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 tap Generate pairing code. A code and a QR code appear
4. On the dog's phone: open OpenTrack and tap Scan QR code. Point the camera at the QR code on your own phone
5. If scanning does not work, type the code instead and tap Pair this phone

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.

When pairing is done, OpenTrack shows Paired. 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.

During the hunt

You never need to touch the dog's phone during the hunt. It automatically follows the hunt you yourself are in:

• If OpenTrack shows Waiting for a hunt, the position is shared as soon as you join a hunt on your own phone
• When you are in a hunt it shows Live in followed by the hunt's name, and the whole team sees the dog on the map
• If you switch hunts, the dog follows along automatically
• Even without a hunt, you can see the dog yourself on the dog map under My Dogs

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.

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