[Support Center] Most Popular Articles

Is my phone supported?

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 04:16:26 GMT

AccuTracking can only work on phones with GPS that are accessible by third-party applications. The following table shows the compatibility by platforms. We don't support Windows Phone 7 and iPhone because neither allows background applications.

Phone Platform	Supported Models
Android	All models are supported.
Motorola iDEN	Most i### series models with built-in GPS. See detailed list below.
Blackberry	Most Blackberries with GPS. See detailed list below.
Windows Mobile 5.0 to 6.5	Most WM phones with GPS.
Symbian	Limited supported. Some models work with our "Generic Java" version.
Windows Phone 7	Not supported.
iPhone	Not supported.
Other Java Phones	May work with our "Generic Java" version.

Supported Phones:

Motorola iDEN Phones (by Boost Mobile, Sprint/Nextel): i265, i290, i296, i335, i355, i415, i425, i450, i455, i465, i560, i570, i576, i580, i605, i670, i680, i710, i730, i733, i736, i760, i776, i830, i833, i835, i836, i850, i855, i860, i870, i875, i880. Other recently released ixxx phones with GPS might also work. They are being added to this list after we test them or users confirm working.

Blackberry Phones with Built-in GPS: 7520, 7100i, 8110/8130 (Pearl), 8230(Pearl Flip), 8310/8330/8330m/8530/8900 (Curve), 8350i, 8800, 8820, 8830, 9000 (Bold), 9100/9105(Pearl 3G), 9300 (Curve 3G), 9500 (Storm), 9520 (Storm2), 9530 (Storm), 9550 (Storm2), 9630(Tour), 9650(Bold), 9700/9780 (Bold, Hardware bug. See section 11 here for details.), 9800 (Torch). Also possible on 7130e, 8703e. Blackberry Phones with Bluetooth GPS: AccuTracking also works on Blackberries with external Bluetooth GPS provided that the Blackberry phone firmware version is v4.2 or later

(Note: BlackBerry Pearl has 4 different models: 8100, 8110, 8120, 8130, of which only 8110 and 8130 have built-in GPS. BlackBerry Curve also has different models: 8300, 8310, 8320, 8330, 8830m, 8520, 8530, 8900, of which only 8310, 8330, 8830m, 8530, 8900 have built-in GPS. Other models need external Bluetooth GPS)

Windows Mobile Phones: HP hw6915, hw6925, hw6945, HTC Touch Pro, HTC Tilt 8925, HTC Mogul/XV6800/PPC6800/P4000/P6500, Moto Q9 series, BlackJack II (SGH-i617). Also possible on: HTC Touch, HTC 5800/Fusion/S720, Moto Q# seriers with built-in GPS, Palm Treo 700w/700wx, UTStarcom PPC-6700/XV-6700/HTC Apache.

Android Phones: All Android phones in the market (or almost all - cannot list all models due to numerous Android phones introduced but we haven't found one that's not compatible yet).

Supported Carriers:

It doesn't matter which carrier carries the above phones. Any carrier carrying the above phones should work (except Verizon. See below). The network (GSM, iDEN, CDMA...) doesn't matter either as long as they can provide the Internet data plan (GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, UMTS, or HSPA...) for the phone. You'll need to get the data plan from your carrier for AccuTracking to transmit data over the Internet.

Carrier examples: Nextel (US/Mexico), Boost Mobile, AT&T/Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Southern LINC, Telus MIKE (Canada).

To install the AccuTracking software on Canadian iDEN phones, you'll have to use a USB data cable and iDENJAL loader software.

Verizon is known to block the GPS access requests from third party applications on Blackberry phones (their Android phones has no such issue). Only their own and their partner's applications can access GPS. So even if Verizon carries the above phones, they might still not work. For details, please see article 1, article 2, article 3... [Latest update Dec 2008 - Good UNOFFICIAL news for Verizon users]: Verizon BB Storm unblocks GPS and works with AccuTracking; Verizon BB Curve 8330 and Pearl 8130 unblock GPS with BB OS 4.5.0.77 and up. Note this news is unofficial and not confirmed by Verizon so your phone may still have GPS blocked and won't work.

