iOS App Setup

Make sure you have uninstalled any previous version of Active911.

  1. Go to the App Store on your phone, and search for "Active911". Download and install it.

  2. Once the app is installed, open it and select OK on the Unregistered Device pop up. The first screen to appear will be the Alarms tab where it says Unregistered with Begin Receiving Alerts listed below.Select Being Receiving Alerts.

  3. This takes you to the Help page. Follow the instructions according to your situation.

    1. If you have your device code already, Select Settings on the center bottom of the screen.

    2. In the Settings screen, enter the device code next to where is says X Unregistered. After you enter the code, it will register your device.

Warning: A pop up will appear asking Allow "Active911" to access your location while you use the app? It is necessary for you to select Allow for the device to completely connect.

After you have allowed access to your location a pop up will appear that says Device Registered Successfully.

If you do not have a device code yet, you will need to log into your Active911 account and have an Administrator of the account add the device under your account's Devices tab. Make sure the Page Type is set to "Active911 for iOS".

Note: Only account admins or other users with view/edit permission on the Devices tab have access to this. If your device has already been added to a department account, you can find your code under the Dashboard tab and under the My Devices heading.

As a final check, have an Admin go back to your Active911 account and use the test button to test paging functionality. If everything worked, you will get a page.

iOS App Settings

Near the bottom right side of the screen is a gear icon. Selecting the gear icon will open the in-app settings menu.

Registration

This is where the device code is entered to register the device with Active911 servers.

Standard Settings

When the Precise Accuracy or Reduced Accuracy Background GPS options are enabled, the app will track the location of the device while the app is open or running in the background. The position of the device won’t be reported if the app is completely closed.

  • Precise Accuracy (Always on)

    • The app will ping the device for its GPS location at a higher frequency, providing more accurate position updates for the device. This option has the potential to consume a lot of battery. It was designed for use with department devices on apparatus that have a constant power source. This setting isn't recommended for use with personal devices.

  • Reduced Accuracy (Always on)

    • The app will ping the device for its GPS location at a lesser frequency than the High Accuracy option, and position updates will be slightly less accurate. It was designed for use with department devices that don't have a constant power source. This setting isn't recommended for use with personal devices.

  • Precise Accuracy for 15 min.

    • The app will ping the device for its GPS location at a higher frequency, providing more accurate position updates for the device for 15 minutes. Functionally, it turns on the precise location tracking for 15 minutes whenever an alert response is tapped and longer report location after 15 minutes.

  • Off

    • This will prevent the phone from being tracked while the app is running in the background or completely closed. This is the recommended setting for personal devices.

  • 30 seconds

  • 1 minute

  • 5 minutes

  • 30 minutes

  • None

  • Light

  • Night

  • Battalion Blue (Default)

  • Google

    • The routing provided in the Active911 in-app mapping system is provided by Google. We recommend using this option.

  • Apple

    • The routing provided in the Active911 in-app mapping system is provided by Apple.

This setting determines how long alerts will be stored within the app, unless they are manually deleted. EX: If you have the 1 Day option selected, alerts that are older than one cay will automatically be deleted. The options available include:

  • 1 Day

  • 3 Days

  • 1 Week

  • 2 Weeks

  • 1 Month

  • All Time - We don't recommend using this option. Storing large amounts of old alerts in the app on your device can negatively impact the Active911 app's performance.

Agency Specific Settings

  • On Duty

    • The default is on duty. When On duty is selected, the device will receive alerts

  • Off Duty

    • When Off duty is selected, the device will not receive any alerts unless a group is set to override shifts and filters or the device has filters set for certain calls to come through.

  • Auto

    • When the device has a shift set from the roster by an admin, a device can be set to Auto follow the shift schedule.

  • Off Duty but Available

    • When selected, you will only receive alerts when you are within 5 miles of the location of the alert.

The selection made for this setting will determine how the app notifies your device of new chat messages received for that agency. Your device will only receive notifications for chat groups it is a part of.

  • None

    • Your device will receive chat messages, but your device won't be notified of new chat messages.

  • Closed

    • Your device will receive notifications for new chat messages while the app is open in the foreground, open in the background, or completely closed on your phone.

  • Open

    • Your device will only receive notifications for new chat messages while the app is open in the foreground of your phone.

About

Within the in-app settings menu, at the top right side of the screen, is icon that shows the letter "i" in a circle. Tapping that icon will open the About screen of the app. Here are the details that can be viewed on the About screen:

  • The version of Active911 installed on the device.

  • The version of iOS installed on the device.

  • The first half of the device code the device is using, also known as the Device ID. It will display as something like "123456-****". When contacting our support team, providing the Device ID will help them assist you quicker.

  • Active911's Terms of Service

Mapping

  • Urban - Use this setting if your agency has a lot of map data points in a small area. This option will only display map data points when the screen is zoomed in close to ground level, preventing map data from cluttering the screen.

