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My account

Adjust your account settings and learn about site functionality.

• 1. Account settings
  • 1.1. Access settings
  • 1.2. Validate account
  • 1.3. Edit username
  • 1.4. Change password
  • 1.5. Recover password or username
  • 1.6. Edit Home Location
  • 1.7. Authorization for GSAK or other geocaching tools
  • 1.8. Find member ID
  • 1.9. Language preferences
  • 1.10. Edit time zone, distance units, and date format
  • 1.11. User privacy settings
  • 1.12. Manage sharing with Geocaching API Authorized Developers
  • 1.13. Friends sharing on API
  • 1.14. Cookies
  • 1.15. Can't stay logged in
  • 1.16. Disable account
  • 1.17. Delete account
  • 1.18. Merge accounts
• 2. Email preferences and Message Center
  • 2.1. Add or change email address
  • 2.2. Subscribe to email newsletter
  • 2.3. Not receiving emails from Geocaching.com
  • 2.4. Message Center
• 3. Profile and Dashboard
  • 3.1. Access profile
  • 3.2. Update profile images
  • 3.3. Image gallery
  • 3.4. Geocaching statistics
  • 3.5. Souvenirs
  • 3.6. List of souvenirs
  • 3.7. Status types on profile pages
• 4. Geocaching friends
  • 4.1. Find another geocacher's profile
  • 4.2. Add a geocacher to friends list
  • 4.3. Friends' logs
  • 4.4. Accept or block friend requests

1. Account settings

1.1. Access settings

Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.

In your settings you can edit your:

• Profile information (photo, cover photo, username, location, about info, forum title, forum signature)
• Password
• Home location
• Email preferences (email address, newsletter settings, and Message Center settings)
• Authorizations (single sign on, app, and authorized developer (API) authorizations)
• Cookies consent
  
• Account (manage Premium membership, disable your account)
• Preferences (language, time zone, distance units, date format, dashboard settings, block friend requests, display search results on map)

1.2. Validate account

When you set up an account with Geocaching.com, you will receive a validation email. Select the link provided in that email to validate your account.

If you do not receive a validation email:

1. Check your spam folder for the validation email.
2. Request a new validation link. Once you get the validation email, just click the link and you'll be all set.
3. Email us with your username and email, and we will validate your account.

1.3. Edit username

You may update your geocaching username at any time, using the Geocaching website.

1. Log on to Geocaching.com.
2. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
3. Under Profile Information, edit the Username.
4. Scroll to bottom of page and select Save Changes.

Usernames must be between 2 and 20 characters. Geocaching.com supports the following characters for usernames, all other characters, including spaces, are invalid:

• a to z
• A to Z
• 0 to 9
• _ [underscore]
• ä ö ü ë ï ÿ æ œ ß á é í ó ú ý à è ì ò ù â ê î ô û ç ñ å ů č ě ň ř š ž ť ø ď

Usernames must comply with the Terms of Use. Occasionally a username is unsuitable for a variety of reasons. Should this happen, we will ask you to choose a new username. We also reserve the right to change usernames ourselves when necessary.

Changing a username does not remove any account history, including previously found geocaches.

1.4. Change password

1. Visit Geocaching.com. 
2. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
3. Select Change Password.
4. Enter the current password.
5. Enter the new password, then enter it again to confirm.
6. Select Save Changes.

Passwords must be between 5 and 128 characters. Geocaching.com supports passwords with spaces, symbols, and special characters.

If you forgot your password or username, follow these instructions.

1.5. Recover password or username

Recover your password

1. Visit Geocaching.com.
2. Sign out of your account.
3. Visit the Recover your Username or Password page.
4. Enter your username and select Continue.
5. Check your email inbox and spam folder for the password reset email.

If you do not receive a password reset email or do not have access to the account’s original email, contact us and we'll try to verify you as the account holder to grant access. Please provide your username and the original email address.

Tip: If you set up your account through Facebook, recover your password with the above method. An email will be sent to the address associated with your Facebook account that will include a link to create a new password.

Recover your username

1. Log out and visit the Recover your Username or Password page.
2. Enter your email address and select Continue.
3. Check your email inbox and spam folder for the email that shows your username.

1.6. Edit Home Location

1. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
2. Select Home Location.
3. Choose one of three options to set coordinates:
• Enter a street address.
• Enter coordinates.
• Drag the pin to a particular spot on the map.

Tip: Your Home Location doesn't have to be your residence. You can choose a location that is within 2 or 3 miles (3 or 4 km).

