Q. Can I use an iPhone with SOVA?
The short answer is, not yet. The latest version of iOS (the system software that runs on an iPhone) has a limited ability to scan NFC, or "Near Field Communication" which is the technology that SOVA uses to communicate with the tour buttons. Prior versions of iOS did not have this capability, and there is talk about the upcoming version of iOS being fully compatible. We will see how that plays out and are monitoring the situation closely. Because of this limitation, we selected Android as the development platform for our system. Please note - where the web portion of SOVA can be viewed on any web-enabled device from a Windows or Apple tablet, to a laptop running Linux, the mobile portion of SOVA requires an Android phone with NFC support. While users enjoy the low-cost of replacing Android devices when they are dropped and a screen gets cracked, some of our clients currently use other apps built on iOS and would prefer having their staff carry one device running all apps instead of carrying two devices. Because of this, once we are able to confirm that iOS fully supports the NFC standard, we will develop the SOVA app for iOS.
Q. I attempted to log into our SOVA accounts on the handheld devices this morning, and when I scanned the login tag, it automatically logs in to a specific user account without giving me the option to select a different user. I attempted to sync the devices to update them, and this did not solve the issue. Any help?
In this case, SOVA has been set to associate this particular device to a single user, which is very useful if each user has their own device or if they are using their personal devices to run SOVA. In an environment where the devices are shared randomly between all members of a security team however, this is not the optimal thing to have. Fortunately, there is an easy fix for this.
- Open the admin dashboard from any device and tap the "Manage Users" tile
- "Long press" or hold your finger down on an active user until the menu pops up
- Choose "remove single user flag"
- Repeat the process for all logged in users
The next time they login they will again be presented with a list of users to choose from. Just an FYI - this happens when users login and are presented with a choice of "Will this device be used by a single user, or shared among several users?" If your users inadvertently select "single user", then the device remembers this user and bypasses the screen where you are able to select a user account to login to. Now you know how to fix this should it occur again. Happy touring!
Q. I made a mess with my tours and I want to reset my device to start over. I reset the device to factory settings, downloaded SOVA Guard Tracker from the Google play store and now it's requiring me to go through the steps to authorize the device again. How come I need to do this again? This is the same device as before and it was already authorized.
When resetting a mobile device back to factory settings, the device ID is usually changed. So even though this is the same physical device you used before, SOVA sees it as a different device, since the device is reporting a different ID during activation. If this happens to you, simply submit a request via the app to have the device activated to your client location and the previous device will be removed by our team. In your request, please include the device nickname you gave the device i.e.. "SOVA1" etc. so we can match up the record and make sure we are deleting the correct device profile that will no longer be used.
The best way to reset your device if you only want to restore SOVA back to a working state is to simply tap the"Reset Device" tile in the Admin Dashboard of the mobile device. This clears SOVA back to it's default state but retains your mobile device settings and all apps that you may have downloaded and configured. Once you complete a device reset using this method, you simply enter your Activation ID, and all data for your location downloads to the device and you are back in business. During a reset like this, please ensure the device has a good, strong WiFi signal so it can download all tour data, location hint photos, etc. which will take several minutes.
Q. We have activated the Extended Security.feature in the Admin Dashboard settings. Issue is, we have difficulty adding new users as when they scan their keyfobs the app says "User not Recognized". Is there a fix for this?
This is a known bug in app version 2.19 which has been corrected in newer versions. If you are running app version 2.19 or below, send us a support ticket and we will take care of this for you. For the best experience, visit the Google Play store regularly to ensure that you are running the most current version of the app.
Q. We tried writing incident reports from our mobile device but we can't seem to find the menu for that.
This could be because you have not purchased the Incident Report writing module, or we simply forgot to activate it for you. No worries, get in touch by creating a help ticket and we'll sort it out.