Trip Detection & Logging
Why does Commute Tracker request access to my location?
Commute Tracker makes it easy to track your commutes by automatically detecting when you've travelled between your home and work locations and prompting you to confirm such commute trips.
To do this as easily and accurately as possible, the app requests permission to access your phone's location data, even when you don't have the app open. In iOS, this means the app has background location permissions and in Android this is the “allow all the time / high accuracy” location permission.
The app also asks permission to use your location when you first open the app to determine if there are any public programs you are eligible to join, and to allow use of the "current location" feature in trip planning.
How is my location data used?
Your location data is used t detect when you have travelled between the home and work locations in your user profile to let you easily confirm commute trips, to provide data on your current location when this option is selected within the trip planner, and when you first open the app to determine if you are within the service area of any public programs you can join.
Your location data is evaluated by our systems for these and only these purposes and is quickly discarded when no longer need for these purposes. Phone location data is never made available in detailed form for reporting nor sold to 3rd parties
Can I disable always-on tracking?
If you would prefer to disable location-based commute tracking you can easily toggle this feature on and off from the dashboard of the CommuteTracker app:
For example, you may choose to enable and disable this feature at the beginning and end of each commute trip.
Can I deny location permissions and still use the app?
Without location permissions we will not be able to determine if there are any nearby programs you can join, are unable to detect when you have commuted to let you easily approve trips, and cannot find your current location for use in the trip planner.
You can still use the app without these location-related features by first creating an account via the web and connecting your account using your email and connect PIN.
Other features of the app, such as rewards and commute summary dashboards, will continue to function without location services enabled. Without location services, you can also manually log trips through the app or web platform and see them in the phone app.
If you have already given CommuteTracker location permissions here's how you can update your system-level settings:
- For iPhones, find “CommuteTracker” under Settings and edit the location settings.
- For Android, you can touch and hold the app icon to change your permission settings.
How long does it take for detected trips to appear?
In most cases, trips appear immediately after commuting. Sometimes it takes up to 30 minutes after the end of the commute for a detected trip to show up in the app. If you’ve commuted several times and are still not seeing any detected or expected trips, see the “Troubleshooting Detection Issues” section of our app documentation. You may have to reconfigure or reinstall the app. If the problem persists, please contact our app support team with your feedback and we’ll help resolve the issue.
What do the different detected trip colors mean?
When viewing the My Commutes list you’ll notice three different colors on your listed trips. Green trips have been confirmed by you, and there is nothing left to do. Yellow commutes have been detected by the app, but require your review and confirmation. If Commute Tracker misses automatically detecting a trip, you’ll see a gray-colored expected trip into your commute timeline, based on your typical commute habits. Expected trips can be confirmed just the same as detected commutes.
Can I use the app and the web platform simultaneously?
Absolutely! The app is designed to integrate seamlessly with the web platform, and you can use whichever platform you prefer to view your trips, log commutes, or use incentive programs. Trips the app detects will only be visible on the app until they are confirmed. Once you confirm a trip, it will be available on the web platform to edit or delete.
Why does Commute Tracker sometimes miss my commute?
While the Commute Tracker app is able to detect trips in most cases, there are occasionally situations where it is particularly difficult to detect trips. You may experienced missed trips if you …
- Have little or no cell service during your commute, or no GPS availability
- Have a significant distance between the street address of your workplace and the physical location you commute to
- Make a large number of stops between your origin and destination or spend a very long time (2.5 hours or longer) commuting in one direction
Commute Tracker missed a trip, can I still log that commute?
Yes! If Commute Tracker misses automatically detecting a trip, the app will add a grey-colored expected trip into your commute timeline, based on your typical commute habits, that you can confirm like any other. If there’s no gray-colored trip for a particular day, you can manually create one.
Simply click the “+” button, complete the trip information and we’ll insert a trip for you on the specified date and time.
Missed trips can also be logged using web browser via your program’s web platform.
My trip data is inaccurate, what should I do?
While we strive to be as accurate as possible, in some cases the app may detect a trip where none occurred, or show incorrect data for a trip. If the app detects a non-existent trip, simply tap on the trip and select Delete Trip. Due to the inherent inaccuracy of phone data, the app may occasionally show incorrect times or distances for trips. If the trips are off by a negligible amount, you may still accept the trip and we’ll strive to improve our accuracy. If the displayed values don’t reasonably represent what really happened, you should reject the trip. If your app frequently detects trips that are significantly different from your actual commute please let us know.
General Troubleshooting Tips
Make sure the app has proper permissions to detect trips.
Having background location permissions is essential to detecting trips.
- For iOS (Apple) users, make sure that the Commute Tracker has the “always” permission set for Location in app settings.
- For Android users, make sure the app has “High Accuracy” location permissions
In the app menu, go to the Profile section.
Tap the Settings icon, then navigate to Edit Profile > Home Address and ensure that your physical home and work addresses appear and are correct.
Make sure your phone is fully charged when commuting. Many phones turn off or reduce the accuracy of location features when the phone is low on battery. Before reporting an issue, see if you can reproduce the problem when the phone is at high battery.
Check to ensure that your phone’s software is up to date. Make sure you're on the latest version of your device's operating system and that you have the most recent version of Commute Tracker installed.
Still experiencing issues? Contact our support team - be sure to include your device make and model, OS version, the site you're connected to (found on your Profile tab) and the version of CommuteTracker you're running (found at the bottom of the Settings screen.)
Technical Requirements
How much data does Commute Tracker use?
Our team has made accurately tracking commute trips with minimal data and battery use a top priority. Commute Tracker uses an extremely low amount network data to transmit commute data to our servers. As with any app, network load will vary with usage patterns, but even with every-day trip tracking you should only see mere megabytes of data usage.
Will automatic commute tracking drain my battery?
Absolutely not! As mentioned above, efficiency is a top priority. (It goes along with our company’s vision of more efficient transportation!) Testing has shown that typical Commute Tracker usage results in low single-digit battery usage, with some users showing less than 1% daily impact. If your experiences don’t match this, contact our support team and we’ll be happy to help.
Why do you need my exact home address?
The app detects commute trips, which are trips between your home and office. In order to properly detect trips between these two locations, the app needs to know their addresses. Because we use high-accuracy location detection, it’s important to put the exact street address, to the highest degree of accuracy possible. Per our privacy policy, we do not use your address for anything other than the express purpose of detecting trips, nor do we share it with marketers or other third parties.
Because the app uses your exact street address to detect trips, it’s not sufficient to use just the city or county name as your home address. These locations correspond to a single point at the center of the city or county, and the app will fail to detect trips if you use these as your locations.
I don’t see my address listed, what should I do?
When entering your address for home or work locations, a list of autocomplete suggestions pops up with locations that the app recognizes. If your address is not among those listed, select the closest street address to your home address that the app recognizes and send us an email with the missing address.
Because the app uses your exact street address to detect trips, it’s not sufficient to use just the city or county name as your home address. These locations correspond to a single point at the center of the city or county, and the app will fail to detect trips if you use these as your locations.