Setting a Home Location improves site functionality

• To find caches near you, select Use my home location from the search box drop-down.
• See events near you in the Event Widget on the dashboard.
• See “Best geocaches near you” and other featured searches on our geocache search page.
• To receive customized content for your area, sign up for our weekly email newsletter in your email preferences.
• When submitting a new geocache for publication you are required to set your Home Location.
• Filter for caches near your Home Location when you create Pocket Queries.

Your Home Location is private

Your home coordinates are private; other players and reviewers cannot see them. However, reviewers can see the distance from your home coordinates to your caches. This allows reviewers to ensure cache owners are within reasonable distance to their caches to maintain them.

Setting your home coordinates is not required for geocaching. You can choose to set them at any time.

Remove your Home Location

1. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
2. Select Home Location.
3. Set the coordinates to N 0° 00.0′ E 0° 00.0′.
4. Select Search to see the new location on the map and save it.

1.7. Authorization for GSAK or other geocaching tools

When you use applications developed by Authorized Developers like GSAK or Project-GC, you may be asked to give authorization or “authenticate” your account.

If you accidentally deny authorization for GSAK, please follow these steps:

1. Launch GSAK and select Geocaching.com access > Get another access token.
2. Log in with your geocaching account.

To revoke authorization for an API Authorized Developer application or website:

1. Go to your settings.
2. Select Authorizations.
3. Go to the app and select Revoke Access.

1.8. Find member ID

1. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
2. Select Account.
3. Your membership ID is listed near the top.

1.9. Language preferences

Thanks to community volunteer translators, most of Geocaching.com and the Geocaching® app is available in 22 languages. If the language is not translated into your language it will default to English. The Geocaching® app defaults to the language settings of your phone.

Available languages

1.10. Edit time zone, distance units, and date format

Account preferences such as time zone, distance units, and date format can all be edited to suit your geocaching experience.

1. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
2. Select Preferences.
   • Under Time Zone, select your preferred time zone.
   • Under Distance Units, select imperial or metric.
   • Under Date Format, select your preferred date format.
3. Select Save Changes.

1.11. User privacy settings

Visibility of your geocaching profile

As part of our ongoing commitment to give you more control of your privacy, you can control the visibility of parts of your profile in the account settings menu. These settings allow you to control who sees elements of your Geocaching.com profile, including your profile picture, photo gallery, and list of finds so they are viewable by the public, your friends only, or private to you only.

Last visited date

This is the date you last logged in to your account on Geocaching.com and does not reflect your activity on the Geocaching® mobile app. Changing this privacy setting restricts other geocachers from seeing this date, but it will always be visible when viewing your own profile.

Profile location

You can edit your profile location in the Profile Information tab, or hide it completely in User Privacy settings. Profile location is empty by default and is not based on your Home Location.

About

You can edit your About section in the Profile Information tab, or hide it completely in User Privacy settings. It is blank by default, and any text you add can be deleted at any time.

Geocaches found

You can limit the players that can access your list of found geocaches. While the caches will be hidden from your profile with this setting, logs are always publicly visible on the cache pages of each geocache you find.

Trackables

You can limit the players that can access your list of trackables logged and activated. While the trackables will be hidden from your profile with this setting, logs are always publicly visible on the pages of each trackable you move or discover.

Souvenirs

Control the visibility of your entire list of souvenirs. You can hide individual souvenirs from your list of souvenirs page.

Gallery

You can limit the players that can access your gallery of images you've added to geocache and trackable logs. While gallery images will be hidden from your profile with this setting, gallery images are always publicly visible in your logs and the galleries of geocaches and trackables.

Statistics

Statistics are a Premium member feature. You can limit the players that can access your geocaching Statistics, maps, and milestones, or manage individual Statistics settings from your profile.

Block friend requests from other geocachers

When this box is checked, the ability to Add as friend from your profile is disabled and you will stop receiving friend requests. You can respond to individual friend requests from your Pending Friend Requests.

Show my activity on my friends' Dashboards

When this box is checked, your geocache and trackable logs will appear on the Latest activity feed on your friends' Dashboards. Your friends will not be alerted if you disable this feature.

Public information on your geocaching profile

For historical purposes, geocachers have always been able to view information related to playing the game, such as geocache and trackable logs. We believe it would fundamentally change the game in a negative way if users could not see geocache logs from other users, as well as geocaching photos, and information about trackable items they have interacted with.

The information your geocaching profile still publicly shows includes:

• Your username
• Join date
• Lists you have set to "public"

Any information that you submit to Geocaching.com will be treated in accordance with the terms of our privacy policy.

