Press the button and your phone reads its own GPS. This page turns that into an OS National Grid reference, the two letters and six figures a 999 call handler or a mountain rescue team will ask you for. No app to install, no account, and your location never leaves your phone.
It works wherever your phone can see the sky, with or without mobile signal, as long as this page is already open. If you have come here from a search while sitting at home, open it once on your phone now and bookmark it, so it is there when you need it.
Free tool · Grid reference finder
Find my grid reference
One button. Your phone reads its own GPS and this page turns it into an OS National Grid reference you can read down the phone or plot on the map. No app, no account.
Your location is read by your phone and converted on this page. It is never sent to Bondringo or anyone else.
Convert a grid reference, lat/long or Google Maps link
Try:
Grid references are on the OS National Grid (datum OSGB36), converted from your phone’s WGS84 position with a Helmert transformation that is accurate to a few metres across Great Britain. The phone’s own fix is the larger uncertainty, and it is shown beside the result. Lat/long is WGS84 throughout. Six figures names a 100 m square, which is what a 999 call handler or rescue team needs.
What to do with your grid reference
If someone is hurt, or you are lost and the light is going, call 999, ask for the police, then ask for mountain rescue. The call handler will ask where you are. Read them the grid reference exactly as the tool shows it: the two letters first, then the first three figures, then the second three. “Sierra Hotel, six zero nine, five four three.” Say the letters as words so they cannot be misheard, and say each figure on its own.
Six figures is enough. It puts you inside a 100 metre square, and that is the level of precision the team works to. Ten figures sounds more impressive but your phone’s fix is rarely good to the metre anyway, so there is nothing to gain by reading out more numbers in a stressful phone call.
Two habits worth having before any of that happens. Register your phone to text 999, because a text can get through where a call cannot. And write the grid reference down on paper once you have it, so it survives a dead battery. If you are not sure whether your situation is a 999 call, what to do if you get lost hiking walks through the decision calmly.
How accurate is a grid reference from a phone?
Usually to within five or ten metres once the GPS has settled, which is why the tool keeps listening for a few seconds after the first reading and shows the accuracy your phone reports beside the result. The first number a phone gives is often a rough position from wifi or a phone mast, a hundred metres out or more. Give it a moment with a clear view of the sky and it tightens up.
The conversion itself is from your phone’s WGS84 position to the OS grid, which uses a different datum called OSGB36. This page uses a Helmert transformation, accurate to a few metres across Great Britain. That is more than good enough for a six figure reference; the phone’s own fix is always the larger uncertainty. The grid only covers Great Britain and its islands. In Ireland the Irish Grid applies, and the tool will tell you if you are off the British grid rather than printing a wrong answer.
How to get a grid reference from Google Maps
Google Maps does not show OS grid references, only latitude and longitude. The quickest route: in Google Maps, press and hold on the spot you want, which drops a pin and shows a pair of numbers like 53.0684, -4.0761 at the top. Copy them, paste them into the converter above, and you get the grid reference. Pasting a whole Google Maps link works too, as long as the link has the coordinates in it.
It works the other way round as well. Type a grid reference into the converter and the Google Maps button opens that spot on the map, which is handy when a guidebook or a friend gives you a reference and you want to see where it is.
OS Locate has gone. This does the same job
For years the answer to “how do I get my grid reference” was the OS Locate app. Ordnance Survey withdrew it from the app stores in 2024 and folded the feature into the OS Maps app, where it is called Locate Me and is free to use. If you already have OS Maps installed, that is still a good option, and it works without signal because the app is on your phone.
This page exists for everyone else: the walker who does not want another app, the friend who has never heard of a grid reference until the moment they need one, and anyone whose phone is low on space and battery. Open the page, press the button, read the numbers.
Converting a grid reference
The converter accepts whatever you have. A reference with letters, like SH 609 543, with or without spaces. The numeric eastings and northings some apps show, like 260950, 354350. A lat/long pair in decimal degrees, with or without N and W. It prints the same place at four, six, eight and ten figures, as numbers, and as lat/long, so you can move between a paper map, a GPS unit, a guidebook and a phone without doing the arithmetic.
One thing to know: a six figure reference names a 100 metre square, not a point. When you convert one, the figures you get back are for the centre of that square.
Learn to find it without the phone
The phone is a shortcut, and a very good one. It is not a skill. A dead battery, a cracked screen or a cold morning that kills the phone at 20% does not get to decide whether you know where you are, which is why every walker should be able to read a six figure reference off a paper map as well.
It takes about ten minutes to learn and the grid reference practice tool lets you drill it on a real British hill until it is routine. If you want the whole picture, the phone side and the map side together, the free Digital Safety Net course covers how to set your phone up so it is actually reliable on a hill, how to read your grid reference from it, and what to do when it fails. It is free, and it is the course I wish every walker did before their first solo day out.
Related reading: is your phone enough to navigate?, what actually happens when you call mountain rescue, and how to use a map and compass on the hill.
Grid reference finder: common questions
How do I find my 6 figure grid reference?
Open this page on your phone, press Find my grid reference and allow location when the phone asks. After a few seconds you get your six figure OS grid reference, for example SH 609 543, with the accuracy your phone reports beside it. Nothing is sent anywhere; the conversion happens on the page.
What is my 10 figure grid reference?
The tool shows the ten figure version beneath the six figure one. Ten figures names a one metre square, but a phone fix is rarely that precise, so treat the last figures as approximate and give six figures when someone asks where you are.
How do I get a grid reference on Google Maps?
Google Maps only shows latitude and longitude. Press and hold on the spot to drop a pin, copy the two numbers shown, and paste them into the converter on this page. You can paste the whole Google Maps link as well. The converter returns the OS grid reference.
Is there a free grid reference finder app?
You do not need an app. This page does the job in your phone’s browser with no download, no account and nothing sent to a server. If you already use the OS Maps app, its free Locate Me feature does the same thing and works offline, which is the one advantage an installed app has over a web page.
Does the grid reference finder work without phone signal?
Your phone’s GPS works without signal, so if this page is already open it will keep giving you a position. What needs signal is loading the page in the first place, so open it before you set off and keep the tab open, or add it to your home screen.
How accurate is a grid reference from a phone?
Once the GPS has settled, usually within five to ten metres, well inside the 100 metre square a six figure reference describes. The first reading is often much rougher because it comes from wifi or a phone mast, which is why the tool waits a few seconds and shows the accuracy beside the result.