Driver Mode
Driver Mode turns a driver's phone into the position source of one vehicle of your fleet. While the driver's shift is on, the Kaleidr app sends the phone's location, and your published maps show the vehicle moving. When the shift ends, sharing stops.
This guide is for the fleet's owner, who sets the phone up, and for the driver, who uses it.
Before you start
- A fleet with the vehicle in it, in Kaleidr Studio under Data, Fleet.
- The Kaleidr app on the driver's phone, iOS or Android. Driver Mode appears in its menu.
- The driver does not need a Kaleidr account. The phone is paired to the vehicle, not to a person.
Pair the phone
- In Studio, open the fleet, find the vehicle under Vehicles and choose Pair Phone, then
Show Pairing Code. Studio shows a QR code and an eight-character code such as
ABCD-EFGH, valid for 10 minutes and for one phone. - On the driver's phone, scan the QR code with the camera app. It opens the Kaleidr app on the pairing screen. Without a camera, open Driver Mode in the app and type the code.
- The app shows the vehicle and fleet names. The phone is paired.
The pairing is kept on the phone until it is removed. Unpair This Phone in the app removes it, after ending a shift that is on. In Studio, Unpair under the vehicle's Devices removes it from your side: the app stops, and tells the driver This Phone Was Unpaired by Your Business.
Start and end a shift
Driver Mode shows the vehicle, the fleet and one large button.
- Start Shift. The first time, the app explains what it shares before the phone asks for any permission: "While your shift is on, Kaleidr shares this phone's location with your fleet so customers can see where the vehicle is. Sharing stops when you end your shift, and the app never shares location while your shift is off." Continue leads to the phone's location prompts.
- While the shift is on, the screen says Sharing Your Location, when the last position was sent, and how many are waiting to send when the phone is offline. Positions recorded offline are sent when the connection returns.
- End Shift stops sharing at once.
A shift also ends by itself after 16 hours, when your business ends it in Studio, or when the phone is unpaired. The app then stops sharing just as if the driver had ended it.
What is shared, and when
| Shift on | Shift off | |
|---|---|---|
| The phone's location | Sent to Kaleidr for this vehicle | Not read, not sent |
| What visitors of your maps see | The vehicle at the fleet's public precision: street level by default | Nothing: the vehicle is not shown |
| What your business sees | The vehicle's position and its track for the day | The track of earlier shifts, within your plan's history |
- Off shift, nothing leaves the phone. The app stops reading the location the moment a shift ends, and sends only points recorded before the end. Kaleidr refuses any point recorded after it, so a position from outside a shift is never stored or shown.
- Only location. The app sends position, heading, speed and accuracy, with the time of each reading. No contacts, photos or other data. When it pairs, the app also sends the phone's model and platform, which your business sees under Devices.
- No map on the phone. Driver Mode is a status screen; the vehicle appears on your published maps.
Battery
The app reads the location as often as the vehicle needs, and less when it does not:
| When | How often |
|---|---|
| Moving | About every 10 seconds, or your plan's shortest interval when that is longer, and every 25 meters |
| Stopped for 2 minutes | About every minute, and every 50 meters |
| Battery under 20%, or Low Power Mode on | Three times less often, and no more often than every 30 seconds, with the battery-saver note on screen |
Positions are sent in batches, every 30 seconds or every 20 readings, so the phone's radio is not kept on. A full shift uses more battery than a phone at rest: keep the phone on a charger in the vehicle.
Permissions
The app asks for location only when the driver starts a first shift, after the explanation above.
iOS
- Allow While Using App at the first prompt.
- Then Change to Always Allow, so the position is shared while the phone is locked or another app is open. iOS shows the blue location indicator while a shift is on.
To check later: Settings, Kaleidr, Location, Always.
Android
- While using the app at the first prompt.
- Then Allow all the time in the settings page the app opens, so the position is shared while the screen is off.
While a shift is on, Android shows a notification, Driver Mode Is On, which stays until the shift ends.
If background location is refused, the app offers Share Only While the App Is Open: the position is shared while Driver Mode is on screen, and the screen stays awake. Sharing pauses when the driver leaves the app.
If something goes wrong
| The app says | What to do |
|---|---|
| 3 Waiting to Send | The phone is offline. The positions are sent when it reconnects. |
| The code is not accepted | It expired after 10 minutes or was already used. Choose Pair Phone in Studio again. |
| This Phone Was Unpaired by Your Business | Your business removed the phone. Pair it again from Studio. |
| The vehicle does not move on the map | Check that the shift is on, that location is set to Always or Allow all the time, and that the fleet's Hide After has not passed since the last position. |