Tips to protect your privacy

At this time, there is no way to block another geocacher from seeing the entirety of your public profile page or your geocaching activity on individual cache pages. But you can take steps to better protect your privacy:

• Do not post information you wish to keep private on your geocaching profile or geocaching logs.
• Choose a username that doesn’t clearly identify you.
• Hide your statistics from your public profile.
• Choose a home location that is not your real address.
• Set List status to private, so that only you can see your Lists.
• Log caches a couple of days after you find them and backdate your logs.

If someone is harassing you or you feel unsafe, contact your local authorities.

1.12. Manage sharing with Geocaching API Authorized Developers

Geocaching HQ has long held the belief that although we’d like to, we can’t be all things to all geocachers. For this reason, several years ago, we created an API (application programming interface) for approved developers who are interested creating geocaching related websites and applications (“Authorized Developers”) to benefit the global geocaching community.

Through the API, Authorized Developers are able to display geocache and trackable data as well as Geocaching.com users’ public profile information to other Geocaching.com registered users.

To stop sharing your public profile and other information from Geoaching.com with our Authorized Developers and users of our Authorized Developers’ websites and applications, opt out in the Authorizations tab of your Settings. Please note that as a geocache owner, even if you opt out, your cache description (including photos) will continue to be available in Authorized Developer applications. If you wish to stop sharing, you must delete any personal information from your cache description.

If you download or use an Authorized Developer’s application or website, you will be asked to give your permission to allow us to share certain non-public information such as your location data with the Authorized Developer. If you decline, you will be unable to use the Authorized Developer’s application or website.

Also, if you have opted-out of sharing your public profile information in your Geocaching.com Account Settings, you may notice that the Authorized Developer’s application or website has limited functionality.

1.13. Friends sharing on API

To share your Geocaching.com friends list with Geocaching API Authorized Developers, opt in to friends sharing. This allows Authorized Developer Applications that include friend features to share your geocaching activity in real time with people on your friends list. This includes:

• Your geocache logs
• Your trackable logs
• Your gallery images

Information provided for friends' activity may vary from application to application. You will only see the activity of your friends who have also opted-in to friends sharing. Note: Your logs and your friends' logs will always be visible on individual cache pages regardless of whether you have opted-in to friends sharing.

1.14. Cookies

A cookie is a small text file that is downloaded onto your computer when you use our services. We use cookies and other similar data collection technologies on our websites. We refer to all of these technologies as cookies. Below are links to cookies on our main websites and information about your choices. We will update these lists from time to time. You can learn more about how we use cookies in our Privacy Policy.

• Geocaching.com cookies declaration
• Waymarking.com cookies declaration
• Wherigo.com cookies declaration
  
  

1.15. Can't stay logged in

If you cannot stay logged in on Geocaching.com, try these options:

• Enable cookies in your browser’s settings.
• Clear your browser's cache and history. This will delete any corrupted files.
• Access your account from a different browser.
• Check the settings of your network, firewall or antivirus software to make sure they are not preventing access.

1.16. Disable account

If you no longer want to participate in geocaching, you may disable your account.

Before you disable your account

• Drop all trackables in your possession owned by other geocachers.
• Adopt or archive your cache page(s) make sure to leave no geo-litter and retrieve all geocaching containers.
• Cancel Premium membership
  

Disable your account

1. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
2. Select Account.
3. Scroll down and select Disable Your Account.
4. The prompt will ask, “Are you sure you want to continue?”
5. Select Yes, disable my account.

Disabling your account will

• Cancel all of your email subscriptions.
• Cancel Geocaching Premium auto-renewal payments for memberships purchased through Geocaching.com.
• Retain information such as geocaching and trackable logs should you decide to geocache in the future.

Disabling your account will not

• Cancel Geocaching Premium auto-renewal payments for memberships purchased through Apple's iTunes/App Store or Google Play.
• Erase logs/photos you've posted. These will still be visible.
• Delete your account information.

Permanently delete your account

To permanently delete your account, you must contact us, include your username, email, and any transaction numbers.

1.17. Delete account

If you would like to permanently erase your username, logs, and gallery photos with no way to retrieve them again in the future, you can delete your account.

Before you delete your account

• Review and remove any personal information, such as photos or text, from your owned geocaches, trackables, Waymarks, Wherigo cartridges, and Adventure Lab listings.
• Drop all trackables in your possession owned by other geocachers.
• Adopt or archive your cache page(s) make sure to leave no geo-litter and retrieve all geocaching containers.
• If you own Adventures, log in to the Adventure Lab® builder and set each Adventure to Off.
• Cancel your Premium membership

Delete your account

1. Next to your username in the top right corner of Geocaching.com, click the down arrow to select Settings from the dropdown menu.
2. Select Account.
3. Scroll down and select Delete your account.
4. The prompt will ask, “Are you sure you want to continue?”
5. Click Yes, delete my account to confirm.

