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Common Problems

Summary​

Most monitoring problems trace back to one of three things: a missing permission, monitoring not actually being armed, or the phone's battery-saving settings pausing the app. Check those first.

Details​

"I didn't get an alert I expected"​

  1. Is monitoring actually started? Check the Status screen shows "ON". A configured sensor, channel, and monitor do nothing on their own until you tap Start Monitoring.
  2. Are the sensor, channel, and monitor all enabled? Adding an item doesn't automatically enable it, and the Free tier disables extra items beyond its limits — see Tiers & Upgrading.
  3. Check the Event Log on the Status screen — it records what each channel did and when monitoring started and stopped, so it will show whether the alert was dispatched and what happened to each channel. It does not record individual sensor readings, so it cannot tell you why a sensor did not fire.
  4. Check the alert delay. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth sensors wait before confirming a change, so a brief absence (a few seconds of a dropped signal) is deliberately ignored as noise, and even "No Debouncing" waits about a minute on Bluetooth. See Debounce.
  5. Was a radio switched off? If Wi-Fi or Bluetooth was turned off, the matching sensor has no information and holds its last known state — it does not alert. That is deliberate: a radio you switched off is not evidence the person left. Turn the radio back on and check the sensor's row on the Status screen.
  6. A Test button works, but a real alert doesn't? The Test button in a channel's editor sends immediately, bypassing debounce and monitor state — it only proves the channel itself can deliver, not that the whole sensor → monitor → channel chain will fire under real conditions.

"The app stopped monitoring on its own"​

This is almost always Android's battery management putting the app to sleep. See Power & Battery — check both battery optimization and your phone brand's own power-saving settings (Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO, and OnePlus all add their own on top of stock Android).

"A sensor shows an error or never resolves"​

Usually a missing permission, or a radio that is switched off. Open Settings → Background Permissions — it counts the permissions your current configuration needs and opens the setup wizard, where each one has its own button. A sensor missing a required permission can't determine its state at all, and neither can one whose radio is off.

"WiFi/Bluetooth scanning isn't finding anything"​

Location permission is required for scanning on Android, even though it isn't GPS location tracking: Wi-Fi scanning needs it on every version (plus the "nearby Wi-Fi devices" permission from Android 13), and Bluetooth scanning needs it below Android 12, where the "nearby devices" permission replaces it. On most versions Android's own location switch must be on as well — and no wizard step asks for that, so check it yourself. See The Setup Wizard & Permissions. Also confirm WiFi/Bluetooth themselves are turned on — Airplane Mode disables both, and with a radio off the matching sensor holds its state instead of alerting.

"I can't get into Settings — the app is locked"​

If App Lock is on, tap the "Unlock App" button and enter your password — that button is the password route, not the lock icon. The lock icon is the emergency route: tap it 7 times within 3 seconds (unless you disabled emergency unlock, in which case the icon opens the password box directly). See App Lock.

Still stuck?​

Check each relevant sensor/channel page under Sensors and Channels — most list their specific permission requirements at the bottom.