Overview:
In order to get on-shift locations reliably from your employee’s device, we need three core things:
Permission for the SINC App to access locations on the device
Our location process to still be running (ie not shut down by the phone)
The phone to be able to locate itself
Generally, these will all work 'out of the box' when an employee allows location permissions for SINC, but in this guide we’ll show you how employee devices can be set up optimally to allow these all to happen.
1: General Tips:
The SINC app should be left open as much as possible while on a shift.
Your device gets the most accurate locations when the SINC app is open either in the foreground (when its the app you're looking at) or in the background (when it's still open but has been moved to the background). Having SINC open in the foreground or background also makes it less likely the phone will shut down the location tracking process to save battery.
Have WiFi turned on.
Even when a phone isn't connected to a wifi network, just having the setting on allows a phone to find its location much more easily by scanning nearby wifi networks and triangulating its position. This process is faster and consumes much less battery than when a phone has to try and use its GPS or other methods.
Turn off any battery-saving apps or services.
Your phone's default or other third-party battery-saving services can stop SINC's background location-tracking to save battery. You can either turn these services off or make sure SINC is exempt from them.
2. Correct Location Permissions:
As we mentioned, most of these should be set 'out of the box' after the prompt we give to staff to allow location access, but here are some more details of what they should be.
For SINC to get locations beyond just the clock in and clock out location, it needs to have permission to use locations all the time rather than just while using the app. We'll show how to grant these below.
Remember, staff can be confident that SINC's background location service only runs when they are on-shift, even with permission to run all the time.
For Android devices:
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Device Location: | Motion/Physical Activity: Allow |
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Note: If you have location services off, or if you do not have the optimal location settings, your device may show the following prompt: Simply click on 'OK' to enable the optimal location settings. |
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What this prompt does in one step is enable the settings as below (you can follow these steps to manually enable them if the prompt was disallowed):
Android 10:
Open your device’s Settings app.
Tap Location.
Tap Advanced > Google Location Accuracy.
Turn Improve Location Accuracy on.
Android 9 and below:
Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Security & Location > Location. If you don't see "Security & Location," tap Location.
Tap Mode. Then pick: High accuracy
For iOS devices:
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Device Location: iOS 13: Since iOS 13, the 'Always Allow' permission cannot be automatically requested by the app. You have to first give it the 'Allow While Using App' permission when the prompt below appears: | When you put the SINC app in the background or switch to another app, another prompt appears, and now you can choose 'Change to Always Allow'. |
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You will also receive another prompt some time later, asking if you are sure to allow background location-tracking for SINC. Make sure to choose 'Always Allow'. | iOS 12 and below: Choose 'Always Allow' |
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Motion & Fitness Activity: Allow/OK | Note: If you have location services off, your device may show the following prompt below. Click on 'Settings'. |
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Go to "Privacy". | Go to "Location Services". |
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Make sure the "Location Services" switch is turned on. |
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