Deleting your account will

• Permanently erase all of your logs, gallery photos, and profile information within 30 days of the request. 
• Retain the details for all archived trackables, geocaches, Waymarks, Wherigo cartridges, and Adventures you own to maintain the history and integrity of the game.
• Change all retained details on archived caches, trackables, and Adventure Lab listings to appear under a “deleted_user” username. You will not be able to access these to make edits after account deletion.
• Cancel a Premium membership purchased through Geocaching.com. You will not receive a refund for any unused portion of your membership.

Deleting your account will not

Cancel Geocaching Premium auto-renewal payments for memberships purchased through Apple's iTunes/App Store or Google Play

1.18. Merge accounts

There is no way to merge accounts on Geocaching.com, but there are a few workarounds.

Create a new team account

1. Create a new account.
2. Re-log past finds on the new account.
3. Transfer geocaches and trackables to the new account.

Tip: Mention in your logs that you are logging an old find with a new username. The cache owner will appreciate this information.

Make your existing account a team account

1. Edit your username to your team name. This account keeps all historical data.
2. Disable the unused account.

2. Email preferences and Message Center

2.1. Add or change email address

To change your email or add another email to your account:

1. Log in to Geocaching.com website.
   
2. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
3. Select Email Preferences.
4. Select Add email address.
5. Add a new email in the blank field and select Save.
6. In the pop-up window, enter the password associated with your Geocaching.com account.
7. Select Done.
8. Select Verify this address to validate your email.

Tip: Set an email as Primary to receive notifications at that address. You can only have one primary address.

2.2. Subscribe to email newsletter

The Geocaching weekly Logbook newsletter contains recent news from Geocaching HQ and the worldwide geocaching community.

To make sure you’re in the loop on what’s new, subscribe to the newsletter:

1. Next to your username in the top right corner, select the down arrow to select Settings.
2. Select Email Preferences.
3. Under Updates select Newsletter. 

Premium members can select in which language they want to receive their newsletter: English, German, French, or Dutch. This will not change the language settings for Geocaching.com, the app, or other emails from Geocaching HQ.

Tip: Set your home coordinates to receive customized content from your area.

2.3. Not receiving emails from Geocaching.com

If you are not receiving emails from Geocaching.com, please check the following:

• Validate your account.
• Set a current email address set as “Primary”.
• Check your email’s spam filter and whitelist emails from noreply@geocaching.com

• Contact your email provider or ISP and ask them to allow email originating from our IP addresses:

63.251.163.224
63.251.163.225
63.251.163.228
63.251.163.229

2.4. Message Center

This article is about functionality of Geocaching.com. For functionality on the Geocaching® app, go here.

Geocaching’s Message Center allows you to contact other players and send answers for EarthCaches and Virtual Caches.

Updates about “Found It” logs and Instant Notifications will still be sent to you via email.

Send a message

1. Select Messages in the top right corner.
2. Enter the username into the “To:” search field.
3. Compose your message.
4. Optional: Attach a jpg, png, or gif files.
5. Select Send.

Tip: Turn notifications for messages on or off in your email preferences. If notifications are turned off, a yellow dot on the envelope icon indicates unread messages.

Hide a conversation

1. Select the conversation you want to hide.
2. Select the round circle with the three dots, and then select hide.

Hidden conversations will show up again if you write or receive new messages from that player. We do not currently have the option to delete a conversation.

Block another player

1. Select a conversation or enter the username into the “To:” search field.
2. Select Block on the right hand side.
3. Follow the prompts to block the player.

Blocked players cannot see they have been blocked. It is not possible to block a Lackey or Community Volunteer account. Other privacy policies remain the same.

Unblock another player

1. Select show hidden messages
2. Select the username 
3. select unblock

Or

1. Enter the player’s username in the “To:” search field
2. Follow the prompts.

You’ll receive all messages sent while they were blocked.

3. Profile and Dashboard

3.1. Access profile

Dashboard

To see your personal Dashboard select your username in the top right corner on Geocaching.com.

Public profile

From your Dashboard, select View profile on the left hand side to see your public profile.

You can edit your public profile to

• Show or hide your geocaching statistics.
• Include information and images in the About tab.
• Show your public Lists.

3.2. Update profile images

Update your profile photo

1. In your account settings, select Choose File.
2. Select an image from your computer.
3. Select Save Changes.

Your profile photo displays universally across Geocaching.com.

