Backitude App: FAQ |
Although permissions and activation will vary per device, I would strongly recommend doing two things before trying to run Backitude.
To first test the application, you can Enable Backitude or click the Extras > Fire Update function to perform a one-time update. Once the location polling period expires, there are a couple methods to verify your location has updated.
Start fresh by trying the following steps to reset your Google Latitude permissions
Now, follow these steps from a PC browser to remove access (so that we can then add them back)
Everything is now successfully reset, so perform the following steps in order.
Although Backitude is far from perfect, there are also some issues affecting a small percentage of users that are out of my control and preventing updates. In any case, feel free to contact the developer to verify.
Setting the option value to "Variable" means that the minimum required change in distance to update Google Latitude will vary based on the accuracy of the new locations. The minimum change in distance for updating equals twice the value of the accuracy of the new location. This means that if your new location value has an accuracy of 4 meters, the minimum change in distance required is 8 meters. If you have a momentary drop of GPS signal, or loss of GPS signal altogether and your new current location value has an accuracy of 1000 meters, then a change in distance in order to use this new location is 2000 meters. The option is designed for users who may be in and out of GPS signal, and want to be more restrictive about uploading inaccurate values. When locations are based on triangulation and network locations, values may "bounce" around a little even though your device is not moving. A minimum change in distance filter, especially a "variable" one, helps to eliminate these (realistically, duplicate) updates.
By clicking the Fire Update option, the application will perform a one-time location poll according to the time-out settings, and will update your Latitude location. It can be triggered while the normal service is enabled or while disabled. There is also a Fire widget to perform the same operation.
When polling for a location, especially while using the GPS, the device is consuming battery power. (This is essentially why Latitude omitted the use of GPS with their background updates) In the event that a GPS signal is not easily acquired- ie, while indoors or amongst tall buildings or trees, the application has a timeout value to stop the location polling after this amount of time has passed. Backitude will then use the most accurate location value detected before the timeout, unless the Accuracy Filter is enabled and the previous location is more accurate and falls within the bounds of the current value. In that case, the previous location value is repeated.
An acceptably accurate location is judged by the availability of the various location providers. If GPS is enabled, the application is striving for a value that is as accurate as the minimum GPS accuracy requirement as configured in the options. If GPS is not enabled, the application is striving for a location as accurate as the Wi-Fi minimum accuracy requirement.
Re-Sync Rate uses your last detected location to update Latitude at an additional rate without polling for a new location. Re-Sync updates will take place in addition to the normal updates from timers, steals..etc This can be especially beneficial for a number of reasons.
*If power consumption is an issue, it is recommended that you turn off the location detection within the Google Latitude app. This will give you complete control of your location updates via Backitude and allow you to completely manage battery consumption and location updating. Go into Maps > Latitude > Menu > Location settings > Background location reporting > Set your location. Manually select an arbitrary location on the map, which will then be overwritten and updated by Backitude from this point forward. It is important NOT to select the option for "Do not update your location" because this will hide your location from all of your Latitude friends. Disabling Latitude location detection may also alleviate the need to use Backitude's Re-Sync Rate. Turn Re-Sync Rate to "None" and save even more battery power.
The concept of "stealing" locations came about to more accurately and frequently update Latitude without the additional consumption of battery power attributed to GPS polling. When another application (such as Google Navigation, Google Maps, or even a web browser) is active and already polling your location, Backitude will "steal" this value and use it to update your Google Latitude. When a qualifying value is acquired, Backitude also restarts your updating time interval and prevents the location detection service from having to waste battery life on unnecessary location polling that is already occurring.
Yes, if enabled, triggering an update via SMS can come from anyone as long as the same message text is sent and it is delivered as an SMS (the method will not work for MMS). The SMS can even be sent from email, if appropriately addressed and sent as an SMS using the following addresses:
This is surprisingly one of the most frequently asked questions. The status bar notifications can be configured in the Status Bar Icon setting found under Additional Settings to never display or only display under certain conditions.
No. There is no application limit on the number of offline storage records that are allowed to be saved. The actual limit will really depend on available storage on your device, but should never be an issue considering the size of each location record is minimal. Offline records do not expire and will never be automatically deleted.
The primary attraction of Backitude is the controlled and timed use of GPS in the background to update Google Latitude locations. For those who are not typically within reach of GPS satellites but still want to take advantage of Backitude's control and battery efficiency, can disable GPS use altogether within the application. Under Advanced Settings > Set Priority, the location providers can to restricted to completely disregard GPS by selecting "Wi-Fi only" or "Wi-Fi with Tower Triangulation backup". Under one of these configurations, GPS will not be activated by the application even if Stand-alone GPS use is enabled for the Android device.
Under Advanced Settings > Set Priority, the location providers can be prioritized or omitted as desired. Use any of the "Wi-Fi"-first* options to omit or stop GPS polling when Wi-Fi locations are discovered.
*It is recommended to prioritize Wi-Fi as the highest provider in general because typically if Wi-Fi locations are available, the device is indoors where it will not be able to acquire a GPS fix anyways. This will prevent the device from needlessly polling the GPS to the extent of the timeout value. Also, when outdoors and the Wi-Fi location is not available, the GPS will still continue to poll as normal.
Under Advanced Settings > Set Priority, the location providers can be prioritized or omitted as desired. Use any of the options that do not include "Tower triangulation" and location detection will be forced to conform to the requirements set in the GPS and Wi-Fi minimum requirements settings in order to update with a new location.
No, this application will not keep your system awake nor drain any unnecessary battery power. When sleeping, Backitude does have the ability to wake the system to perform the location update. Waking the system is required in order function properly during this time. However, there are options under Advanced Settings to turn this off if desired. The downside is obviously that your device will not update your location when sleeping.
A "steals-only" mode can be achieved by selecting "None" for the Standard-Mode Settings > Time Interval Options and enabling Steals. However, it means that the Backitude location polling will not run at a timed interval, and will simply wait until it acquires "stolen" locations with which to update Latitude.
A "docked-only" mode can be achieved in essence by checking Docked-Mode Settings > Docked-Mode Enabled, and also selecting "None" from the Standard-Mode Settings > Time Interval Options. By doing so, Backitude will only poll GPS when the device is docked, but also "steal" locations at any point if that function is enabled as well.
GPS polling is a battery-intensive function. This is why Google Latitude purposefully omitted GPS use from their background location detection. For those who downloaded Backitude and want the functionality regardless, there are some tricks to make the most out of your battery life. Try any combination of the following to meet your needs:
*If power consumption is an issue, it is recommended that you turn off the location detection within the Google Latitude app. This will give you complete control of your location updates via Backitude and allow you to completely manage battery consumption and location updating. Go into Maps > Latitude > Menu > Location settings > Background location reporting > Set your location. Manually select an arbitrary location on the map, which will then be overwritten and updated by Backitude from this point forward. It is important NOT to select the option for "Do not update your location" because this will hide your location from all of your Latitude friends. Disabling Latitude location detection may also alleviate the need to use Backitude's Re-Sync Rate. Turn Re-Sync Rate to "None" and save even more battery power.
The first place to ask or look for further assistance is the online forum, where I can quickly respond or others can in my absence. Also, the answer you seek might have already been answered searching through the existing posts, available here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1599791.
All bugs and feature requests can be reported to backitude@gmail.com
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