How do I set up Neer?

take it away robot explainer guy!

What are the basic requirements for Neer?

• an iPhone 4 or an Android device running version 2.1 and above
• be in the North American market
• use the real phone number of your mobile device, or google voice number pointing to that device’s phone number

How does contact linking work?

Neer links you up with other Neer users once you both have one another in a Neer group. The linking happens automatically so long each person has the correct phone OR email address of the other person in their Android contacts.

If you have a person in your group and it says they are not a Neer user, but you know they are, simply click to send them an invite.  They will receive an alert on the ‘Me Page’.  Once they have acted on the invite and added you to a group, you will be linked, and able to see each other’s information.

How do I improve battery life?

We are working hard to ensure you get a full day of battery even with Neer running in the background. We get this performance on our phones (an EVO, Incredible, Droid X, Droid, Aria, Nexus, Hero, and iPhone4).  Here are tips to help you out.

iPhone

• Turn on Wi-Fi (even if you don’t connect to a network)
  home > settings > Wi-Fi
• Ensure location is enabled for Neer
  home > settings > General > Location Services

Does the Purple Arrow in iPhone status bar mean GPS is on constantly?

• No. The purple arrow shows up in the top bar because Neer is registered as a background location service and has made a recent location request.
• Neer checks location as little as possible, whilst still trying to keep an accurate location status. The location checking is spaced out over varying time intervals that increase when you are moving and decreases when you are not. In fact, it learns and tunes to your behavior over time. We first look for a WiFi-assisted network fix (which consumes less power than GPS), and then use GPS as a fallback.

Android

• Turn off GPS
  home > menu > settings > wireless & networks
  
• Turn on ‘Use wireless networks’ for location
  home > menu > settings > location
  
• Turn on Wifi
  home > menu > settings > wireless & networks
  even if you don’t connect to a data network, wifi will speed up location fixes and make them more accurate
  
• With GPS off, Wifi and Use Wireless Networks must be on. Android is quite efficient as picking up network locations with these settings.

A general caveat, however, is that location is tricky. Promptness and accuracy are a trade off for battery use.

Often times one person’s particular circumstances will cause more battery use than another. For instance, if you sit in the middle of a building at work for long periods without Wifi on, it will be very difficult to determine a location that is ‘good enough’ for Neer to work well.

If you need to save battery, just go into Neer and turn automatic location OFF.  We put it right on the front page so you can’t miss it.

My location updates aren’t showing up.

Make sure at least either GPS  or Wifi are on.

If you are in a building, using Wifi may be necessary to get a fix that is accurate enough to put you in one of your places.

Ensure the place you think you are at is actually set up at the correct location. When setting up a location for a place you currently are at, sometimes the location detection of the phone doesn’t quite get it correct. In this case, the location you set up is a bit off, and therefore you never show up where you think are you. Flip to the back of that place on the Places tab, and see it is correct.

And lastly, did you know that if you have a Verizon or Sprint phone (or other CDMA operator) that your phone can’t do data and voice at the same time.  So, if you get on a phone call, leave work and stay on the phone all the way home, then your location will not update until you home and have hung up.

How do I delete a group?

From the people/groups tab, navigate to the group you want to delete (arrows in the upper right for Android, slide for iPhone). Click on the people/groups tab to slide up the menu. Choose “Edit this group”. On the bottom right of the page, there is a link Delete this group.

I see you have an Android Widget. What is it and how do I add it?

A widget is a small window into an application that you can put on one of your home screens in Android. For Neer, our widget will show you a list of the people in your Inner Circle, with their current locations and status. It also allows you to quickly call or text them, so you can use it as a quick dialer.

How can I have Neer send an automatic SMS to someone when I arrive or leave a place?

This is currently only possible on Android, and here’s how you set it up. Go the the people/groups tab, select the person to whom you want to send an SMS, and then click on them again to flip the card to the back. You will see a plus button with “add new rule”. Click on this to expand the SMS rule section. Simply fill out the form to suit your needs and click save.

We pre-fill the phone number with the first mobile number we find for that person. If you want to send to another number, you can edit that field.