The latest articles on DEV Community by Søren Beck Jensen (@sorenbeckjensen). https://dev.to/sorenbeckjensen https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4232031%2Fae774549-e1e3-4b9f-9f1d-5d8e9f85c055.jpg https://dev.to/sorenbeckjensen en Søren Beck Jensen Sat, 07 Nov 2026 11:55:15 +0000 https://dev.to/sorenbeckjensen/building-ping-hunt-a-gps-treasure-hunt-app-for-ios-1k97 https://dev.to/sorenbeckjensen/building-ping-hunt-a-gps-treasure-hunt-app-for-ios-1k97 <p>Looking for a treasure hunt near you? <strong>Ping Hunt</strong> turns an ordinary walk into a GPS scavenger hunt — you follow waypoints to real places and match what you see against the viewfinder.</p> <p>I have been building Ping Hunt as a small solo mobile project, and you can find it here:</p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.pinghunt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.pinghunt.com</a></strong></p> <p>It is available on both platforms:</p> <ul> <li>iOS: <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ping-hunt/id6761827387" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ping Hunt on the App Store</a> </li> <li>Android: <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pinghunt.app" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ping Hunt on Google Play</a> </li> </ul> <h3> How it works </h3> <ol> <li>Open the app and pick a hunt near you.</li> <li>Follow the GPS coordinates to each waypoint.</li> <li>Match the view in the camera viewfinder to unlock the next step.</li> </ol> <p>No setup, no library of pre-made caches to manage — you just open the app and play the hunt that is right in front of you.</p> <h3> Why I built it </h3> <p>Modern phones already know exactly where you are and what you are looking at. The hard part was never the GPS; it was turning "you are here" into something that feels like play. So Ping Hunt removes the busywork of classic geocaching — logging finds, maintaining a profile, managing dozens of tiny icons in a map — and keeps the part that is fun: walking somewhere because there is a small mystery waiting there.</p> <h3> Building in public </h3> <p>The app is still young and I ship it in public. Every release, including the rebrand from "Scavenger Hunt" to "Ping Hunt", the Google sign-in flow, hunt sharing, the reworked hunt details page and the Android launch, is written up on the site's <a href="https://www.pinghunt.com/building-in-public" rel="noopener noreferrer">building in public</a> page. If you are a mobile developer working on something similar, I would be glad to compare notes.</p> <p>If you try it and want to tell me what worked or what broke, you can reach me via the <a href="https://www.pinghunt.com/contact" rel="noopener noreferrer">contact page</a>.</p> <p>Happy hunting.</p> ios swift gamedev android