Before you go

Fully charge your phone and take a USB power bank if you have one

2-3 hours with the screen on nearly constantly at high brightness (for outdoors) is going to use a fair bit of battery. Add onto that power used by the phone's GPS hardware during the directions screens, and use of the camera (which also uses lots of battery): your phone's hardware is going to get a workout as well as your brain and your legs.

Our testers with newer phones/batteries managed fine on a full charge but those with old phones or well-worn batteries needed to top up using a power bank.

If you have a power bank, take it along for peace of mind. If you haven't yet, there are lots on Amazon for about £20 that hold enough power for several phone charges and support rapid charging. They are a good thing to own. (PS. the ones branded "iWalk" are nothing to do with us - it's a freaky coincidence).

Don't forget your reading glasses

If you are long-sighted and have reading glasses, definitely bring them: phone screens are small and the story and puzzles involves quite a lot of reading. A neck cord is a useful addition so you can enjoy the views without constantly fiddling to put glasses away.

Read the intro before you go

The intro for each mystery walk (button at the top when you open the purchased mystery) covers the background of the story. Reading it in advance before you set out will save some time when you start the mystery. You can optionally re-read it at the start if you want a refresher.

Optionally take a pen and paper for more challenging puzzles

Solving puzzles outdoors where other things are going on at the same time is more difficult than in a quiet indoor environment without distractions so you might find it helps to use a pen and paper to keep track when there are several steps to solving a puzzle.

We've designed the app and puzzles to avoid the need for information retention over long periods of time so it's not absolutely necessary but it might make solving some of the more challenging puzzles easier.

Check the weather forecast

It's worth noting that planning around the weather needs slightly different considerations than for a normal walk.

You'll be stopping frequently and stood still or sat on a bench solving puzzles for periods of time. If the weather is cold, fingerless gloves (touchscreen gloves are not precise enough for doing puzzles) and very warm/USB-heated clothes are also a good idea.

If showers are forecast, an umbrella is worth considering. Phone touch screen don't work at all well if they are wet and the puzzles need more interaction than e.g. following guided walk instructions. The routes are in towns and villages where there is generally more shelter from the wind than on exposed footpaths.

Things to check on your phone as you set off

• The notification volume is turned up so you can hear the beep to remind you that you need to stop walking.

  If the other sound effects are not your thing (most kids up to the age of 60 seem to quite like them), in the app's settings, there's an option to turn them off whilst leaving the direction notification beep.

• Make sure "do not disturb" isn't turned on. The app sends a system notification at each direction (which causes the beep).
• Enabling Auto-Brightness (Apple) or Adaptive Brightness (Android) will reduce battery usage by allowing the screen to dim in the shade.
• When you arrive, give your phone's compass a quick calibrate by moving your phone through the air in a few figures of 8. Whilst this may look a bit daft, it allows the phone to measure the variation in the Earth's magnetic field. This makes the compass arrow point in the right direction which will come in very handy.

Lastly

If this is your first mystery walk, have a read through the FAQ beforehand, and during the mystery don't forget the Help button in the top-right corner - there are things in the help to cope with all sorts of things from tricky puzzles to obscured clues or blocked roads. Allow an extra half-an-hour for the time to do the mystery walk if this is your first one as there will be a bit of extra reading and getting your head around things at the start. Once you've got a few directions under your belt, you'll be "down with the kids" who have done several of them.