OpenTrack, phone as dog tracker

Coming soon

OpenTrack is not yet available in the app stores. This guide describes how the feature will work. As soon as the app is available to download, we will remove this notice.

Jaktli OpenTrack is a small separate app that turns a spare phone into a dog tracker. You put the phone in a pocket on your dog's vest, and the dog's position shows on the team map during the hunt. You need no tracking hardware and no subscription with a collar maker.

No sign-in on the dog's phone

OpenTrack has no account and no sign-in. You pair the phone once with a code from your own Jaktli app. After that, all it takes is a tap on Start tracking.

What you need

• A spare phone, Android or iPhone. An older phone you have lying around works well
• A SIM card with mobile data in that phone, the position is sent over the internet
• A dog vest with a pocket, or another safe way to attach the phone to the dog
• The Jaktli app and a Jaktli account on your own phone

Install OpenTrack

The Jaktli OpenTrack app is installed from the app store on the dog's phone, not on your own. The page jaktli.se/en/opentrack has buttons for the stores. You can also email the link to yourself there, so it is easy to open on the dog's phone.

Pair the phone

Pairing is done once. Have both phones in front of you.

1. On your own phone: open My Dogs and tap Add tracker
2. Choose Phone as tracker
3. Choose which dog the phone is for (optional), and give the phone a name if you like, for example Ronja's old phone. That name is what you will see later in your list of trackers
4. Tap Generate pairing code. A code and a QR code appear, with the name above them
5. On the dog's phone: open OpenTrack. Here you can also type a name for the phone, if you did not already do so in step 3
6. Tap Scan QR code and point the camera at the QR code on your own phone
7. If scanning does not work, type the code instead and tap Pair this phone

The name can be typed on either phone

You can name the phone either in your own app or in OpenTrack. If you type a name in both places, the one from your own app is used. If you type no name at all, the tracker is called OpenTrack phone, and you can rename it at any time in your list of trackers.

The code is valid for 10 minutes

If the code expires, just tap New code and try again. A code can only be used once.

Type the name in OpenTrack before you scan. As soon as the QR code is read, the phone is paired straight away.

When pairing is done, OpenTrack shows Paired, with the dog's name and the phone's name below it. That is the same name you see in your own list of trackers, so you know which phone you are holding. The phone remembers the pairing, even after a restart, until you unpair it yourself.

Start tracking

1. Tap Start tracking in OpenTrack
2. Allow the app to use location. Choose Always when the phone asks, otherwise tracking stops when the screen turns off
3. On Android the app may also ask to bypass battery optimization. Allow it, otherwise the phone may pause tracking to save power
4. Put the phone in the pocket on the dog's vest

While tracking is on, a notification shows on the dog's phone. The screen can be off, tracking keeps going.

Owner on the dog's phone

At the top of OpenTrack you see the name of the person the phone is paired with, and the phone number. Tap the number to call.

The details come from your profile in Jaktli. If you have no phone number set, it says so. Add the number in Jaktli under My profile - the dog's phone picks it up by itself the next time it sends in a position. You do not need to pair again.

Worth getting right

If someone finds the dog, they can see who to call. So check that the number is correct before the hunt.

On the lock screen (Android)

On an Android phone the name and number also appear in the notification shown while tracking is on. It is visible on the lock screen, so whoever finds the dog can read it without unlocking the phone.

Two things are needed:

• Tracking must be running. When it is stopped there is no notification
• The phone must be allowed to show notifications for OpenTrack. The app asks the first time you start tracking. If you say no, tracking still works, but the name does not appear on the lock screen

If you have set your phone to hide notification content on the lock screen, the name will not show there either. Change that under Android's notification settings.

Not on iPhone

On iPhone an app cannot show anything of its own on the lock screen while tracking in the background. There the owner details are only visible inside OpenTrack. Use an Android phone on the dog if you want a finder to be able to reach you.

During the hunt

You never need to touch the dog's phone during the hunt. It only sends the dog's position, for as long as tracking is on. The rest is handled for you:

• When you join a hunt on your own phone, the dog comes along automatically and the whole team sees it on the map
• If you switch hunts, the dog follows along
• Even without a hunt, you can see the dog yourself on the dog map under My Dogs

The dog's phone does not show which hunt it belongs to. It does not need to know - it sends positions, and which hunt they land in is decided for you. To check that the dog is in the hunt, look at the map on your own phone.

On the team map the dog works just like other tracked dogs. Read more under Live hunt. The dog's track is saved with the hunt and can be viewed afterwards in the Hunt log.

GPS mode and battery

OpenTrack shows the battery level of the dog's phone and roughly how long it will last. Under GPS mode you choose how often the position updates:

• Automatic: the app adapts to movement and battery. The position is only sent while the phone is moving. A good default
• Custom interval: you choose how often the position is sent, from every five seconds to every ten minutes. Always sent at the chosen interval, even when the dog stands still
• Battery saver: updates about once a minute while the dog is moving. The battery lasts much longer

Charge fully before the hunt

Charge the dog's phone to 100 percent the evening before. With battery saver on, an ordinary phone lasts a full day of hunting.

Change the GPS mode from your own phone

You do not need to take the dog's phone out of the vest. In Jaktli, under My Dogs, tap the tracker. You pick the mode further down that page.

The change is not sent over straight away. The dog's phone picks it up the next time it sends in its position, so within a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the mode it is running. While the app is waiting it says it is waiting for the dog's phone. Once the phone has received the change it says it is running the selected mode.

If the dog's phone is switched off, or you stopped tracking on it, nothing happens until it is started again.

The battery still decides

Even with a mode selected, the dog's phone lowers the rate by itself when the battery runs low, and raises it again while the phone is charging. That cannot be switched off.

Stop and unpair

• Stop tracking ends sharing but keeps the pairing. Next hunt, just tap Start tracking again
• Unpair this phone removes the pairing completely. A new code is needed to use the phone again
• You can also remove the tracker from your own phone under My Dogs. The dog's phone then stops sharing right away

How personal data is handled

The positions from the dog's phone are tied to your account and shared only with the hunting teams you are part of. Positions outside a hunt are kept for at most two days. Tracks from a hunt are saved together with the hunt. See the Privacy policy for your full rights.

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See also: Dog trackers, My dogs, Live hunt