Some AT&T phones (for example BlackJack II) also have GPS disabled. To enable it, please download AT&T Navigator and activate it with a pin code. After that, GPS will be unlocked for third party applications like AccuTracking and Google Maps.

For other carriers that disable GPS by default, you can enable GPS by running their "supported" GPS program (For example, Telenav) first. After that, GPS will be unlocked for third party applications like AccuTracking.

Supported Countries:

If any of the above supported phones is carried by the phone company in your country and they provide data plan for the phone, AccuTracking should work. We have users from outside US: Canada, Mexico, Israel, Singapore, UK etc.

OK my phone is supported! Now what?!

Check the AccuTracking requirements, then follow the installation guide to install the AccuTracking software and start tracking. The first month tracking service is FREE.

Covert tracking: can AccuTracking be hidden from the phone user?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:48:27 GMT

The short answer: kind of. On Motorola phones (by Nextel & Boost Mobile), it can be set to be auto-start in background and un-killable; on BlackBerry and Android phones it can be set to be auto-start in background and invisible .

Password Protection

There is a feature "password protection" in AccuTracking. When enabled, the password is required when performing the following actions:
1) Start AccuTracking. If the password is incorrect, the program won't show the main screen. Note the program is still running normally in this case, only the main screen is not showing up.
2) Bring AccuTracking from background to foreground. If the password is incorrect, the program main screen won't show up.

Note however, the user can still brutally kill any running application, even shut off the phone.

1. Covert on Motorola iDEN i### series phones

AccuTracking can be set as a "Full-Time App" (on most iDEN models since 2007), which auto starts on phone power-up, and runs in the background covertly.

From the phone idle screen, press "menu" key, then go to "Games & Apps" (or "Java Apps" on some model)
Enter the following key sequence: *159#
You will be prompted for an administrator PIN. The first time this menu is invoked, the default PIN is '0000'. You will be prompted to create a new PIN in this case. This PIN is separate from any other PINs on the device
Go to "Full-Time App"on the next screen, then select "AccuTracking" and press "DONE".
Remember to also enable the Password Protection as shown in section above.

It takes a few key stokes to find out "AccuTracking" running in the background but because it's a "Full Time App", the phone won't let you kill it from the phone menu and it'll keep running.

2. Covert on BlackBerry

On BlackBerry, AccuTracking can be installed hidden from the phone screen (no icon), and auto start covertly in the background when phone powers up. However, AccuTracking will still show up on the installed program list (Options > Advanced Options > Applications) on the phone and can be uninstalled from there (another however, if you install with JavaLoader, it won't show up there and is 100% covert. You'll have to figure out how to use JavaLoader yourself! :-) ). To use this version on your BlackBerry, download and install the regular version first, then configure and run the program to make sure tracking working (because once the covert version is installed, there's no way to configure it), then install the "covert" version on top of the regular version to hide it (the installation guide).

For the covert version, there's no way to change configuration or perform troubleshooting because there's no screen message or window. The only way to configure it is to install the regular version again on top of the existing covert version.

3. Covert on Android

We have a covert version for Android as well. It has no icon, runs in background, and auto starts with the phone. However, AccuTracking will still show up on the installed program list on the phone and can be uninstalled from there. And the user will see the flashing satellite icon on the notification bar indicating the phone's GPS is active. The covert version is not published to Google's Android Market so you'll have to download and install from our website.

Note that you'll have to power cycle (press HOME+BACK buttons) the phone to start the AccuTracking once it's installed because there's no icon to manually start it. It'll ask you for the tracking settings after reboot. This is the only chance you'd be able to enter your "Sending Interval", "Tracker ID" etc. Later on, the setting screen (and the whole AccuTracking application) won't show up ever again (the installation guide).

