Name: Lodestar
Author: Lodestar

Lodestar turns your watch into a compass that points to your friend.

Out on a trail, up a mountain, across a festival or a crowded city — the moment you lose sight of each other, Lodestar puts an arrow on your wrist pointing straight at your friend, with the live distance in the middle ("340 m, that way"). Follow the arrow until you meet.

It takes two. Lodestar points to another person who is also running Lodestar, so you and your friend each install the app and both join the same private room. On your own there's nobody to point to.

Everything is set up on the watch — no phone typing needed. There are three screens, and you move between them by paging up and down (swipe, or the up/down buttons):

• Join — create your shared room. Enter an 8-digit room number, then a 4-digit code: use up/down to pick a digit, START to add it, BACK to delete. You and your friend enter the same room number and code. The room number is who you are; the 4-digit code is the password that keeps strangers out — pick something only the two of you know.

• Members — see everyone in your room. Press START to begin scrolling the list with up/down, then START again to choose the person you want to follow. (One friend at a time, for now.)

• Compass — the main screen: a big arrow to the friend you chose and the live distance. • While you're moving, the arrow points relative to the way you're facing — straight up means "dead ahead," so just walk toward the top of the screen. • When you stand still it switches to a north-up compass (red N at the top). • If your friend's signal drops out, the arrow turns orange and shows their last known direction until they're back.

Your name: friends see you by your display name (it defaults to Rider). Change it in the Garmin Connect app → Lodestar → Settings.

Private by design: your location is shared only with people in your room, relayed live, and never stored — it lives in memory for the session and disappears when you stop. No accounts, no ads, no tracking, no location history. 

Full privacy policy: https://lodestar-backend.fly.dev/privacy