Android: Geofences

Geofences on Android smartphones

Requirements

To use Geofences on your Android smartphone, your device must be running at least version 2.27.0 of the GroupAlarm app and meet the following requirements:

Google Play Services installed
Permissions granted for accurate location access and background access.
Google Location Accuracy enabled (System Settings > Location > Location Services).

Important notes

The correct functioning of geofences is always dependent on your smartphone, the system running on it and the system settings made.
This includes the current Internet connection, the GPS signal, the charging status and battery-saving measures of the device, as well as the optimizations, made by the manufacturer.

Your device decides when to check your position and thus whether you are in a geofence. We cannot force an immediate update of the geofence status. Delays of several minutes are normal here.
Often, it is helpful to open a map application such as Google Maps to trigger an immediate update.

Maximum number of active geofences

By system default, a maximum of 100 geofences can be active at any one time. If you or your organizations use more than 100 geofences, you will receive a notification and can deactivate individual organizations in the settings. If these geofences belong to the same organization, ask your organization administrator to remove unused geofences.

Setup

After logging in to your GroupAlarm app, you will be notified of the feature in the setup wizard and have the option to activate it there.
You can also choose whether you want all organizations' geofences to be activated immediately on your device. If this option is deactivated, you must enable individual organizations in the settings.

You will then receive an overview of the necessary permissions and have the option of granting them directly.
To use the geofences, all permissions listed there are necessary.

You can start this setup wizard at any time from the settings in the "FURTHER SETTINGS" area.

Administration

To manage geofences on your Android smartphone, go to the settings and tap on "Manage" in the "GEOFENCES" area.
There you will get an overview of the current status of the geofences, the settings made and all the geofences created for your organizations.

Status

The status shows you whether you are currently using geofences (active), whether the function can be used but is deactivated (ready) or whether necessary settings still need to be made (not ready).
If the status is not ready, you will see the measures that still need to be taken displayed below it. By tapping on it, you can immediately access the respective settings.

Settings

Here, you activate or deactivate the geofences on your smartphone if the necessary setup has been completed.
You can also select whether the geofences of all organizations should be activated immediately on your device. If this option is deactivated, you must enable individual organizations in the following overview.

Organizations

You will then see an overview of all organizations with geofences set up. This view can be updated at any time by clicking on the icon at the top right.
Activate the switch next to the name to immediately release and use the geofences.
Tap on the name of one of the geofences to view the set-up location and radius on a map.

Next to the name of the geofence, you can see what your personal status is for that geofence by looking at the icon.
If it is grey, the organization is currently not active. If the symbol is red, you are currently outside the geofence. If the symbol is green, you are active within the geofence.

Updated on: 27/09/2022