4. Covert on Windows Mobile

Since v2.4.0, AccuTracking for Windows Mobile has a new setting "Hidden Mode". In hidden mode, the program runs in the background covertly and will NOT show up in the "Task Manager" list. But to make it auto start when the phone powers on, you'll have to create a shortcut in the "Windows Startup Menu" folder.

Note:

All the covert versions above still have "AccuTracking" as the application name, which may show up on the "Installed Program List" on the phone. A renamed version is available upon request
The phone user may notice the battery life decrease with covert version running in the background.

Will it work in the car trunk, indoors, underground? What is cell tower fix? Network location?

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:46:01 GMT

It varies on vehicle make and models. It does work on many cars (in the trunk, under the hood) but you should always test with your vehicle. Use the locations in the picture at the bottom of this page as reference. Your car may vary.

Because the phone picks up GPS signals from the satellites like other satellite systems (DirectTV for instance), it won't be able to get GPS positions while being indoors, underground or in tunnels. However, when used in car/truck, you can put it inside the glove box, it should have no problem getting positions. Keep in mind, your phone GPS chipset needs to "see" the satellites to work.

In downtown areas with high-rises around, due to poor sky view and signal reflection on the buildings, you may not get a GPS fix or get it with big margin of errors.

Cell Tower Fix

"Cell Tower Fix" option is available in the phone software (Motorola iDEN i### series phones only. Not available on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile). When this option is enabled and the phone cannot get a GPS fix from the satellites (because the phone is indoors or has poor sky view), it will then report the location of the cell tower it uses. When you view the tracking data online, these "cell tower fix" records will appear as red text on tracking history page.

Note: The location reported by cell tower fix is the location of the cell tower, NOT the location of the phone. It can be miles away from the actual location of the phone. Don't rely on it for the actual position of the phone because it only tells you the cell tower the phone is using at that moment. The phone can alternatively use different towers from time to time even it is staying in one place.

How does it work with geofence and speed alerts

Cell tower locations are not considered as your phone locations and are ignored when comparing with your preset geofences. Otherwise, it would trigger false alarms of your geofences, because the difference between the locations of your phone and the cell tower.

There is no speed data associated with cell tower locations so cell tower locations are ignored by speed alerts.

How does it work in reports

Cell tower locations are not considered as your phone locations and are ignored in tracking reports.

Tips:

"Cell tower fix" option is recommended to be set unchecked unless you would like to know the rough area the phone resides (for instance, you want to know roughly which town the stolen car is in order to file a police report, when the car is hidden inside the garage hence not able to get a satellite GPS fix).

To change the "Cell tower fix" option on the phone, from the AccuTracking main screen, press "menu key" on the keypad, then select "Setup..." > "Cell tower fix".

Network Location

"Use Network Location" option is available on the AccuTracking app for Android phones (Not available on other phones). When this option is enabled and the phone cannot get a GPS fix from the satellites (because the phone is indoors or has poor sky view), it will use the Google Location Services to acquire your rough location. When you view the tracking data online, these "network location" records will appear as green text on tracking history page.

Note: The location acquired this way can be as accurate as the GPS fixes but there are still times you see it way off.

How does it work with geofence and speed alerts

Network locations are ignored when comparing with your geofences, because overall it's not as accurate as GPS fixes.

There is no speed data associated with network locations so network locations are ignored by speed alerts.

How does it work in reports

Network locations are considered the same as your GPS locations in tracking reports.

Tips:

"Use Network Location" option is recommended to be set checked unless you get lots of false locations and geofence alerts.

To change the "Use Network Location" option on the phone, from the AccuTracking main screen, press "menu key" on the keypad, then select "Setup..." > "Use Network Location".

Car installation considerations:

- The built-in battery can last about 8~12 hours for tracking. You might need hard-wire the phone to the car battery for longer operation. Our online store has the 12V Car Socket that can help with this.

- For covert purpose, you might want to mute the phone and forward all incoming calls.

- A water-proof case is a plus: for example a Ziploc bag.

