A dog walker app that proves the visit happened, even with no signal.
Walkers tap start and finish, log what the dog did, and add photos and a note. The owner gets a report card at a private link. Every action is saved with the real time it happened, so a dead zone never loses a visit. Built for a walking or pet sitting business, not bolted on.
No credit card to start · from $19 a month for one walker · month to month
Open the roundToday’s visits in time order, with your own walkers filtered
Check the heatA forecast-based safe, caution or danger reading before you set out
StartGPS point and real time recorded at the door
LogPee, poo, water, food, meds, play, energy, photos, a note
FinishGPS point and time recorded; the report card is created
What a dog walker app actually has to do
Most dog walking disputes come down to one question: did someone show up, and what happened while they were there? A dog walker app earns its place by answering that with evidence a client can accept, captured at the moment it happened, on a phone that may have no signal.
That is the job Animal Friends OS is built around. The walking module treats a visit, not a day, as the unit of work. A walking company does three 30-minute visits at three houses before lunch, each assigned, started, finished and recorded separately. The round shows those visits in the order they happen, with counters for visits, completed, remaining, unassigned, expected revenue and miles walked. It is the same system that runs grooming, boarding and daycare, so a walking client who also boards is one client record, not two.
This page covers the walker and owner experience. For schedules, rates and money, see dog walking scheduling and pricing. For the whole module in one place, see dog walking and pet sitting software, and for sitting-specific visits such as drop-ins and overnights, pet sitter software.
GPS check-ins, described exactly
We will be precise here, because this is the claim other products stretch.
A point and a time at the door
When the walker taps start, the phone sends its coordinates and the time the tap happened. That is the record that someone arrived, and where.
A second point when it ends
Finishing records the end coordinates and time. If the walker forgot to tap start, the start is backfilled from the visit length rather than refusing the finish, because a real visit with no record is worse than an approximate start.
A slow fix does not hold up the walker
The app waits a few seconds for a location. If none arrives, it records the visit without one. A visit with no GPS beats a visit not recorded.
Offline-safe by design, not as a later feature
Walking routes hit dead zones constantly: basements, stairwells, rural driveways, parking garages. If a walking app can only record a visit while online, the proof fails exactly when a client is disputing whether anyone showed up.
So every action on a visit, which means start, each logged event, and finish, is stamped with the moment it happened and saved on the phone first. When signal returns the saved actions are sent, and each one carries a key so a repeated send cannot do the same thing twice. A visit recorded in a dead zone keeps the time the walker acted, not the time the phone reconnected. While actions are waiting, the screen says how many visit updates are saved on the phone.
One honest limit: the saved queue lives in the phone’s browser storage. Clearing site data on that phone before the actions send would discard them, so walkers should reconnect before clearing anything.
Logging the walk, and the safety checks around it
What the dog did
Pee, poo, water, fed, meds, play and energy are one tap each, with optional detail such as how a stool looked or which medication. Photos and notes can be attached to a visit and appear on the owner’s card.
A heat check before the walk
The app looks up the forecast for the business’s own location and rates the walk safe, caution or danger from the feels-like temperature and an estimate of pavement heat. The thresholds are yours to change. It recommends a shorter, shaded route in caution and indoor play in danger. It is guidance for the walker, not a lock.
A door-locked photo
Businesses can ask walkers to photograph the locked door when they leave. It is on by default and never blocks finishing a visit: a missing photo only produces a warning so the walker can add it afterwards.
Patterns worth noticing
When a visit is finished the system checks rules against the dog’s logged history, such as no stool across two walks, so the business sees it. A no-stool alert that a later log contradicts is removed from the card instead of left standing.
The report card owners actually open
After a visit finishes, the walker or the office can text the client a link to a report card. It opens in any browser with no login and nothing to install. The link is long and unguessable, and it is created when the visit finishes, so it never shows an empty card for a walk that has not happened yet.
- Arrival and departure times and how long the visit lasted.
- Everything logged during the visit, in the order it happened, including when events were synced late.
- Photos and the walker’s note, plus a short written summary for that visit. The summary is written by an AI assistant from the visit’s own facts and falls back to a fixed template if the assistant is unavailable.
- The drawn Walk Route when the visit was on one, with logged moments pinned to it.
