42. FAQ and troubleshooting#
Most of what looks inexplicable in Etappe at first has a plain cause: a missing date, an active filter, a permission iOS hasn’t granted yet. This chapter collects the most common cases with cause and way out; the details are in the chapter linked in each case.
42.1 An entry doesn’t show up on the map#
Go through three points in turn:
- Coordinates are missing. Only what has coordinates makes it onto the map — a place name alone isn’t enough. Add them in the entry, in the journal for example via Choose on map.
- The type filter is active. If the filter symbol at the top right is filled in, the map isn’t showing all five types right now. A tap on the type in the filter popover switches it back on.
- The day filter is running. With the day filter active, entries without a date are always hidden. Switch it off or add a date.
If a journey line is missing, usually the start or the destination has no coordinates — both must be set (Map).
42.2 The alert won’t go away#
Alerts have no state of their own: they are recalculated every time you open them, can’t be swiped away and need no “refresh”. They only disappear once the cause is fixed. Two stumbling blocks:
- The checkmark next to Apply for ETA or Apply for visa in the checklist doesn’t clear anything. What it takes is the document on the person, with Valid until or the checkmark Permanently valid; if both are missing, the validity counts as unknown and the alert stays critical.
- If a deadline should stop concerning you for good, archive the person, pet or vehicle — archived records no longer trigger anything.
Incidentally, the badge on the tab counts both levels together, not only the critical ones (Alerts, Entry checklist).
42.3 GPX import is rejected#
| Message | Cause and way out |
|---|---|
| “…” is … MB — the maximum allowed is 25 MB. | The file exceeds the limit. Export the single tour from your tour portal instead of a collection. |
| “…” could not be read. | The file could not be accessed. Select it again, preferably from a local folder. |
| The file could not be read as GPX. | No usable content. Etappe reads track points, or route and waypoints as a fallback; a file with no points at all or in another format yields nothing. |
Remember that the file only ends up on the entry with Save (Outdoor activities).
42.4 Photo without date or location#
Etappe reads the capture date and GPS coordinates from the image itself. If it doesn’t carry them, today counts as the date and the location stays empty; the question Use location from photo? doesn’t appear at all then. Typical cases are screenshots, forwarded or downloaded images, and copies that another app has rewritten.
Important: when saving, Etappe shrinks every image, and this copy no longer carries the capture data with it. So there is no reading it out later from a photo that is already saved. Correct the date and time in the form and set the location via Choose on map (Journal).
42.5 Notifications don’t arrive#
| Cause | Way out |
|---|---|
| Permission denied | You are asked the first time you save a reminder or a vet appointment. After that, you change it in iOS Settings under Etappe. |
| Wrong time expected | Delivery is at 9:00 AM on the day “due date minus lead days”, not at the time of the due date. |
| Date already past | Nothing is delivered any more for past due dates; they appear as overdue in the alerts. |
| Reminder checked off | Completing it withdraws the scheduled notification. |
| Second device | The notification is only scheduled on the device on which you create or edit the entry. Open it there once for editing and save it. |
Everything here applies equally to reminders and to vet appointments with a lead time (Pets).
More on this in Reminders and All settings.
42.6 Purchase isn’t recognized#
The first step is always More → Etappe Full Version → Restore Purchases. The response tells you what the problem is: “No previous purchase found.” means nothing was bought with this Apple ID — check the account signed in to the App Store. “Restore canceled or not possible.” means a canceled sign-in or no network; just try again.
Further cases: if the button only says Buy instead of a price, the price information couldn’t be loaded. If a payment was triggered but not confirmed, Etappe deliberately doesn’t unlock — restore later, nothing is charged twice. With “Ask to Buy” in Family Sharing, the purchase waits for approval and unlocks by itself afterwards. If the purchase view opens when you create or edit something, the trial has simply expired (Trial and full version).
42.7 Two devices show different data#
If only a single trip is missing, check the filter chips and the archive of the trip list first. If more is missing, work through these in order:
- Same Apple ID signed in on both devices?
- iCloud switched on and storage space still free?
- Network connection available, no airplane mode?
- Leave Etappe open in the foreground on both devices for a few minutes.
- Quit Etappe completely and restart it — the iCloud connection is established at launch.
- If that doesn’t help, restart the device.
Some things Etappe deliberately doesn’t sync: appearance, route planner, name format, the perspective of the country data, PIN, scheduled notifications and the start of the trial stay on the device. Home country, home location and base currency, on the other hand, travel via the iCloud key-value store — and need iCloud for that as well. As a last resort there is export and import — though the import replaces the complete data on the target device (iCloud sync, Backup).
42.8 A trip has disappeared from the list#
Usually it is in the archive. Archiving is done via the context menu of the trip card (press and hold) — and automatically when you reduce it to key data under Storage & files. It becomes visible via the filter chip Archive above the trip list; Restore from archive brings it back (Finding your way around, Storage and files).
42.9 Journey recording won’t start#
Three reasons are possible. If location permission is missing, Etappe reports Location permission missing and offers Open Settings. If another recording is already running, “A recording is already running for another journey.” appears — only one can run at a time. And in the Today screen the red record button is grayed out if a route has already been recorded for this journey (Recording a journey, Today).
42.10 An old entry shows euros although my base is CHF#
That is intended. Changing the base currency only affects the display and new entries — saved amounts stay in the currency you entered them in, together with the rate frozen at the time. An entry from before the base currency is a euro entry: in the list and in the detail it appears as euros, followed by “≈ …” in francs; in the form its cost field shows “€” as the unit and below it “Amount in EUR (as saved) — the base currency applies to new entries.” If it should be kept in francs from now on, enter the franc amount in a new entry and delete the old one. New entries ask in the base currency by themselves (Accommodations, section 15.3, Budget).
42.11 Rates won’t load#
| Cause | Way out |
|---|---|
| No network | The row says “No connection — the rates could not be loaded.” Etappe never loads rates by itself; once you have a connection, tap Refresh Rates in the menu of the country list again, or Refresh next to the rate row in the budget or in the settings. |
| The purchase notice appears instead of the rates | Fetching rates writes to the countries and therefore needs write access — after the trial, that means the full version (Trial and full version). |
| It says “No rates loaded yet” | No fetch has ever been triggered — the first one happens after the country import in the Getting started assistant or when you tap. |
| A country keeps its old rate | Its currency is outside the ECB list (MKD, for example); you keep maintaining such rates by hand (Countries, section 6.8). |
| Totals appear in euros instead of my base | No rate is known for the base — the note “No rate for … — amounts in EUR” appears in the budget and in the settings. Refresh the rates or, for a currency outside the ECB list, enter the rate on a country with that currency. |
The loaded rate table travels via iCloud to your other devices; you don’t need to reload anything there (iCloud sync).