Help: SpotWalla App

Installing & Configuring

If you're one of the restricted users, click this link to install the app from Google Play:

After the installation is complete, open the app. The first time the app starts you will be prompted to grant the permissions required to function properly. This includes:

Location - Allow the app to access your precise location all the time. It's extremely important to allow the precise location. Otherwise, some locations may be discarded by the accuracy filter which will compromise the app's tracing capabilities.

Camera - Allow the app to access your camera, photos and videos while using the app.

Notifications - Allow the app to send notifications.

Here are some other device settings that may affect the app's ability to function properly:

Battery Optimization - We recommend allowing the app to have unrestricted battery usage as well as usage in the background.

Data Saver - If you've enabled Data Saver on your phone, we recommend excluding the app.

Using the App

Basic Usage

The first time the app starts, you'll see the login page. If you already have a SpotWalla account, enter your email address and password. If you don't have an account, you can create one.

Clicking the Create Account button will display the account page. All fields are required. Your first and last names will not be shared with other users. Your username may be shared so if anonymity is paramount, don't use a username that identifies you.

Please use a real email address. It's how we'll communicate with you. We don't spam our users and it will not be shared with third parties. Your password can be anything, but if security concerns you, and it should, we recommend using a secure password.

Once you login you'll see the control/options page. This is where you'll configure the app, start/stop tracking/tracing, view the status page and perform other tasks when needed.

The first step is to choose an existing device or create one. Clicking the Select or Create a Device button will display this page:

If you have devices, they will be listed above the Use The Selected Device button. You can choose any device in your account. If you want to create a new device, simply enter a name for the device and click the Create a Device button. Whether selecting or creating a device, you'll wind up back on the control page where you'll see the device.

Now that your device is selected, you can turn on tracking and/or tracing. When tracking mode is enabled, the app will send your current location every 5 minutes. When tracing is enabled, the app will send your location whenever a valid GPS location is received. Under the right circumstances, tracing will produce a detailed, turn-by-turn trace of the route traveled.

If you enable tracing, tracking will be enabled as well. But if you enable tracking, tracing will not be enabled.

When tracking/tracing are enabled, you can view real-time stats on the status page:

At the top of the page your current speed, elevation and direction will be displayed. Below that information is:

Device ID - This is a unique identifier for your device and app installation. If you need to contact support, we may ask for this information if we're unable to determine it ourselves.
User - This is the email address of your SpotWalla account.
Buffered - All locations generated by the app are placed in a queue. This value is the number of locations on the queue waiting to be transmitted to SpotWalla. The background process responsible for processing the queue runs each minute and will process up to 100 locations.
Last Location - The coordinates of your last location.
Max Speed - This is max speed returned from your device. SpotWalla does not calculate your speed. It's returned as part of the location detail provided by your device.
Min/Max Elevation - This is the min/max elevation you encountered during the current tracking/tracing session.
Breadcrumb Interval - This is the configured tracking interval. You cannot change this value in the app or in your SpotWalla account. The default value is 5 minutes.
Distance Traveled - This is the distance the app calculates by summing the distance between consecutive locations. The distance formula is not controlled by the app. Instead, we ask the device to tell use the distance between the most recent location and the previous location. In our testing we've had excellent results - some optimistic and some pessimistic. However, this distance calculation is not as accurate as you'll get from a vehicle's odometer, a GPS or a quality mapping program.

The map will automatically pan/zoom to display your most recent location.

Sending a Custom Message

You can send a custom message at any time. Just tap the Send a Message button on the control page.

Choose the type of message you want to send. Optionally, you can include a text message. You can add a picture using the camera by tapping the Take a Photo button or select a photo from the photo library by tapping the Photo Library button.

When you're done, tap the Send this Message button. The app will determine your current location and add the message to queue.

Viewing/Sending Logs

The app keeps a log file of what it does and when it does it. If you're having issues with the app, we will ask you to submit the logs. You can also view the logs, but there's no need to do this unless you don't have anything better to do.

To submit the logs tap the Submit Logs button on the control page. When complete you'll see a dialog indicating it's complete and the number of bytes transferred.