INC Knowledge Base

Important Information

Why should I allow positioning in the INC mobile app?

In order to receive contextual and position-based alerts you need to always allow the INC mobile application to use your location services. If your organization has integrated the INC Platform with an assistance provider, always allowing the INC application to use your location will enable the assistance provider to help you wherever you are, when you are in need of assistance.

 

For full privacy, location settings can always be changed in the mobile application. In the mobile application, you can decide to switch off the services of the app (i.e. completely turn off notifications and positioning), or you can switch off exact positioning (i.e. decide to only provide information on what country you are located in).

 

Optimal device settings

Always allow the INC application to use your device’s location data. You can do this by going to your device’s Settings → Privacy → Location Services. Make sure your location services are enabled and that you have chosen “Always” for the INC mobile application.

 

In the INC application, you have two different privacy settings, Service and Location Accuracy, read more here.

Depending on the ability of the device to establish a location, the INC app can receive varying accuracy when requesting position data from the phone. Below are some prerequisites to “help” the device to establish a good position and to allow the INC app to share it accurately.

 

Prerequisites:

  • In your device’s location settings, you should always allow the INC app to use location and share location data.
  • Remember: You always have full control over your location data and privacy settings from within the app where you can toggle both services and level of the position.
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Other Factors:

  • WIFI network:

Being connected to WIFI increases the likelihood that your position reporting will be inaccurate, compared to your “true” location. In practice, the position of your internet base station or router, i.e. probably set by your internet provider, will be used as your actual position.

  • Connected to VPN:

Similar to WIFI, being connected to VPN significantly increases the likelihood that your position reporting will be inaccurate, compared to your “true” location. Depending on the VPN setup, it may report your position in a different state or country for privacy purposes.  If so, using VPN can make your device believe that you are at a different location than your real location, and thereby also report a “false” location via the INC app.

  • Mobile Networks:

This is the best option for getting an accurate position. In this case, with a strong cellular network connection, your position can be determined by triangulation and GPS (trilateration), theoretically depicted in the graphic.

Hence, being in a basement usually degrades the accuracy, while outdoors usually increasing position accuracy significantly.

Also, turning on Bluetooth improves location accuracy as Apple location service utilizes it in reporting positions.

 

Test your devices accuracy:

 

You can test whether the position in the INC platform is the same as on your mobile device by:

  • Opening another mapping application such as Apple Maps on your iPhone
  • Touch the blue dot signifying where you are
  • Your current location coordinates will appear (may need to scroll down below address)
  • This will be the same position as the one you find at the bottom of the assistance page in the app and for your user profile in the web portal.  

This guide will help you understand the INC app capabilities in environments with low or no internet access. The app can handle sharing your location if your mobile device cannot access internet, but still have access to mobile networks and can send SMS. In addition, the app stores information offline which can be accessed at any time.

Check-in button

  1. Press the Check-in button on the home page of the app.  
  2. If you do not have access to the internet, then press “Try using SMS”.
  3. By sending the SMS you will share your positioning with the INC platform, and your admin will be able to see your position.

 

Emergency Button

Even if your mobile device cannot access internet and you are in an emergency you can still share your position and initiate emergency mode.  

 

When you press the red “SOS” button on the assistance page in your app the system will automatically open your SMS-dialog after the five-second countdown and you can send your position to the Global Emergency Assistance Center for Insured Nomads to be alerted. You will get a call back to the number registered and an in-app message you may respond to for help.

 

 

 

Offline Content

Most of the information available in the INC app is stored offline and can be used even if the device does not have access to internet.  

 

Some information is automatically downloaded in the background and can be used at any time, this includes:

  • Local emergency phone numbers and assistance provider phone numbers
  • Alerts (My Alerts only)
  • Travel Itineraries

 

Note that the data might become outdated if longer periods without internet occurs.