Dawarich vs Arc (Retired)
Arc was an iOS app for automatic location and activity tracking, known for its beautiful timeline interface and machine learning-powered activity detection. Arc was retired and is no longer available for download or use.
If you were an Arc user looking for a replacement, this page compares what Arc offered with what Dawarich provides today.
Legend
- ✅ Fully supported - Feature is available and well-implemented
- ⚠️ Partially supported - Feature exists but with limitations
- ❌ Not supported - Feature is not available
- 🚫 App retired - No longer available
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Dawarich | Arc (Retired) |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | ||
| Currently available | ✅ | 🚫 Retired |
| Open source | ✅ | ❌ |
| Privacy & Data Control | ||
| Own your data | ✅ | ⚠️ (on-device) |
| Data export | ✅ (JSON, GPX) | ⚠️ (JSON) |
| Self-hosted option | ✅ | ❌ |
| Location Tracking | ||
| Automatic location tracking | ✅ (iOS, Android) | ✅ (iOS only) |
| Activity detection | ✅ (transport mode) | ✅ (ML-powered) |
| Place detection | ✅ | ✅ |
| Manual corrections | ⚠️ | ✅ |
| Data Import/Export | ||
| Google Takeout import | ✅ (web) | ❌ |
| GPX import | ✅ (web) | ❌ |
| GeoJSON import | ✅ (web) | ❌ |
| Arc JSON import | ❌ | N/A |
| Visualization | ||
| Interactive map | ✅ (web, iOS, Android) | ✅ (iOS) |
| Timeline view | ✅ (web) | ✅ (iOS) |
| Heatmap | ✅ (web) | ❌ |
| Statistics dashboard | ✅ | ⚠️ (basic) |
| Location History | ||
| Long-term history | ✅ (unlimited) | ✅ (on-device) |
| Trip creation | ✅ (web) | ❌ |
| Distance tracking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Countries/cities visited | ✅ | ❌ |
| Photos | ||
| Photo timeline integration | ✅ (web1) | ❌ |
| Platform Support | ||
| Web interface | ✅ | ❌ |
| iOS app | ✅ | 🚫 |
| Android app | ✅ | ❌ (never supported) |
1 Photo timeline integration is available in the web interface, but currently only works with Immich and Photoprism.
What Arc Users Miss Most
Arc users often mention these features they loved:
- Automatic activity detection — Dawarich detects transport modes (walking, driving, cycling) from your GPS data, though without Arc's machine learning granularity.
- Beautiful timeline UI — Dawarich's web timeline lets you browse your history day by day with an interactive map, similar in concept but different in design.
- On-device processing — Dawarich Cloud processes data on its servers, but the self-hosted version keeps everything on your own infrastructure. Either way, your data is never shared.
What Dawarich Adds That Arc Never Had
- Web interface — View your data on a big screen, not just your phone
- Android support — Track on both platforms
- Google Timeline import — Bring in years of history from Google
- Heatmap visualization — See your most-visited areas at a glance
- Multi-format import — GPX, GeoJSON, KML, and more
- Open source — Verify the code, contribute, self-host
- Trip creation — Build trips from your tracked points with photos
Pricing
| Plan | Dawarich | Arc (was) |
|---|---|---|
| Self-hosted | Free (open source) | N/A |
| Cloud | €150/year or €18/month | ~$5/month (subscription) |
| Free trial | 7-day Cloud trial | N/A (retired) |
Migrating from Arc
If you have Arc data exported as JSON, you can convert it to GPX and import it into Dawarich. The community has shared conversion scripts — check the Dawarich Discord for help.
Try Dawarich Cloud
No server to set up, works with the Dawarich mobile apps, automatic backups, and a 7-day free trial. Start your free trial →