its label reads “Show my position”.
The first time you turn it on, Tetracom fetches a fresh GPS fix for you. If you haven’t granted precise location permission yet, Android asks — tap While using the app.
Your position drops onto the same map as a second pin. The crosshair icon fills in and its label changes to “Hide my position”.
Tap the crosshair again at any time to hide your pin and leave only the contact’s.

Your own marker is labeled “You” and tinted blue, so it’s easy to tell apart from the contact’s pin (the default red/orange one). When both pins are showing, Tetracom automatically zooms and pans so both fit on screen at once. If you and your contact happen to be in nearly the same spot, it just centers there instead of over-zooming.

If you tap Deny on the permission prompt, Tetracom shows a brief message — “Location permission needed to show your position.” — and leaves the toggle off. The contact’s pin stays on the map as before. To grant the permission later: Settings → Apps → Tetracom → Permissions → Location → Precise (While using the app), then tap the crosshair again.

This crosshair toggle appears only on the contact’s-location map. The Where am I? own-location screen doesn’t have it, because it’s already showing just you.

What happens if you decline the permission

If you tap Deny on the location permission prompt, the map screen opens with the status line “Location permission needed” and no pin. The Open in Google Maps button is grayed out (no coordinates to pass through).

To grant the permission later: Settings → Apps → Tetracom → Permissions → Location → Precise (While using the app). Then re-tap Where am I? on the Talk tab.

What stays private

The pin is local to your phone. Tetracom does NOT send your location anywhere when you tap Where am I?. It’s a one-way query: phone → FusedLocationProvider → map view. No server call, no contact notified.
Sending your location to a contact is a separate feature (the Location button on the Contacts tab, or the Send my location dialog). See the main user help index for those flows.

Older versions

In Tetracom v0.6.2 and earlier, the Where am I? button fired an external geo: intent and threw you straight to Google Maps. If you’re running a pre-v0.6.3 build and want the in-app map, update to v0.6.3 via the install link on the Tetracom landing page (tetracom.me) or the in-app update prompt if your phone is configured for it.