Reference locations for car installation

Can I receive tracking alerts on my cell phone? How?

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 04:16:58 GMT

Yes. To receive tracking alerts (geofence alert, speed alert, battery alert, inactivity alert, inside fence duration alert), just login to your AccuTracking account, then go to "Account" > "General" > "Account Settings":

1) Set "Alert Preferences" to "SMS", and
2) Enter the correct "SMS Email" for your phone.

What's SMS Email?

To send SMS geofence alerts to your cell phone, AccuTracking uses Email to SMS Gateway provided by most cell phone providers. The SMS Email is your phone's email address, which is just like a normal email address, but any message sent to it will be relayed to your cell phone. The table below lists some popular cell phone companies' SMS email addresses. For other providers or countries, please check with your provider. Or search it on Google. (A reference page)

Important: If you installed AccuTracking on phone A, you need to input the SMS Email of phone B. If you use the SMS Email of phone A, it will be receiving the alerts on itself!

Package 1, 2, 3, and TLC: what's the difference?

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:50:36 GMT

Besides the Package 1 tracking features, Package 2 includes the following extra features:

- Tracking reports: daily mileage, stops, transits, time and speed statistics.
- Support MapPoint Add-in, which enables you to track the phone from the Microsoft MapPoint software on your PC.
- Support AccuTracking Data Push to external URL, which sends realtime data to your own server in XML or JSON format.

Package 3 has the following extra feature besides those of Package 2:

- Travel reports with street addresses instead of lat/lon. Click "Reports" after logging into AccuTracking account, then choose "Travel (Address)" from the report type dropdown list.
- Geofence report.
- State mileage report (US only).

Package TLC is a special service offered to the New York City Taxi and Limousine industry to meet the requirements of "Paratransit Electronic Record System" established by NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). To use Package TLC, you'll need the special TLC version of the AccuTracking phone software (currently supports Motorola i### phones only).

See the package feature comparison chart for details.

You can change your package online anytime: after login, click "Account", then click "Account Settings" and change package there.

Does the GPS tracking work during a phone call? Or vice versa?

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 21:13:35 GMT

Data and voice communication cannot work simultaneously on non-3G phones or on a 3G phone with no 3G coverage. During the phone call, GPS data is still collected but cannot be sent to the server. The data is cached during the call and will be sending out after the call.

On the other hand, if the data channel is used on non-3G phones or on a 3G phone with no 3G coverage, you would not be able to use voice (call/walkie-talkie).

This is a limit from your phone, not from AccuTracking.

What's the minimum requirements to use AccuTracking? What data plan is required?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:41:12 GMT

You need:

a supported phone, and
a data plan (or equivalent network plan if outside of US), and
The AccuTracking software has to be installed and running on the phone.

Data Plan Details:

Data plan is required because the phone needs to send out the GPS data to our servers so you can view them online in real time. For details of how AccuTracking works, please see here.

For Boost Mobile phones: "Web Features" with their Pay-As-You-Go plan is needed. You can add that when activating the phone;
For other phones, an Internet plan is needed.

If GPS is blocked on your phone, AccuTracking won't be able to get location information

Take the phone to an open area with a good view of sky. GPS usually doesn't work indoors and doesn't work well in downtown streets surrounded by high buildings.

How does speeding alert work? How to set the speed limit?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:14:33 GMT

You can set a speed limit for each phone so when the phone moves faster that that, you receive an alert via email or SMS message.

To set the speed limit, click "Manage Units", on the list of units, click "Speed Limit" to set the limit.

Note: The alert preferences need to be set to at least one of the two options "Email" or "SMS" on account setting page: "Account" > "General" > "Account Settings".

How much does it cost?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:37:40 GMT

Besides the AccuTracking service fee, you pay your phone carrier for the Internet data plan.

Data Plan Costs:

- Regular (post-paid) phones:

Data plan prices for post-paid phones vary. Some carriers charge a flat fee for unlimited data, some others charge per MB data. Please check with your carrier.