Add images to your public profile

To add images to the About tab of your public profile, follow these steps:

1. In your account settings, go to the Bio text box.
2. Upload images from your computer using the uploader functionality. 
3. Select Save Changes.

3.3. Image gallery

You can view all the photos that you attached to geocache or trackable logs in your gallery.

Edit image details

1. Access the Gallery tab on your public profile.
2. Select the image you would like to edit.
3. Select View Log.
4. Select Edit Image above the image.
5. Select Edit Image Details.
6. Edit the Name, Date Taken, or Description.
7. Select Save.

Tip: To delete an image, select  Delete Image on the “Edit Image” page.

3.4. Geocaching statistics

Geocaching statistics are a Premium feature. As a default, other Premium members can see your statistics on your Public Profile. To make your statistics private, go to your statistics and unselect the checkbox Show my statistics on my public profile.

To customize your statistics, select Show more and unselect the statistics you want to hide.

Adventure Lab Caches in statistics

See the following Help Center article to learn about Adventure Lab Caches in statistics

FTF (First to find)

Geocaching.com does not have a built-in feature to show FTFs. Use statistic generating websites like Project-GC to display your FTFs.

3.5. Souvenirs

Souvenirs are virtual pieces of art displayed on your public profile. There are two main types of souvenirs.

Geographical locations, or events

• To earn a country souvenir, log any geocache in that country as “Found it” or any Event as "Attended."
• To earn a Mega-Event souvenir, log that Mega-Event as “Attended.”
• To earn a GeoTours souvenir, complete the required caches for that GeoTour. 

Dates, or time periods

To earn a promotional souvenir for specific day(s) of the year, like “International EarthCache Day,” follow the instructions provided by Geocaching HQ.  Since these are time-limited, caches found after the promotion will not award the souvenir.

See list of all souvenirs

Are you missing a souvenir that you think you should have received? Email us the URL to your log:

1. Select View Log next to your log entry.
2. Copy the URL from your browser.

3.6. List of souvenirs

The list below includes all souvenirs. While souvenirs for geographical location are still discoverable, souvenirs for specific dates and time periods are likely not. If a souvenir has a time parameter, the souvenir zone will expire at the end of the time period. However, you can still discover souvenirs for events if you log your attendance after the fact.

• Souvenirs for geographical location
• Country/regional souvenirs
• Australia souvenirs
• Canada souvenirs
• Ireland souvenirs
• Germany souvenirs
• United States souvenirs
• Completion of a GeoTour
• Souvenirs for specific dates and time periods
• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• Unique souvenirs

Souvenirs for geographical location

Country/regional souvenirs

3.7. Status types on profile pages

Member

Basic membership for Geocaching.com.

Premium Member

Premium membership for Geocaching.com.

Charter Member

Continuous Premium membership since the first months they were offered. 
A Charter membership was a subscription level offered to financial contributors to Geocaching.com in the first year that memberships were offered. A Charter Membership has the same features as a Premium Membership.

Reviewer

Community volunteer who reviews and publishes cache pages.

4. Geocaching friends

4.1. Find another geocacher's profile

Find another player

1. On your Dashboard, select Find another player from the left hand side.
2. Enter a username or a the first characters of a username.
3. Select Go.
4. Pick the username you want to find.
5. Select Pick a User.

Tip: Find out how to add another player as a friend.

Find the owner of a cache

1. On the cache page, select the username next to A cache by _____, underneath the cache name.

4.2. Add a geocacher to friends list

Adding friends on Geocaching.com makes geocaching more fun. Some of the advantages:

• You can see friends' logs 
• You can see friends' geocaching activity on your Dashboard and Leaderboard

To add a new friend:

1. Log onto the website Geocaching.com.
2. From the left hand side of your Dashboard, select View friends.
3. Under Add a friend, enter your friend's username.
4. Select Send Invitation.
5. Enter a message for your friend.
6. Select Request Friendship.

Once your friend has accepted your friend request, they will be added to your friend list.

See all pending friend requests under Pending Friend Requests.

4.3. Friends' logs

Find your friends’ logs in the Geocaching® app

1. Select a geocache from the map.
2. On a geocache page select Activity.
3. Then select FRIENDS.

Find your friends' logs on Geocaching.com

1. Select a geocache from the map.
2. On a geocache page select View all logs.
3. Then select Your friends’ logs.

Tip: Find out how to add another player as a friend.

4.4. Accept or block friend requests

There are two options to respond to a friend request:

• Follow the link in the email you receive.
• Check your pending friend requests on your Friends Page.

If you no longer want to receive friend requests from other players:

1. In your account settings, check Block friend requests from other geocachers.
2. Select Save Changes.