  • Suburban - Allows map data to show only when the zoom level is set high enough to only see a few blocks from the center of the screen

  • Normal - When set to Normal, map data is visible when the zoom level is set to view about a square mile of area.

  • Rural - If the device is in a rural setting, with map data miles apart, select the rural setting

  • Agency Selection

    • At the top of this section will be the name of your agency. If your device is a part of multiple agencies, you can tap on the agency name, and a dropdown will appear that allows you to select from your list of agencies. 

The Devices, Location, and Filters options have to be set separately for each individual agency.

  • Devices

    • When this option is enabled, you will see the position of other devices for that agency (dependent on their GPS selections). When this option is disabled, you won't see the position of any devices for that agency.

  • Locations

    • When this option is enabled, you will see the map data points for that agency. When this option is disabled, you won't see any map data points for that agency.

  • Filters

    • This option will present a list of all the different map data icons your agency has added points for. You can individually enable/disable map data icons that will display within the in-app mapping system. All map data icons for an agency are enabled by default.

Mapping Tools

Follow Me Mode

To center the map on your position, tap on the crosshair icon in the lower righthand corner. The icon will turn blue, and the map screen will follow your position as you move.

To exit Follow Me Mode, just pan/zoom the map or tap the crosshair icon again once.

Long Press/Hold Menu

There are several mapping tools you can access by committing a long press/hold with one finger anywhere on the map. A crosshair will appear on the point you pressed/held, and the menu will appear at the bottom of the screen. Here are the details of the tools in that menu:

Sending Alerts

When you add a device to your account, or edit an already existing device, there is a "Send Alerts" option underneath the "Capabilities" section. If you enable this option, you will be able to generate alarms directly from the device by opening the map of an alert within the Active911 app, and using a one fingered long press on the map. This will place a cross-hair icon where you pressed on the map. You can change the location of the cross-hair icon by using another one fingered long press on the desired location on the map.

Tap the "Alert" option that appears near the bottom right of the map screen, and you can enter the information for the alert into a specific set of fields. The latitude and longitude for the location on the map where you committed the long press will automatically populate the "Place" field. This is especially useful for directing responders to precise locations with no address - for example, wilderness areas or points within football stadiums or fairground sites.

Troubleshooting

General Troubleshooting

Make sure you have downloaded the Active911 app from the App Store and installed it on your device. You should have also registered your phone with Active911 by tapping "Settings" in the App and entering the Device Code you got from your Active911 account (Devices tab).

  1. In your phone, go to Settings and then Notification. Find Active911 in the list, and make sure that everything is turned ON.

  2. Log into your Active911 account and click on the Devices tab (Admins only). If you are not an administrator of the account, you should be able to find your device code by looking in the tab with your name on it, it will be listed under "My Devices."

  3. Find your phone in the list. Open it up and make sure "Page Type" is set to "iPhone/iPad App". Click Save.

  4. Click on the speech bubble icon. This will send a test message to your phone.

If you get the test message, your phone is connected to Active911 properly. If you did not get the test page,

  1. Open up the Active911 app and tap Settings at the bottom. Erase the registration code and tap Done.

  2. Re-enter the code listed next to your phone in the Devices tab of your account. Your device should re-register with active911. Remember, this code is unique to your device - if you share it, it will stop working!

  3. Try sending the test message (step 3 above)

Registration issues

In the March 2015 iOS update, Apple made us make a few changes with how we can register devices. This means that the app can say, "Device Successfully Registered," but show on the website in red as unregistered. This can be confusing.

When a user opens the Active911 app for the first time, two gray boxes will pop up. One will ask if, "Active911 can use location Services." The user should tap allow. The other pop up says, "Allow Active911 to send push notifications." Again choose "Allow." Push notifications are how we send the alerts to the device for iOS devices.

Of course, none of this is a problem if you select "allow push notifications" the first time, when Apple first asks you. To fix this, uninstall the app and then re-install the app 24 hours later. This will cause the phone to ask those two questions again, and you can can allow them both this time.

You can also trick your phone into thinking that more than 24 hours have elapsed since it was uninstalled. The following procedure will do this, allowing you to get the app properly registered and running sooner than waiting 24 hours.

  1. Uninstall the app.

  2. Restart the phone.

  3. Go to Settings > General > Time and Date and take the device off the automatic network time and date setting.

  4. Change the date to at least several days in the future.

  5. Restart the device.

  6. Verify that the phone thinks that it is several days in the future. Then reinstall the Active911 app.

  7. When opening the app for the first time, there is a warning that Active911 would like to send the phone push notifications; make sure you select "Allow" for this. This is very important.

  8. Restart the device.

  9. Reset the time and date to the network settings.

If you still have issues with this, or if you need a more immediate (but much more complicated) fix, please contact our support team.