- Boost Mobile pre-paid phones:

The required plan is named "Web Features" in their Pay-As-You-Go plan, which costs 50 cents a day, which is $15.00/month.

In a nutshell, your total monthly cost for one phone would be (with the $5.99 AccuTracking package):

For Boost Mobile pre-paid phones: ~$20.99.

Non-Boost phones: $5.99 on top of your regular calling and data plan.

The AccuTracking software is free to download.

How to forward the incoming calls to another number?

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:22:57 GMT

On most iDEN phones (Motorola i### series), press the menu key on the phone keypad, then choose "Call Forward" (on some models like i415, you might need to press "More" first to get to the next page).

How to add a tracking map to my Facebook profile or Facebook page?

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 03:22:06 GMT

AccuTracking GPS Tracking for Facebook allows you to add a tracking map to your Facebook profile or Facebook page, so your friends can view your latest position.

Add to Facebook Profile

Click here for the application, if you haven't logged into Facebook it'll ask you to login.
Click "Allow" on the "Allow Access" page.
Enter your "AccuTracking Key" on the next page. To find out the "AccuTracking Key", login to your AccuTracking account, then click "Manage Units", then click "Show" under "Sticker", and on next page scroll down, the "AccuTracking Key" is displayed in section 7.
Click "Add to Profile" button to add the tracking map to either "Wall" page or "Boxes" page. Your friends can view your position on these pages.

To change the "AccuTracking Key", click "Applications" on the lower left corner of your facebook page, then choose "AccuTracking GPS Tracking", scroll down to the bottom of the page (below the tracking map), enter your new key there.

Add to Facebook Page

Login to your Facebook account, search for Application by keyword "AccuTracking" and click "Add to my Page". Choose the page you'd like to add AccuTracking to.
On your Facebook page, click "Edit Page" link.
On the "Edit Page" page, click "Applications".
Click "Go to Application" under "AccuTracking".
Enter your "AccuTracking Key" on the next page. To find out the "AccuTracking Key", login to your AccuTracking account, then click "Manage Units", then click "Show" under "Sticker", and on next page scroll down, the "AccuTracking Key" is displayed in section 7.
Go back to your Facebook page. "AccuTracking" tab should appear on your Facebook Page with a map showing your latest location.

How do I install AccuTracking on a Nextel iDEN phone?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:20:00 GMT

To install AccuTracking on a Nextel iDEN phone, you will need to install from the Nextel Mobile Application Manager (MAM) page. The installation guide is HERE.

How accurate is it?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:32:52 GMT

The average GPS accuracy for cell phones is about the same as other popular GPS receivers, which is about 50 feet >90% of time. It usually pinpoints the phone within 10~200 feet. In rare cases (<5% of time) it can go up to 500 feet.

The main cause of big GPS drifting is the GPS signal "multi-path" issue caused by the reflection of the surrounding objects like buildings, trees, other ground structures, or bad weather (clouds). If you see frequent *big* GPS jumps, it could also be hardware related: the battery level surge, dying battery, or internal GPS chipset issue.

In very rare cases, you may see "huge flying" showing your location is hundreds of miles away or in the middle of ocean. This indicates either a severe reflection of the GPS signal by the buildings/skyscrapers, heavy clouds, or the sudden power surge (check if the battery is dying). And lastly, the GPS hardware could be failing. If the phone is installed in vehicle, please make sure it's not overheated by the engine (use isolation, or keep it away from the engine).

What is AccuTracking, GPS tracking, cell phone tracking? How does AccuTracking work?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:40:56 GMT

AccuTracking is a low cost online GPS tracking service using your cell phone to track the current location of your mobile clients. It helps you monitor your vehicles, family members or employee. You can view the live position of your phone on our website, get email or SMS alerts when the client enters/leaves the preset areas, or exceeds the preset speed limit. You can also embed the live map into your own website using our "web sticker". There are many other features that can help you better track the clients. Please see our online demo and feature list for more details.

