Location Services

GPS Tracking

The app accesses GPS data and updates it regularly in the background. A FACT24 icon is displayed in the notification bar to keep the app active.

Beacon Monitoring

The app scans for beacons when the alarm is triggered to be able to transmit them as a position reference when the alarm is triggered.

When does the mobile app send a GPS location (update) to the portal?

The mobile app sends GPS location updates even if the mobile app is closed. Ensure that you give the mobile app the permission to access your location “all the time” and not just “while using the app” to avoid potential issues.
Additionally, location updates are only sent when a person is logged into the mobile app.If auto-logged out due to 60 days of inactivity for security, it's advisable to prompt regular app use through periodic test alarms, ensuring consistent functionality.
GPS tracking in the mobile app has to be enabled
Threshold for GPS location update to be registered and sent to the web portal can now be set in the mobile app (vs. system-wide parameter previously)

If an alarm is triggered from the mobile app and the person enabled “location tracking”, all location updates will be transmitted to the web portal with time stamp and displayed to authorized users for this particular alarm. This enables more precise localization in case of emergency. 
Android: check for "Monitoring location changes" in the system messages at the top bar to confirm active tracking.
- The app, using an Android foreground service, keeps tracking visible, checking location every 30 seconds with updates sent on a minimum 500m distance change.
iPhone:
- iOS app checks the current location every 15 minutes. A periodic background task is used for this.

How long does the portal store this location information:

For preconfigured geolocation profiles, this “storage duration”, aka “location data expiration” can be configured- maximum 24 hours:

To give an example, using the 24 hrs:
- your location is sent today 12:00 to the portal and you would be in the geolocation profile’s radius at that time
- now your phone connection is lost, you close the mobile app, get logged out, etc., so the portal didn’t get any new info from you.
- The alarm is triggered tomorrow 11:59 à you would still be alerted. // The alarm is triggered tomorrow 12:01 -> you would not be alerted anymore.
If you don’t work with a geo-location profile but instead select the location last-minute when you already clicked on “trigger alarm” and “edit” then we automatically use the 24 hrs timeout.