All plans include geo time tracking, tagging worker locations upon clock in and clock out. You can also enforce geo fences to restrict punches to approved areas.

Learn more: How Do Geo Fences Work?

For live tracking during shifts, our Premium plan offers Background Geo Tracking, showing real-time locations, movement history, and sending alerts if a worker leaves a geo fence or loses connection. This works even if the app is closed.

Setup

Step 1: Go to the Fareclock Admin Console and go to Settings. Under ‘Settings’ find and click ‘Devices’.

Step 2: Click the ‘Defaults’ tab above.

Step 3: In the ‘Geo Settings’ section, make sure to check the box next to ‘Enable Geo Location Tracking’ to activate the feature.

Step 4: Once the feature is enabled, ensure that the “Enable Background Geo Location Tracking” option is selected.

For more information on the basic geo settings, see the following help article: How do I prevent workers from turning off geo location or internet access to evade shift and geo policies?

There are also some settings specific to the background geo feature:

1. Power efficient vs. Aggressive - Choose between minimizing battery usage and ensuring precise tracking:

• Power Efficient Mode may take 200–400 meters of movement to detect motion, while Aggressive Mode detects motion immediately unless the app is terminated or permissions are changed.
• In Power Efficient Mode, location "heartbeats" may be delayed or stopped by the device. Aggressive Mode sends heartbeats more reliably unless the app is terminated or permissions are changed.

2. Connection timeout - If a worker’s device doesn’t send its location while clocked in for a set time, both the worker and administrators will get a real-time alert. Another alert will be sent when the device reconnects. Administrators must enable "Geo Alerts" in their notification settings to receive these alerts.

3. Accuracy threshold - Mobile devices are able to report a location accuracy level based on the strength of GPS, cellular and Wifi signals. The lower the number, the higher the accuracy. If a location record's accuracy number is higher than this threshold, then the location record will be ignored.

4. Stationary Threshold - When a device is considered stationary, i.e., not in motion or on a trip route, and the device moves further than this threshold distance, then the device will then be considered to have started moving on a trip.

5. Idle max speed - To switch to a stationary state during a trip, the device must stay below this speed threshold, along with the "Idle Time to Stationary" setting.

6. Idle time to stationary - The device must stay below the "Idle Max Speed" for this set time to switch to a stationary state during a trip.

An administrator can receive real time alerts related to this feature:

Step 1: Go to the Fareclock Admin Console and go to Settings. Under ‘Settings’ find and click ‘Users’.

Step 2: Select a user from the list and under 'Notifications’, enable “Geo location alerts”.

The administrator will receive notifications via either the mobile app if installed on a personal admin device, or in the Console there is a notification bell icon in the top right that will show all alerts.

Worker Setup

The background geo tracking is used when the worker clocks IN using their phone in personal device mode. It is not used when the device is shared by multiple users in "group mode". For more information on setting up a personal device, see the following help article: Can employees set up the Fareclock app on their own personal devices?

This background geo tracking feature requires that the worker have version 3.4 or later of the Fareclock mobile app.

Once the worker has set up their phone, they will be prompted by the Apple or Android operating system to allow permission for the Fareclock app to track their location. However, Fareclock will only track their location while they are clocked IN during their shift. If they are clocked OUT or if the shift expired, then the location tracking will automatically stop.

Monitoring

To view the live location and breadcrumb history:

Step 1: Go to the Fareclock Admin Console and go to Manage. Under ‘Manage’ find and click ‘Geo Mapping’.

In the Live Location list:

• A green icon means the worker is Clocked IN with a live connection.
• A red icon means the worker is Clocked IN but the location connection is offline.
• A gray icon means the worker is not currently on shift.

To check breadcrumb history:

Step 1: Select the user you want to view, then click their picture on the map and choose "View History."

Clicking the "Pin" icon will reveal more options on the map.

1. Three-Line Icon - Pressing this will hide the name list box on the right side of the screen and maximize the map size.

2. Map Icon - You can select the map view as a road map, satellite, or hybrid.

3. Street View Icon - Dragging this icon onto the map allows you to view it in street view.

4. Zoom In/Out - Clicking the '+' icon will zoom in on the map, while clicking the '-' icon will zoom out.