We support some Nextel iDEN phones, BlackBerry phones, and WM phones.

The definition of GPS from the Merriam-Webster dictionary is "a navigational system using satellite signals to fix the location of a receiver on or above the earth's surface. GPS tracking can be used for locating children, vehicle or other targets. Cell phone tracking uses either communication network or GPS to locate a cellular phone. AccuTracking uses GPS.

How It Works

The AccuTracking system includes two parts:
1. The AccuTracking client software installed on your cell phone (Installation Guide);
2. The web site (http://www.accutracking.com) that provides phone location mapping and other trip data monitoring online.

The phone turns on the phone, runs the AccuTracking client software, the program will then send the phone location periodically to the server (the sending interval is customizable on the phone). You can then view the phone location and other collected data (speed, heading, and phone status) online. All tracking data are kept for 30 days on the server so you can view the tracking history for up to 30 days back.

I got false geofence alert emails/SMS.

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:43:30 GMT

Due to the fluctuation of the GPS signal, you should not set your fence radius too small. We recommend setting greater than 500 feet. Less than that will trigger lots of false alarms.

With 500 feet fence, you could still get 1 or 2 false alarms if there are any factors that cause more GPS drifting in your area (high buildings, thick clouds, storms...). In such cases, you should increase the fence radius.

How do I recharge my account? My tracking suddenly stopped working.

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:41:48 GMT

To have the tracking work, you need:

1) AccuTracking service subscription is not expired, and
2) Your phone's data plan is active with Nextel or Boost Mobile. For Boost Mobile phones, this means you need to have calling credit available.

Therefore, to recharge your account:

1) AccuTracking service 1) above can be recharged online with major credit cards. Login to your account at www.accutracking.com , click "Account" > "Billing" > "View, Recharge Account".

2) For Boost phones (for example i415), you can check your prepaid calling credit by any of the following way:
- visiting "My Account" from 'Re-Boost' from your phone main menu, or
- dialing BAL (225) from your phone, or
- visting "Re-Boost & Rates" from the Wireless Web on your phone, or
- visiting "My Account" on www.boostmobile.com from your PC to see the balance.
To recharge, you can buy the recharge card (called re-boost card) from your local 7-Eleven or CVS store or recharge online at www.boostmobile.com.

Note: Boost Mobile has an expiration policy for prepaid credit. Any credit that is not used up in 3 months is forfeited. For tracking you only use about $30 in 3 months. So don't prepay Boost Mobile for more than $30 one time .

What is tracking report? How accurate is it?

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:48:28 GMT

If you are subscribed to Package 2 or up, there is a "Report" feature. You can get the following reports within a specified time range:

- Tracking Summary Report. This will show the total mileage, total transit time, total stop time, number of stops, average transit time, average stop time, and max speed for each unit.

- Travel Report. This gives the detailed travel and stop report including begin time, end time, duration, coordinates, max speed, and mileage.

- Travel Report with Address (Package 3 only). This report is the same as the Travel Report above except for showing addresses instead of coordinates.

- Geofence Report (Package 3 only) - shows begin time, end time, duration, max speed, and mileage when inside and out of fences.

- State Mileage Report (US only. Package 3 only) - shows mileage inside each state, first time in the state, last time in the state. Mileages are grouped by each state and by each unit. Useful for fuel tax purpose.

Cell tower locations obtained by "Cell Tower Fix" are not included in the reports as they are not the real position of the phone.

The accuracy of the report can be affected by:

1. The data sending interval setting on the phone. The shorter the sending interval is, the more accurate the report is. Recommend setting to 5 minutes or less for better report results.

2. The GPS and network quality. For poor GPS signal, the phone may not be able to acquire the position all the time and skip the data. For poor network coverage, the phone may not able to send out the data all the time.

