Android Devices

Owned by catharine.rhoades (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Dec 15, 2020
11 min read

 

Android App Settings

For android devices, the settings is either three squares stacked on each other or under the menu button on the device.

  • Device Code

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

  • Connection to Active911

  • Connected

    • When your device says it is connected, it means that your phone is registered with Active911 and is ready to receive alerts.

  • Not Connected

    • When your device says its not connected, it means that your phone is not connected to Active911 and will not receive alerts. You will also get this when you haven't entered your device code in correctly. If your device was correctly registered and has 'lost' it's connection, you can re-register the device with two simple steps.

      1. Tap the 'hidden' Connection to Active911 button five times quickly. A banner will flash on the screen that says Renewing GCM token.

      2. Wait a few seconds, and then tap the button again 3 times quickly. This time, the banner will say Re-registering with Active911.

Standard Settings

  • Show Alerts For allotted time

  • 1 Day

  • 3 Days

  • 1 Week

  • 2 Weeks

  • 1 Month

Screen Timeout

This setting determines how long your screen will stay on/unlocked without interacting with it.

  • 30 seconds

  • 1 minute

  • 2 minutes

  • 5 minutes

  • None

  • Auto-Open Mode

  • OFF

    • The phone will alert you with sound, but you will need to find the app and open it on your phone.

  • Original Auto-open

    • The phone will alert you with sound and once you unlock your phone, the application will automatically open.

  • Popup Dialog (Locked screen)

    • The phone will alert you with sound and a dialog box will popup on the lock screen. The dialog box displays basic alert details, the agency's response vocabulary, More Info and DISMISS options.

    • Response Vocabulary

      • Let your department know if you are responding, unavailable, etc.

    • More Info

      • To find out more information about the alert.

    • Dismiss

      • Click this button to ignore the call.

  • Popup Dialog (Unlocked screen)

    • The phone will alert you with sound and a banner will alert you at the top of the screen. To respond to the alert, click the banner to take you to the app.

  • Foreground GPS**

    • This will track the location of the device ONLY while the app is open.

  • Background GPS**

When the High Accuracy or Battery Saving Background GPS options are enabled, the app will track the location of the device while the app is open, running in the background, or completely closed.

  • High Accuracy

    • 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.

  • Battery Saving

    • 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.

  • Continuous Repaging

    • When this option is enabled, and your device receives a new alert, the Active911 app will to continue to notify your device until the app is opened and alert is viewed. This option was designed for people who work in loud environments, heavy sleepers, etc.

Advanced Settings

  • Theme

  • Light

  • Dark (Experimental)

  • Dark Red (Experimental)

  • Battalion Blue (Default)

  • Auto Dim

  • Scanner Radio on Alert

    • Using this setting requires that you have the Scanner Radio app installed on your device. Selecting this option will open the Scanner Radio app, and allow you to designate a favorite radio frequency you want to listen to. From that point forward, when your device receives an alert, Scanner Radio will open in the background and start playing the radio frequency you selected.

Agency Specific Settings

Within the settings menu of the Active911 app there is a section for each agency that the device is a part of. There are specific settings that can be adjusted per agency, and they can be found near the bottom of the main settings menu within the Active911 app.

  • Clear Alerts

    • Selecting this option will remove all of the alerts your device has received for that specific agency. It only removes the alerts from the individual device. The alert data is still available to other devices, and within in the Alarms tab at active911.com.

  • Duty Status

  • Notification Settings (For devices using Android version 8.0 or newer)

    • Selecting the Notification Settings option will take you outside of the Active911 app, to the settings menu of your device. Within that menu you have the option to enable/disable notifications, choose "Behavior" options, and an Advanced option that allows you to select a ringtone, vibrate pattern, and override do not disturb options.

  • Pagegroups

    • If your agency is setup to send alerts to pagegroups, you can manage the pagegroups your device is a part of. Chat groups mirror the selections you make for pagegroups. Some pagegroups are locked, and require the admin to add and remove devices.

