All about the auto-arrival feature in Onside
If you're new to the Onside app you will have seen a prompt about auto-arrival.
You've come to the right place to find out all about it.
Auto-arrival is an optional setting you can turn on in your Onside app. When you arrive at a property’s boundary, you’ll get a notification that prompts you to check-in. It also sends a notification to the property admin to let them know that you’ve arrived.
The best part about this feature is that when you leave a property's boundary, you will get automatically checked out.
Take a look at the video below, have a look here, or read on for more details.
How does it work?
Checking in
- When you enter an Onside property's boundary, you’ll be marked as “arrived”. You'll also receive a notification reminding you to check-in and a pulsing Auto-arrival button will show on your app (shown right).
- The first time you visit a property, you'll need to check-in and complete all the requirements of the site so you are familiar with it. For future visits to that property, you'll only need to acknowledge information that has changed since your last visit.
- If you arrive and stay for more than 5 minutes but don’t check-in, the property staff will be notified.
- The admin can view all contractors and visitors who have "arrived" and send a reminder to check-in.
Checking out
- Once you're far enough away from a property’s boundary, you'll be checked out.
- Property staff will be notified when you have left the property.
If you have a safety Time of Departure (Onside Teams subscription) you will not be automatically checked out of properties unless it has been specifically enabled for your company in the Teams section of the web portal.
Enabling auto-arrival
For auto-arrival to work, it will need your phone's location permission set to "Always" or "All the time", so when the app is not in use, it can still notify you when you arrive at/leave a property.
When you've enabled auto-arrival, you'll then get prompted to set the right location access. Have a look at these steps to ensure you have the correct settings selected:
Android
- Go to your phone's settings
- Then 'Apps' and find Onside in the list
- Tap on 'Permissions' > Location
- Make sure 'Allow all the time' is set
iPhone
- Go to your phone's settings
- Scroll down to find the Onside app
- Tap on Location
- Set to 'Always'
Advanced Settings - COMING SOON!
Whether you use the Onside app only occasionally, every day, or multiple times a day, we've added these advanced settings to suit how you operate.
Relevant properties only
By default, auto-arrival will arrive you on every Onside property you visit. For some users, you may only want to auto-arrive at relevant properties.
This setting will only arrive you on properties that are associated with you or your company. That includes:
- Your company's Visited Properties (Requires Onside Teams subscription).
- Properties your company manage
- Properties you've checked in to before
High accuracy mode
If you visit or work on Onside properties which neighbour each other, work close to a boundary edge, or the areas have issues finding your location, try enabling high accuracy mode so that auto-arrival can be as accurate as possible.
High accuracy mode also decreases the distance you need to be from the property for the auto check-out to work, and you can pause and resume high accuracy mode from the home page whenever you want.
Note: This mode may use more battery, so we recommend this setting for someone who can charge their phone during the day (i.e. in a car)
Frequently Asked Questions
How much data does it use?
Auto-arrival will not use any extra data, as it identifies your location based on your smartphone's regular reception check. If you're phone is not getting any signal at all, Auto-arrival won't be able to detect you entering or leaving property boundaries
Can other people see my exact location?
No. No users in Onside can see your location. Property staff will only know you've entered and exited their property.
Do I have to use auto-arrival?
Not at all. While we do recommend it, so you're reminded to check-in and you don't need to check-out, it's completely your choice.
Can I force auto-arrival on for my staff?
No. Because location permission is involved, users must enable and agree to sharing the location themselves.
Auto-arrival isn't detecting me on the property
This issue usually happens when your location isn't consistently within the property boundary. This could happen if you're right on the boundary line, or if your phone signal isn't very good.
If you have a phone manufactured in the past 5 years, you can try "Precise Location" (Apple) or "Location Accuracy" (Android).
For smaller properties, the accuracy of most smartphones' location isn't good enough to reliably use Auto-arrival at these sites. We have markers on smaller properties in Onside that may have this issue (shown right). High accuracy mode can help with these sites.
Auto-arrival arrived me to the wrong property
This can happen if a property's boundary isn't set correctly, or in certain areas where the phone struggles with location. If you find a property boundary isn't correct, let us know and we can fix it up. High accuracy mode can help with this as well.
Needing a quick how-to guide for your staff and contractors? Click here
If you have any questions or need any help, call us on 0800 ONSIDE (NZ), 1800 112334 (AU), or email Support@onside.co