Can I track the phone from my another phone, PDA?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:46:13 GMT

Yes, you can track from any phone with a web browser. It can be a PDA, BlackBerry, Pocket PC (PPC, SmartPhone), Palm, or any WAP 1.1 compatible phone from any carrier (Cingular, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon...). Just open the browser on the phone and go to the AccuTracking Mobile site: http://mobile.accutracking.com (for a demo, use username "demo" with password "demo").

Tip: How to do that on i415: from the phone idle screen, press "menu" key on the keypad, then "Web" > "Web Search" > "Enter Site", then enter the AccuTracking Mobile site.

Tip: You might see "Map size too big" message when accessing tracking site on a Boost phone. This is because the Boost Mobile's Internet gateway has a size limit for WAP images. To reduce the map image size, just go to http://mobile.accutracking.com from your phone browser, then click "Settings" link, and choose "XS" for the map size.

How do I set the AccuTracking to auto start when phone powers up?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:42:35 GMT

On most iDEN phones, you can set power up applications under "Menu" -> "Settings" -> " Personalize" -> " Power Up" -> "AccuTracking". For other phone models, please refer to the phone's manual. There's another way to set it auto start covertly. Please see here for details.

On BlackBerry phones, from the AccuTracking main screen, press the menu key and choose "Setup...", then check off "Auto Start on Powerup" option. A covert version is also available here.

On Windows Mobile phones, add a shortcut to AccuTracking to the system Startup folder.

On Android phones, from the AccuTracking main screen, press "Settings", then check off "Auto Start on Powerup" option. A covert version is also available, please see the install guide.

How much data bandwidth does AccuTracking use?

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:12:59 GMT

Each sending is about 800 bytes. The data bandwidth it uses each month will depend on your sending interval setting, as well as the phone signal level. When the phone is in poor signal area, it'll perform retrials on data transmission to correct transmission errors, thus increase the bandwidth usage significantly.

Therefore if you have a metered data plan, you should always test your usage in your area for a few days with a bigger plan, then go to a small plan if there's no over-usage.

What's the return policy for the starter kit?

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 20:43:31 GMT

Please see Shipping & Returns at our online store.

I am not getting the geofence alerts, or not getting them on time.

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:42:22 GMT

There might be several reasons for not receiving geofence alerts or getting them late:

1) The most common reason is that the SMS Email address you specified in "Account Settings" for receiving the SMS alerts is incorrect so the alerts were not able to be delivered to your phone. Login to your AccuTracking account, click "Alerts", if you can see the alerts history there but didn't receive any on your phone, the SMS Email in your account setting is likely wrong. SMS Email address looks like 4151234567@mycingular.com. Common mistakes includes using a non 10 digit phone number in front of the @, or other typo. To test: try to send a short email to the SMS email address from your regular email address (Yahoo, Hotmail) and see if you receive the message on the phone.

2) The fence needs to be "enabled". Make sure the "enabled" checkbox is checked on fence page: "Account" > "Useful Shortcuts" > "Manage Fences".

3) The alert preferences need to be set to at least one of the two options "Email" or "SMS" on account setting page: "Account" > "General" > "Account Settings".

4) The fences can only be calculated when new GPS data is reported by the phone. So if you have the "sending interval" too long or the phone is not reporting because of bad GPS signal or poor network coverage, the server may not get the new GPS data.

5) The cached GPS positions and cell tower positions are ignored when calculating the fence alerts.

6) The delay of the Email or SMS system.

How can I track my phones in Google Earth in real time?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:54:38 GMT

AccuTracking Network Link enables you to track in Google Earth in real time (auto refresh the latest phone positions). For details, please login to AccuTracking website (click "DEMO" and login as demo if you don't already have an account), click "Manage Units", then click "Show" under "Sticker". The Google Earth Network Links are in section 5 of the page.

One is for the latest positions only; the other is for history data.

This feature is available in Package 2 only.

How can I cancel, remove, delete, close my AccuTracking username/account?

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:43:01 GMT

Our service is pay-as-you-go based, which means you won't be automatically charged when your account credit is used up. So keeping the account open does not cost anything after the subscription is over. You can just recharge your account when you come back later and decide to use the service again.

