About what3words
About what3words, why we made it, and its benefits.
General
What is what3words?
what3words is the easy way to describe any precise location. It has divided the world into a grid of 3 metre squares and given each square a unique ad...
Why do I need what3words when I have Google Maps?
Google Maps is a great tool for navigation, public transport and for looking up points of interest. what3words has a very different function: it’s an ...
How does what3words make money?
what3words is free for anyone to use via our app and online map – and it always will be. However, we do charge certain businesses that benefit comme...
What is a what3words address?
A what3words address is a unique combination of 3 random words that identifies a specific 3 metre square somewhere in the world. To find a what3words ...
How are what3words addresses better than regular street addresses?
There are a number of ways a what3words address can be better than a regular street address. Here’s how they differ: what3words addresses are: Street ...
How is what3words different to sharing a pin?
Location pins might work well when shared within specific apps, but they’re impossible to describe over the phone, to write down, or to enter into a s...
Is what3words free to use?
Yes, our app and online map are free to use – and they always will be. We do charge businesses that benefit commercially from using what3words, but ...
What does the what3words app do?
The free what3words app lets you find, share and save precise what3words addresses. You can also navigate to what3words addresses. To do this, simply ...
How is what3words different to GPS coordinates?
GPS coordinates use a string of numbers to identify a location – the more numbers you use, the more precise the location. what3words has simplified th...
How does what3words work indoors?
While what3words addresses exist for the entire world – including indoor places – we recommend you use them only when you’re outdoors. This is because...
How does what3words deal with multiple floors (and height)?
A what3words address works at ground level, just like a street address does – so it doesn’t work for different floors in a building or at different he...
Can what3words be used to track people’s locations?
No, we’re not that kind of app. In fact, there are no tracking capabilities in what3words whatsoever.
Does what3words work for the sea?
Yes, just like it does for land. Every 3 metre square of the world’s seas and oceans have what3words addresses in English, Japanese and Korean. All ot...
Do you have any desktop apps available?
The what3words macOS app is available on the App Store for computers running on macOS Catalina (10.15) or later. You may need to update your operating...
Which devices and browsers does what3words support?
Using the what3words app on your mobile device The minimum platform requirements for new app versions are Android Nougat (7.1) and iOS 14. If your dev...
Does the app work without phone signal or data connection?
Yes, we designed it especially that way. Even when you’re totally offline, without a data or cellular connection, you can still find the 3 words for y...
The Words
How does what3words handle similar combinations of words?
We’ve designed our map to try to avoid placing addresses made of similar word combinations near each other (as much as possible). For example, ///tab...
How are the words assigned?
Each time we make what3words in a new language, we use an algorithm to place simpler and more commonly used words in the areas where the language is s...
Why did you decide to use 3 words to create your addresses?
To make an addressing system precise enough to refer to a specific entrance or parking spot, it needed to be accurate to a 3 metre square. This meant ...
Why can't I buy my own words or change some of the words?
Every single what3words address is randomly allocated and permanently fixed – they’ll never change. This means our system can work offline, with no ne...
Will the words ever change?
No, and there’s a good reason why. what3words addresses are permanently fixed, which is why what3words is able to work offline and needs no updates or...
How do you handle offensive words?
A what3words address is made up of 3 random words, and they are not intended to convey any meaning to a location. However, we know that the nature of ...
How do you take into account words that sound the same or can be spelled in different ways?
When we select the words to be used in each language, we do our best to remove homophones and spelling variations, like ‘sale’ and ‘sail’, or ‘colour’...