Navigation

How the app detects the start and end of a trip, reconnects to the car in the background and draws the route.

The Navigation screen, opened from Settings, gathers the GPS, automatic trip detection and car reconnection settings. The defaults serve most vehicles; change only the item matching the symptom you see.

  1. Adjust the GPS tolerance

    GPS tolerance sets the limit of imprecision accepted in the positions. Raise the value if the app struggles to find your position or if the route is not recorded properly.

  2. Choose how the trip ends

    Automatic trip detection sets how the app works out that you have parked: Speed + RPM, Speed or RPM. The default serves most vehicles; change it if the trip ends or carries on at the wrong moment.

    Auto-resume trip sets how long a trip can be resumed for. Reopening the app within that window continues the same trip; beyond it, or after moving further than the distance shown from the last known position, a new trip is created.

  3. Make the route more faithful

    Snap route to roads adjusts the recorded path to follow the streets. Turn it off to keep the exact GPS path.

    Estimate route in tunnels (experimental) rebuilds the route when GPS disappears, in tunnels and underground garages, by combining the phone sensors with the speed read off the car. The option requires an OBD adapter, and the screen itself recommends turning it off if you have problems with routes or if you rarely go through tunnels.

  4. Set up background reconnection

    Background reconnect sets what happens when the system wakes the app near the car: only the adapter is tried, and the GPS and the sensors start only after the ECU answers. Retry interval and Retry window control the pace and the length of those attempts.

    Only when close to the car ignores the wake-up while the adapter signal is weak, which saves battery at home, and Minimum signal sets the threshold. The option can miss a trip when the adapter sits far from the phone.

    Vehicle connection attempts sets how many times the adapter tries to reconnect to the ECU, roughly every ten seconds, before giving up and letting the app sleep to save battery.

  5. Turn the connection sound and driving detection on

    Connection sound plays a rising sound when the vehicle connects and a falling one when it disconnects, so you know what happened without looking at the phone.

    Driving detection asks whether you want to record a trip when the phone works out that you have started driving. It works without an OBD adapter.

  6. Adjust the accelerometer tolerance

    Accelerometer calibration tolerance, with the Low, Medium and High options, is used by the acceleration tests and sets how much vibration from inside the car is tolerated during the calibration. High tolerates more vibration.

If something goes wrong

Try another option in Automatic trip detection: the screen itself guides the setting when the trip ends or carries on at the wrong moment. Raise the Auto-resume trip window as well, so that the same trip is resumed when you move off. Trips already split can be joined in Trip History.

Raise the GPS tolerance and make sure the location permission is the precise one. If the route ends up distorted onto nearby streets, turn Snap route to roads off to see the original GPS path. In tunnels, Estimate route in tunnels fills the stretch with no signal in, and should be turned off if it produces odd paths.

Check Background reconnect and, if Only when close to the car is on, lower the Minimum signal: an adapter sitting far from the phone can fall below the threshold. Check the battery optimization as well, in App Permissions.

The question comes from Driving detection, which reacts to the movement of the phone. Turn the option off if you often travel as a passenger, or answer it only when you are driving.

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