Your GPS Tracker sends its location regularly while moving, based on the frequency you chose in the app settings.
To send a position, your GPS Tracker needs 4 things:
- To be physically moving: when the Tracker starts physically moving, it sends positions at the frequency you have chosen in your app settings. When it stops moving, it will only send its position every 4 hours as opposed to the frequency you chose in the settings, to improve its battery life.
- To be moving outside of a fixed place: the Tracker sends the same position every 4 hours as long as it is within reach of the same WiFi hotspot, even if it is moving, as we consider that it is staying in the same place. When the Tracker starts moving again, it will automatically resume sending positions at your chosen frequency.
- To be able to locate itself with good enough precision: it needs to detect either your smartphone nearby, or enough Wifi hotspots around, or to be outdoors in clear view of the sky to fetch a GPS position. It may happen that the Tracker is unable to detect where it is, or with a precision so low that we prefer to filter out the position. In this case you will not see any position on the map, until the Tracker is able to locate itself again.
- To be able to send the position using the network, which depends on the quality of signal: it may happen that the GPS Tracker is out of reach of the network (underground, in areas not yet covered by the network, in rural areas, in the mountains, too close to metal elements...). Do not forget to check network coverage in your target area. Also please note that these networks can sometimes experience downtime.
So if you notice that your GPS Tracker sometimes skips positions, it means that it was unable to locate itself or to send the position at the time. You can increase the frequency of positions in your app settings to ensure that you have an accurate history of movements (it will impact battery life).
Please also note that if you do not open the Invoxia app very often, it might take a while for all the past positions to appear, especially if you do not have optimal Wifi / cellular connection on your smartphone.
Invoxia's GPS Trackers are not real time, and it can happen that some positions are missing or imprecise, but the monitoring offered and the best-in-class battery life should be enough to know where your Tracker was heading to, and to find it in case of theft or loss, by combining the Tracker's indicated position and the "proximity radar" functionality on the last meters.
Please note that Helium network's coverage is getting better with each day, as more and more people participate in building the network by installing hotspots in their home.