  • Active911 Assignment

    • If your admin has created assignments, this is where you can manually select the assignment you are currently working. The selection you make will be visible to all the devices in your agency within the Personnel screen of the app.

  • Chat Notifications

Workflow For Sending Alerts

  • This workflow requires that your device has been assigned the "Send Alerts" capability by an admin of your agency.

    • There are two ways to access the Create Alert workflow:

      1. Within the Active911 app, select the menu option (usually found near the top right side of the screen), and select the Create Alert option.

      2. Within the in-app mapping system, press and hold with one finger on the map. A new menu appears with a Create Alert option. The location of the alert automatically defaults to the location you committed the long press and hold on the map.

Mapping

  • Accessing the Map

    • There are two ways to access the in-app mapping system:

      1. There is a globe icon in the main menu of the Active911 app. Selecting it will open the in-app mapping system, without routing or directions to a specific alert.

      2. While viewing the details of a specific alert, you can tap on the address of the alert to open the in-app mapping system. The alert's location will be displayed, including a blue line between your device's location and the alert's location for routing purposes.

  • In-App Map Settings

  • Mapping Tools

    • Follow Me Mode

      To center the map on your position, tap on the crosshair icon in the lower right hand corner.

      To get the map to track your position as you are moving, tap and hold the button. It will recenter on your position every time your position is updated.

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

  • Long Press/Hold Menu

Cadpage with Active911

Active911 has long supported Cadpage. Cadpage is an Android App that allows Active911 to push messages to a phone or tablet without using SMS. There is also a free Active911 app in Google Play, but for those that prefer to use Cadpage, the following instructions apply.

When a user registers an Android phone or tablet running Cadpage with Active911, that device will begin receiving pages from Active911 using a technology known as "Android Push" or "Direct Paging". This technology does not use SMS messages. Also, Cadpage is "sponsored" by Active911 when it is direct connected - meaning the user doesn't need to directly pay for Cadpage.

  • Cadpage Device Setup

  • Cadpage Troubleshooting

    1. Make sure that the downloaded Cadpage app is the newest version and that it was installed according to the instructions.

    2. In the Active911 account, click on the test button () next to the device.

If the device gets the test message, the problem is probably resolved. If the device still doesn't get Active911 messages, even though it gets the test pages, the device probably has shift or filters set incorrectly - remove all shift and filter information from the device in the Devices tab of the account and try again.

  • If pages work, but they are often late or are unreliable

    1. Launch Cadpage

    2. Open Settings

    3. Select Direct Paging Vendors

    4. Select Reconnect Direct Paging

That basically drops the connection to Active911 and reestablishes it. This has helped other people with persistent message drop or delay issues.

  • If the device is not receiving pages at all:

    1. In the settings for the device, make sure Background Data is turned on.

    2. Try the test message again. If it still doesn't work, delete and re-install Cadpage according to these instructions.

Try the test message again. If it still doesn't work, the device may be broken. If the device is rooted, try restoring it to factory condition and try again.

Android Troubleshooting

Note: Only one phone works per device code - if you share your device code, your original phone or tablet will stop working!

FAQ

  • The About text repeats and isn't formatted nicely?

    • Most of it comes directly from your phone's Android OS, so we can't really change it. We may try to tidy it up in a future patch.

  • When I add my device to a department in the web console, it does not update in the app?

    • The app will not notice this immediately. Close the app and wait for 1 minute, then open it again. Your new department should appear.

  • How often does the Android app update my position?

    • The app requests position updates be sent every 5 seconds, at a rate of every 1 second at most, whenever the app moves at least 10 meters.

    • Note: From Google's documentation - This interval is inexact. You may not receive updates at all (if no location sources are available), or you may receive them slower than requested. You may also receive them faster than requested (if other applications are requesting location at a faster interval).

    • We send this location to our server whenever we receive it, and report position at least once every 5 minutes even if the position hasn't changed.