grapevine apps

dogwalk

hike

gps-info

Question: I read in the update notes, that dogwalk does not support autostart anymore. What does that mean exactly?

"dogwalk autostart" is a function to automatically start the tracking of your walk when you leave the house. Apple enhanced the multitasking capabilities in IOS7 in many ways, and consequently restricted the conditions for unattended start of any services. Specifically GPS tracking location services are restricted in the way, that they have to be started by the user while the app is in foreground. After that tracking will continue as usual in the background. With this change in IOS7, unattended autostart of GPS tracking services is no longer possible for any app.

Frage: I've been using autostart frequently, is there any possibility to keep the functionality for me?

Autostart will work as before on IOS6 - as soon as you update your device to IOS7, the autostart functionality is no longer available.

Question: I have upgraded to the dogwalk version 3.6 ( including icloud), and see that the app does not work correctly, and sometimes crashes when moving to the background. What can I do?

Unfortunately we found a bug in version 3.6, that can affect the normal operation, and lead to the described crashes. We have identified and solved the problem now, and version 3.8 is availble as of May 8th, 2013. We'd like to apologize for any inconvinience that you experience due to this failure.

Question: I've not used tracking apps before - what are the basic steps to use the dogwalk app?

When you leave home for a walk with your dog, start tracking by pressing the "+" button. The app will start to track your walk, and also stop automatically when you return home. "dogwalk" identifies your current location, and displays it in the bottom bar of the screen. Should the location be missing, please take your iPhone and stand in front of your home, with a free view towards the sky, to make sure the GPS satelite signal is not blocked. Open the app, tap on the settings button, and tap "Adjust start position". In the new screen, tap on "+", and wait a few moments - you will see a new entry in the table, and shortly after a few seconds the name of your location will be displayed. Now your new home location is set! Now take a walk with your dog, and make sure that you walk more than 400 meters, and also do not drive in a car. You can check while you are on the walk, or when returning home - you will see your first recorded entry. To see the walk, now tap on the entry, and it will show you the walk details on a map. The action button on the top bar right allows you to share the details.

Question: The current location is not identified, although the green indicator light is on each time I call the app into the foreground. What can I do?

The strenght of the GPS signal can be severely impacted within buildings or underneath bridges and trees. Please go in front of the building and make sure you can see the sky, then start dogwalk to initiate the location identification. Once identified, the postion is displayed at the bottom of the start screen. Please be aware that the position name for new locations is requested from the Apple server - if there is no internet connection, the location will be initially displayed as "*****" and replaced later on. The automatic start function is ready immediately, as it uses the GPS coordinates.

Question: Dogwalk identifies always a location in our neighbourhood, where I first started the app. How can I change that?

Please go in front of your home, and start the app. Go to settings and select "Adjust start position". Select one of the existing entries, or create a new one with a tap on "+", and wait a few moments - you will see a new entry in the table, and shortly the name of your location will be displayed. Now your new home location is set!

Autostart questions(Version IOS5 and IOS6 only)

Question: dogwalk identifies the current location correctly, but although I set automatic start mode, it does not start tracking automatically. What can I do?

Automatic start of tracking relies on the "location based reminders" functionality, which works very reliable and uses very little battery lifetime. The precision of this function is within some hundred meters, dependend on the following factors: Cell towers around: In areas with high population density typically more cell towers are present, and the location will be identified more precise. Wifi enabled: The Wifi signal of your home station and of your neighbours is used to increase precision as well. Make sure that Wifi is enabled on your iPhone. iPhone 3GS: This device does not support the "location based reminders", so tracking cannot start automatic. Please start tracking manually using the "+"button, everything else will work automatted.

Question: Tracking started automatically, but after returning home I could not find a recent walk entry. Am I doing something wrong?

Dogwalk uses a couple of scenarios to find out when you are walking your dog, and when you are leaving home for other reasons. When a walk was started automatically, it will be erased when you: start driving, e.g. in a car walk less than 400 meters Any walk you start tracking manually will not be deleted.

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