About DetectingLog
Who makes this, why we write it, and how we decide what goes in.
What we make
DetectingLog is an offline-first metal detecting journal for iOS and Android. It lets you log hunts, drop GPS pins on productive ground, record finds with depth and VDI readings, capture your detector settings, and see the patterns those records build up over time. It works without a network connection, and cloud sync is optional rather than assumed.
It is built by OptimAItion, a small independent software studio based in Victoria, Australia.
Why we publish the blog
The app is built around a single idea: that detectorists who keep records improve faster than those relying on memory. Most of what makes someone good at this hobby — knowing what a number means in their soil, which corner of a field produces, which conditions are worth driving for — is knowledge that accumulates rather than knowledge you can buy.
The blog exists to be useful about that, and about everything around it: permissions, law, gear, technique, and what to do with a find once it is out of the ground. We would rather write twenty genuinely helpful guides than a hundred pages of thin content aimed at search engines.
How we write it
These are the rules we hold ourselves to.
- No affiliate links and no commissions. We do not sell detectors and we are not paid by anyone who does. When we discuss gear, nothing about the recommendation changes based on what you buy — which is why our buying guide spends as much time on what does not matter as on what does.
- We name the trade-offs. Almost nothing in detecting is strictly better than the alternative. Where there is a cost to a piece of advice, we say what it is rather than pretending there is a free win.
- Legal articles are orientation, not advice. Detecting law varies by country, state, council, and site, and it changes. Our legal guides are marked as general information and point you at the official source, because that is the only thing you should actually rely on.
- We do not invent numbers. No fabricated statistics, no made-up benchmarks, no precise figures where the honest answer is that it depends on your ground.
- We date our updates honestly. An article shows an updated date when the content genuinely changed. We do not re-stamp old posts to make them look fresh.
- We respect the hobby's rules. Fill your holes, get permission, report what should be reported, and keep other people's sites to yourself. Access for everyone depends on it.
About the byline
Articles are credited to The DetectingLog Team. That is the small group at OptimAItion who build the app and write this blog — we research each subject properly, check it against official and specialist sources, and revise pieces as we learn more or as rules change. We are software people who care about this hobby, not a body of accredited archaeologists, and where a question needs genuine expertise we say so and point you to the people who have it: your local club, a Finds Liaison Officer, a museum, or the relevant heritage authority.
Tell us when we are wrong
If you spot an error, an out-of-date rule, or something that reads as nonsense to someone who actually detects the ground we are describing, we would genuinely like to know. Corrections make the next reader better served, and rules in particular change more often than articles do.
Email support@detectinglog.app or use the support form. For media enquiries and brand assets, see the press kit.
Your data
Your hunts, pins, and finds stay on your device by default. There is no social feed, nothing is published, and cloud sync is something you choose rather than something that happens to you. The full detail is in our privacy policy, and the reasoning behind that design is in why detectorists keep their locations private.