About 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...

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 ...

what3words is free for anyone to use via our app and online map . However, we do charge certain businesses that benefit commercially from using our p...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

Yes, our app and online map are free to use. We do charge businesses that benefit commercially from using what3words, but offer free access to emerg...

The free what3words app lets you find, share and save precise what3words addresses. You can also navigate to what3words addresses. To do this, simply ...

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...

While what3words addresses exist for the entire world – including indoor places – we recommend you use them only when you’re outdoors. This is because...

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...

No, we’re not that kind of app. In fact, there are no tracking capabilities in what3words whatsoever.

Yes, just like it does for land. Every 3 metre square of the world’s seas and oceans have what3words addresses in English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean a...

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...

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...

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...

We’re proud to say that what3words is currently available in 60 languages, with more in progress. Here’s the full list: Afrikaans (Afrikaans) Amharic ...

No, our system works a little differently. For each language what3words is available in, the words have been assigned independently – they are not tra...

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...

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...

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 ...

Every single what3words address is randomly allocated and permanently fixed – they’ll never change. This means our system can work offline, with no ne...

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...

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 ...

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’...