TrekFreely is officially a 501(c)(3)
After a long stretch of waiting, our determination letter came through. TrekFreely is officially a 501(c)(3) public charity!
Better yet, the recognition is retroactive to April 21, 2026, so if you've donated since then, your gift is tax deductible, as is anything you give from here on out. Check with your own tax preparer about what that means for your return, since everyone's situation is different.
This opens several doors for us like grant programs, nonprofit rates on the software we depend on, and partnerships that were waiting on the letter. All of it goes back into the same place: keeping the platform free.
Our full nonprofit details, including the determination letter itself, live on the transparency page and you can also find us on Candid.
SMS and Cell Locator are now live
Text messaging is finally approved and running. That unlocks SMS notifications for trips, and the one we're most excited about is the Cell Locator.
Here's the problem it solves: your emergency contact is watching your trip, your last position is a few hours old, and they want to know where you are right now. Until today, they had to wait.
Now they can tap a button on their dashboard and you get a text with a single link. You open it, your phone shares its position once, and the point appears on the map for you and everyone watching your trip.
The part worth understanding is that nothing happens without you. Your contact can ask, but only you can answer. There is no version of this (and never will be) where someone pulls your location without your express permission.
A few of the guardrails we built around it:
- Your phone number has to be verified by a one-time code and opted in to text messages before the tool works at all, and you can switch it off for any individual trip.
- The link is single use and expires after an hour. It only works while a trip is live.
- Contacts are capped at five requests an hour and twenty a day, with a ceiling on each trip so several contacts can't stack requests onto one phone.
- The page you land on is tiny and loads nothing from anywhere else. No analytics, no tracking. Your coordinates are cleared seven days after the trip closes.
It also has real limits. It's a companion to calling 911, never a substitute. And it does nothing when a phone is dead or out of service, or when its owner can't get to it. We'd rather say that plainly than let anyone plan around a tool that won't be there.
New status page
You can now see whether our services are healthy at any moment, plus the uptime record for the last week, month, or quarter.
This page allows us to be transparent to our users so they can see how reliable our services are and give us a goal to aim towards as well.
New on the blog
Radio in the Backcountry finally ran after the July delay. It covers what radio gets you when the cell network gives up, and what it takes to use it well.
You're the First Responder is about the gap between holding a certification and being ready to use it. Skills fade. The post makes the case for practicing between recertifications, and for being honest with yourself about what you'd actually remember under pressure.
Six questions and only a minute of your time
We built a short survey and we'd like to hear from you. Only six questions and it's the fastest way for us to learn what's working and what people actually want built next.
Beta testers wanted
The mobile app is getting close, and we're building the tester list now for both iOS and Android. If you're interested in being a beta tester when it opens, let us know through the contact form and we'll reach out.
A note from the founder
The 501(c)(3) letter sat at the top of my inbox for about ten minutes before I did anything else with my day. It's just a letter from a federal agency, but it means this thing is real in a way it wasn't the day before.
None of what we build changes because of it. The platform was always going to be free. What changes is how much we can build, and the future possibilities that open up to TrekFreely as an organization.
If TrekFreely has been useful to you, the most helpful thing is still the same. Mention it to the person you go out with, or the person who waits at home while you do.
Follow us on social media (@TrekFreely) and share our posts when you see them.
If you have something to share about what's here, what's missing, what works, or what doesn't, the contact form routes directly to me.
If you want to support the project, you can donate or visit our online shop. Everything we build stays free either way.
— Scott Taylor, TrekFreely