Please visit our new TrackAbout Knowledge Base at https://supportkb.trackabout.com for the most-up-to-date documentation on TrackAbout and TrackAbout Mobile.
Smartphone App
Introduction
TrackAbout's smartphone app for iOS and Android enables users to perform a variety of asset tracking operations.
Requirements
The app is intended only for existing customers of TrackAbout. Call your sales contact for more details.
Pricing
The smartphone app is billed on the basis of a count of active devices per month. At the end of each billing period, TrackAbout calculates how many active, unique devices were in use within a given customer account and time period.
An active device is a device on which a user logs into the TrackAbout app.
If a user logs in on two distinct devices on the same day, this counts as two active devices.
Reinstalling the app on a device and then logging in again can cause us to count the same device as a second active device. If you feel you are being billed unfairly for active devices, please contact Support.
Features
Core Tracking - Internal Users
- As of January 2015
- Asset Search - search for assets by tag and view asset details and history
- Locate - set location of assets to internal branch locations
- Delivery - basic delivery of assets
- Add New - basic add new of assets
- Customer Audit
Follow On Tracking (FOT) Users
The app supports several Follow-On Tracking mobile actions:
- Asset Search - search for assets by tag and view asset details and history
- Move Asset - tracks customer movement of assets between their internal locations
- Record Weight/Volume - sets an asset volume or weight depending on asset type
Apple iOS Devices
iOS App Download
iOS Version Support Policy
Updated May 20, 2015. This policy will be reviewed quarterly to ensure customers' needs are being met.
Apple releases new major versions of iOS (e.g. iOS 7 to iOS 8) each year. See Wikipedia History of iOS for the exact schedule.
TrackAbout must choose how far back to support major versions of iOS. As time passes, it becomes increasingly expensive and eventually impossible to continue supporting apps on old versions of iOS. Apple forces the hand of developers by dropping support for older versions of iOS from their developer tools.
iPhones and iPads are consumer technology, and the pace of change in the consumer space is rapid. Whereas rugged enterprise devices are typically expected to have a useful service life of 5 years, consumer technology generally has a life-span of 2 years, 3 at the most.
TrackAbout is sensitive to the needs of its customers and does not wish to unduly prohibit use of the app by paying customers who haven't yet or cannot update their devices to the latest version of iOS.
Therefore, TrackAbout's iOS Version Support Policy balances these competing realities by:
- Supporting the last two major releases (back to the most recent dot version of the older OS). For example, if iOS 8.3 is the latest version, TrackAbout supports iOS 8.X and iOS 7.1, which was the highest version in the 7.x series.
- Prompting users periodically to upgrade from within the TrackAbout app when a newer iOS version is available.
- Increasing TrackAbout's minimum requirements 6 months after Apple releases a new OS. New versions of iOS typically reach greater than 80% adoption within 6 months of release.
Operating System
- iOS version 7.1 or higher
iPhone
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 5
iPad
- iPad Air 2
- iPad mini 3
- iPad Air
- iPad mini 2
- iPad (4th generation)
- iPad mini
- iPad (3rd generation)
The TrackAbout application will work on iPad, but the design is not currently optimized to take advantage of the larger tablet screen.
iPod Touch
- iPod Touch 5th gen
Android Devices
Android App Download
Android Version Support Policy
Updated May 20, 2015. This policy will be reviewed quarterly to ensure customers' needs are being met.
Google increments the major version number of Android (e.g. Android 4.0 to Android 5.0) every 2-3 years. There is not a set schedule for major releases.
Google increments the minor version number of Android (e.g. Android 4.3 to 4.4, or 5.0 to 5.1) several times per year. The number of changes in a minor release has varied greatly.
Android major and minor releases are not predictable and therefore are not a good factor for TrackAbout to base its own Android version support policy. See Wikipedia's Android Version History for detailed timeline of Android's version history.
Google has an unwritten policy that states that its manufacturers should provide Android updates up to 18 months from a device's introduction date. However, some manufacturers (such as HTC) have been known to not follow this policy.
Different device manufacturers (Samsung, HTC, LG, etc) update their devices at different speeds. Traditionally, manufacturers have been slow to update devices, and have been known to abandon specific devices before 18 months. This leads to many more distinct active versions of Android than iOS.
Android phones and tablets are generally a consumer technology, and the pace of change in the consumer space is rapid. Whereas rugged enterprise devices are typically expected to have a useful service life of 5 years, consumer technology generally has a life-span of 2 years. There are a few rugged Android devices, and they tend to be a few Android versions behind at their release, putting them more in line with traditional rugged enterprise devices. TrackAbout expects more rugged Android devices in the future, and fewer based on Microsoft's technology.
TrackAbout is sensitive to the needs of its customers and does not wish to unduly prohibit use of the app by paying customers who haven't yet or cannot update their devices to the latest version of Android.
TrackAbout's Android Version Support Policy balances the competing realities by:
- Supporting Android versions that have 10% or greater market share according to Google's monthly statistics.
- Supporting rugged Android devices on a case-by-case basis and for as long as we reasonably can. Rugged device Android versions tend to lag consumer device versions and do not generally receive updates. It has been our experience that software development tooling changes and makes it prohibitively expensive to support old versions of Android.
Android Version Compatibility
- Android version 4.1 or higher
- A rear-facing camera with 2 megapixels or greater
- Minimum 1 GB RAM
Currently Supported Rugged Android Devices
- Zebra/Motorola TC55 (Android 4.1)
App Settings
On the main screen of the app tap "Settings"
- Server
- Hostname
- For production environment use:
www.trackabout.com - For test environment use:
test.trackabout.com
- For production environment use:
- Port:
443 - Use SSL Encryption should be on or checked
- Feedback
- If your device allows vibration you can choose to enable or disable this setting.
- About
- Make sure that you have the latest version of the app downloaded from the iTunes or Google Play stores depending on your device. Updating to the latest version of the app may resolve any issues or problems you may be experiencing with the app.
AWS Setup
The Smartphone app needs to be enabled in your instance. Call your sales contact for more pricing and details.
- The Support Team will enable the Smartphone in your instance.
- Mobile Roles Setup: Create and setup Mobile roles. Be sure to select the correct role purpose. The new role MUST select "Smartphone and Tablet"
- Setup Internal Users
- For each user requiring access, check the box TAMobile Android/iOS
- Also assign the TAMobile Rugged and TAMobile Desktop role and save
Tips & Tricks
iOS
Screen capture
- To capture screen in iOS device, hold the Home and Power buttons simultaneously. The snapshot will be saved in the Pictures.
Android
Screen capture
Screen capture exist natively but depends on the device manufacture
- Samsung Galaxy S3: Press and hold the Power button and the Home button at the same time
- Most others: Simultaneously press Volume Down + Power for 1 second