what3words: Navigation & Maps

• what3words Pro — $4.69
• what3words Pro — $39.99

Last verified 30 Aug 2026

• Free to download
• In-app purchases: $4.69 - $39.99 per item

Last verified 28 Aug 2026

4.8 43918 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5I could have…but didn’t know about it.

   I have just downloaded this app. But I’m writing too say, I need this just 2 weeks ago. I had been visiting a friend who lived in mountains of Northern New Mexico. Only 30-40 minutes from the state’s largest city. But it’s off the grid. I ran into engine trouble on my return home. This stranded me in 18°F weather I was not prepared for. Along a busy road used primarily by long haul truckers moving very fast. I was stalled on the white line of the shoulder. And very much afraid. I had no heat that working and used my battery up with warning lights. My road side assistance could not locate me. I couldn’t reach anyone I knew it was just after 11:00pm. I froze and was afraid till I was rescued by a towing company owner who was almost 2 hours away. Who cared to do whatever it would take to find and help someone didn’t know. I was traumatized by this event. I was also blessed that he cared. If I had installed this app it would have been easier to be found and it would not have taken 11 hours. Cold and afraid with nothing to eat or drink. I have this app now and I to never use it. But I feel better prepared should I need to. Thank you for helping ease the burden of my experience. It’s nicest thing next to being rescued that anyone could do for me. I recommend this app for everyone!

   jacobo de la serna · 30 Aug 2026

2. 4/5Phone app is great, watch app could be too

   The phone app is awesome. So useful for many things like food delivery to apartment complexes, meeting friends when no address is available, boat and hiking navigation, locating a parked car and so much more. The Apple Watch app could be amazing with a few tweaks. Currently it’s possible to save a location using the watch but there is no way to view the saved location list. Relying solely on voice search can be cumbersome as so many words sound similar and background noise can be a problem. It would be so useful to have a “saved list” on the watch to pick from. Folders would help with organizing locations. Going out for a hike, urban exploration or jet ski ride with a list of locations, added to favorites in advance on a phone or tablet would be great. The compass navigation would be so handy on the watch. Especially without a phone. A few tweaks on “compass mode” would make a big difference. The heading could be more bold and pronounced to make it easier to see at a glance. Also the distance needs to be bigger and bolder so it’s easy to see at a glance. Currently it shows the destination in bold print in the center of the compass. That isn’t very useful while actively navigating. I would rather have to tap or long press to confirm or change the destination. Overall this is a very useful app. I hope they make a few changes to the watch app and make it as awesome as the phone app.

   Verticaltakeoff · 30 Aug 2026

3. 3/5Great product poor marketing

   What3words is a great product, super helpful in many situations but, this will not save your life in the wrong situation. If you are in the middle of the Moab dessert or some other remote location that doesn’t have data services then it’s useless. The marketing claims it will safe your life, but only in the right conditions. Do you have data or voice service, great, you can tell someone, but if you have mobile and data service, then your Google maps works, and you walking directions work and you 911 works. This app is great for non-emergency situations to a point. I think it’s greatest potential is for deliveries, I want my DoorDash delivered to me on the beach where there is no address. That would be great. But stuck somewhere with no data or voice, this app is useless… in these instances, Spot or some other pocket sat com system is the only real option.

   0011010000110010 · 30 Aug 2026

4. 2/5Great potential, but.......

   This app has great potential to get to a much more accurate location than normal GPS, but it has a couple of shortcomings that need to be addressed. First, if you decide to save more than a few locations you will have a hard time finding the one you want since there isn’t any way to sort them. They are just listed in the order you saved them. Until app makers like Apple add 3words to their contact app this is a problem. 3words could at least list them in alphabetical order using the name you set for the location. Second, the voice recognition is useless. I set 3 words to US English and it never locates the correct address. It always finds addresses that aren’t even in the US and the street numbers and names aren’t even close to what I am saying. One other small thing is when I copy an address from Contacts that includes an apartment number or suite number, 3words isn’t smart enough to parse out the apt or suite info so it can’t find the address. I have to edit it out myself manually. Since voice recognition doesn’t work, the app is kind of useless if you are in a hurry. It will also be much more useful if Apple and others add support to recognize the /// as a link so you don’t have to copy and paste the location.

   Baseballbum · 30 Aug 2026

5. 1/5Glad to see it die

   Essentially a man-in-the-middle exploit marketed as an app by taking freely available and globally understood location data and turning it into 3Words that you must use their database to decode back into geographic location. No wonder that since it’s launch in 2015 it has been spending about £50 for every £1 they make. Who is bankrolling their losses of £230 million? People who know location data is valuable and hoped users wouldn’t see that What3Words is worthless without relying on accurate map data (whether Google Maps, Apple Maps, Open Street Maps, HERE, etc) and device location (usually assisted GNSS). Either way, it relies on first identifying a location based on geographic coordinates or place name/address. If you have that, you can share that with ANYBODY, not just other What3Words users. I just realized that there might be a market for this method if you want to deliberately obfuscate your location. Otherwise just an attempt to grab money from people who don’t understand how it works.

   Aviris · 30 Aug 2026

3.4 46685 ratings · Google Play

1. 3/5

   Lack of information

   Andy Turner · 28 Aug 2026

2. 1/5

   Should be really useful, but far too many dodgy spam ads trying to download other apps to your phone

   Dave Howes · 28 Aug 2026

3. 2/5

   What a waste of time! The app sounded great but upon opening it to use you are immediately facing a pay wall just to use the search facility!?

   Sai Han Bang · 28 Aug 2026

4. 1/5

   Co za bubel. Kiedyś to była świetna aplikacja, a teraz wyskakuje wielki baner zajmujący 25% ekranu, wciskający subskrypcję prosto w twarz i bezczelnie żądający zapłaty. Wydawało mi się, że ta aplikacja ma pomagać ludziom w nagłych wypadkach. Co za bubel. Kiedyś to była świetna aplikacja, a teraz wyskakuje wielki baner zajmujący 25% ekranu, wciskający subskrypcję prosto w twarz i bezczelnie żądający zapłaty. Wydawało mi się, że ta aplikacja ma po zie wyskakujące okienka i myląca, niewygodna

   |Jozef Saganowski · 28 Aug 2026

5. 5/5

   good great I brillanly

   Miss Mary Pearson · 28 Aug 2026

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