- Measured numbers first. A calorie figure appears only when the dog’s weight is on file, and it is labelled as an estimate based on a published rule of thumb.
- If the business uses Stripe, an optional tip for the walker. See scheduling and pricing.
Owners can also reply to the business from the card, and report a problem with a visit. A report triggers a free-walk credit that staff can apply to a later visit, which is on by default and can be switched off in walking settings.
Draw the route, get the owner’s yes, then walk it
A Walk Route is a named path you draw once on a map, measured as you draw it, with terrain and a description. Put a visit on a route and the owner can be sent a plan link showing the exact line, with a button to approve or decline before the dog goes out. Approving copies the drawn line onto that visit, so redrawing or renaming the route later never restates what the owner agreed to.
Approval is recorded and shown, but it does not stop a regular walk from going on the round unless you decide your business needs that. Clients can also ask for a walk themselves from a public link, choosing from the routes you have marked as client-selectable. That arrives as a request you confirm, never as a booking that lands on a walker’s day unagreed.
Keys and codes, handled like the risk they are
A lockbox code is a key to a customer’s home. Codes are encrypted at rest, never included in any list, and revealed only by a deliberate tap. Every reveal writes an append-only log entry with the person, the time and the visit that justified it, and the card can show key custody events. When a client asks who had their code, the log is the answer.
What this does not do yet
- No continuous live GPS trail during the walk.
- No separate walker app in the app stores; the walking round runs in a phone browser.
- Distance walked is shown only when the visit recorded one. The browser screen sends start and finish coordinates, not a measured path.
- It is the newest module on the platform. If you are evaluating it, ask us what is shipped versus still being built.
What it costs
A walking or sitting business buys OS Walk, priced by how many walkers are active, so adding a walker moves you up a tier instead of adding a per-seat charge.
| OS Walk plan | Walkers included | Price | Text segments a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walk Solo | 1 walker | $19 a month | 250 |
| Walk Team | Up to 5 walkers | $39 a month | 500 |
| Walk Growing | Up to 10 walkers | $79 a month | 1,500 |
| Walk Large | Up to 20 walkers | $119 a month | 3,000 |
| Walk Unlimited | Unlimited walkers | $159 a month | 5,000 |
Prices are read from the same pricing table the product bills from, so this table cannot drift. No activation fee on any OS Walk plan. A business that also books grooming, boarding or daycare gets walking included in the main plans instead, which start at $69 a month plus a one-time $49 activation. Full pricing
Questions about the dog walker app
Does the dog walker app track the walk live on a map?
No. The app captures GPS coordinates when the walker starts a visit and when the walker finishes it, with the times stamped. It does not draw a continuous live trail while the walk is happening. If a route was drawn in advance as a Walk Route, the owner’s report card shows that planned path, labelled as the route the visit was on.
What happens when the walker has no cell signal?
The action is saved on the phone with the real time it happened and sent when signal returns. A replayed start cannot start a visit twice or move its start time, so a dead zone does not lose a visit or shift its recorded time. The walker sees a note saying how many updates are waiting to send.
What does the owner see after a walk?
A report card at a private link, with no login and nothing to install: arrival and departure times, the duration, anything logged during the visit such as pee, poo, water, food, medication, play and energy, photos and notes the walker added, and a short note written for that visit. If the visit was on a drawn Walk Route, the card shows the route and pins the logged moments on it.
Do walkers have to install an app from an app store?
The walking round is a web screen that works in a phone browser, so there is nothing for the walker to download. We are not claiming a separate walker app in the app stores. The browser asks for location permission when the walker taps start or finish.
Can I see who opened a client’s key or door code?
Yes. Keys and door codes are encrypted when stored, never shown in a list, and revealed only by a deliberate tap. Each reveal is written to a log with who, when and which visit justified it. A walker can reveal a code only for a client who has a visit that day.
How much does the dog walker app cost?
Walking businesses use the OS Walk plans, which start at $19 a month for one walker and are priced by active walkers, not locations. There is no activation fee, and the free trial runs 14 days. See pricing for every plan.
Run your first round on it this week.
Add your clients, put a few walks on tomorrow’s round and send a real report card before you pay anything.
No credit card to start. Month to month. Bring your clients and pets with you.