Downloading the app to your phone
Go to the Apple App store or the Google Play store and search for Round Control (note it is two words).
ANDROID ONLY – if you are on iPhone, go to the next section, Logging in.
After installing it’s advisable to change a small setting on the phone to ensure that the app doesn’t go into standby while you are using it.
Firstly, ensure your phone does NOT have the battery-saver/power-saver option switched on.
Secondly, look for Battery Optimisation in your phone’s settings and ensure that Round Control is set as ‘Not Allowed’. You may be warned that this will drain your battery but it won’t make a great deal of difference and will help to get good results from your tracking.
If you notice when you are tracking that the time on screen is less than your actual time – for example, if you’ve been walking for an hour and the clock only shows 16 minutes – this is a sign that this setting needs to be changed.
Logging in
Start the app and you’ll be prompted to enter a username and password. This will have been sent to you by Focus Magazines distribution manager. Note that on the printed map and streetlist, you’ll also find the details on the bottom of the second page.
Note that if more than one person is doing the delivery, they should also be using the tracking app. However, they’ll need their own username and password, so please request this detail from us.
Allow Location Services
If you are prompted to allow location services, you must accept this.
The route list
After you’ve logged in you’ll see the name of the route(s) allocated to you. When you are ready to start distributing (outside the first house you are delivering to) click on the route, and you’ll see a Start button.
If you can’t see any routes listed when you are ready to start, contact us. When we have confirmed that the allocation is fixed, drag down on the screen to refresh the list.
Completed Routes
On the routes list, there’s an option to view the Completed deliveries. If you click on any of the completed routes, you’ll see the date you submitted the finish report, and the total amount of tracking time submitted.
Route tracking
Start, Pause and Resume
Now you are ready to start, press the Start button and you’ll see a timer on screen. You can press Pause at any time – for a few minutes or even a few days – and the app will just be on standby. It won’t use any power or data in this state. However please don’t log out or uninstall the app while on pause or you may lose your history.
Sync button
If you don’t have a WiFi signal, you will see a button on the tracking screen labelled Sync Tracking Data. If you press this, any tracking stored on your phone will be sent in to the servers. However you will need to have a 4g data signal on your phone to do this, and this will use a very small amount of your data plan. When you are on WiFi, the button won’t show as the tracking is sent automatically.
Seeing your route map
On the timer screen, if you tap on the map icon on the top right, you will be able to see your allocated area overlaid onto a Google map (the blue shape). As you start to deliver, your tracking will show on this map (the red lines). You can zoom in on this if you need to.
If you have started tracking, but can’t see the red lines, it’s likely that you are delivering in a different area to the route you have selected. If you zoom out on the map you will be able to see this. If you have made this error, go back to the screen with the list of routes, and select the correct area and start tracking again.
Back
If you have more than one route, you can pause any of your routes and click the back link to go over to another route. When you do this you’ll see the route has a ‘pause’ symbol next to it.
Finish
When you have finished your route completely, press the Finish button.
OPTIONAL – Mobile Data
There’s a slider on screen to enable you to do live tracking of your distribution. When this is enabled, your tracking data is submitted as you do the delivery rather than being held on your phone. However this does use your data allowance, albeit a very small amount (6mb per hour of tracking). You can usually leave the slider off, unless the company you are working for has requested live tracking.
Post Delivery Report
You will then see a form where you can give feedback on whether you had a shortage of magazines or leaflets, or had too many. You will also be asked to confirm if you are available for the next delivery.
Complete Route
The final button – COMPLETE ROUTE – sends everything into the servers and enables the distribution manager to see your tracking and your report.