In case you do want to cancel, remove, delete, close your account, please login to your account, then click "Account" then "Close my account" link. It'll then ask for account information before permanently removing your account from our system.

Note: to uninstall the AccuTracking software on the phone as well, please see here.

I get "No fix. Waiting..." message on the phone.

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 02:44:54 GMT

"No fix. Waiting..." message means the phone cannot fix the position with the satellite. This could be because the satellite view was blocked by the buildings or other obstacles surrounding the phone (for example skyscrapers in downtown), or the GPS permission setting on the phone is denying GPS access.

Troubleshooting Steps:

Check GPS permissions on the phone.

For Motorola iDEN i### series phones (Nextel, Boost Mobile phones):
- Press the menu button, select "GPS"->"Privacy"->"Unrestricted". This will allow Java programs to access the GPS chipset.
- Press the "menu" key and go to "Games & Apps" (you may need to select "More" before seeing "Games & Apps"), highlight "AccuTracking", then press "menu" key again, select "Permissions" and make sure "Location" is set to "Always"
For Blackberry phones:
Check "Options" > "Location Based Services" > "GPS Services" > "Location ON". Then go to "Settings" > "Options" > "Security Options" > "Application Permissions". Highlight the item for "AccuTracking", press the menu key, and select "Edit Permissions". Highlight the "Connections" item, press the menu key, and select "Expand". Make sure the Location (GPS) item is set to "Allow".
Try to move to a different place with a good view of the sky and hold the phone for a few minutes. When it gets a position fix, the screen will show "Sending...", then "Sent TIMESTAMP". Your position can be viewed online now.
If the phone still cannot get a fix, try to use the built-in GPS application that comes with the phone and see if it works. If it doesn't, this could be a GPS hardware issue. On Boost Mobile phones, the built-in GPS application can be found under "menu" > "More" > "More" > "GPS".

Note: If the phone GPS chipset has not been used for a long time (days or weeks), particularly in the case of new phones, the first GPS fix is usually tough to get and takes quite some time (minutes even hours). The reason is the phone needs to wait for the satellite almanac updating data from the satellite broadcast stream (satellite almanac data change from time to time and expires automatically after a few hours). Once the first fix is acquired, the phone GPS chipset caches the latest almanac data and use them in the following GPS fixes. So the following fixes should be pretty quick.

Tip to get the first fix faster:

1) Have the phone stay in one place with a good view of the sky and don't move till it gets the first GPS fix. If the phone is moving while it tries the first GPS fix (for example, in a moving car), it'll be harder to get the first fix.

2) Force the phone to flush the old almanac data and obtain the new almanac by powering cycle the phone. When the phone GPS chipset has an outdated copy of almanac data and uses it as the basis for the following GPS fixes, it can take much longer for the phone to acquire a fix because the almanac data is wrong. "Wrong almanac is worse than no almanac". This can happen when the phone was used outdoors, then turned off, and next time is powered on with no sky view (indoors, underground). In this case, restarting the phone will clear the outdated almanac and obtain a refresh copy from the satellites.

For more technical background on almanac data and why the first GPS fix is slower, see here.

Question: I installed the phone in the car and it worked well for a few days, then stopped tracking. I then took the phone out and it worked again. I put it back into cars, it kept working. My car hasn't moved a bit so I think the sky view didn't change. How come?

Answer: The key to understand this is "the first fix is the hardest to get and requires better view of sky than the following fixes" (see the note above). So when you install in the car, it already had the first fix. Even with a bit poorer sky view in the car, it can still get the following fixes. However, at some point the sky view went to a point that the phone lost fix for some time and requires new satellite almanac data for a fix. It could never get its first fix, because the first fix requires higher quality of sky view. Until you took out the phone again with a better sky view it was able to get the first fix again. When you put it into the car again, it'll keep fixing till it loses fix again.

Also, the sky view varies on the clouds, weather, trees, reflections from buildings etc., even the phone is staying in one spot.