Frequently Asked Questions

Android Support

1. How does Moby work?

Moby uses the existing GPS capabilities of your Android phone to share and display your location in real time to family and friends who are Moby subscribers, and via email or SMS to those who are not using the Moby application.

2. What do I need to run Moby?

To use Moby for Android, you will require a phone running Android 2.2 or later, a valid Google™ account logged in on your phone (e.g. Gmail™), and at least 4MB of free space.

3. How frequently are location points updated?

With ‘Location Sharing’ on, Moby will update your location every 20 seconds throughout your location sharing session.

4. Can I use Moby with Location Services disabled?

Be aware that Moby requires Location Services on your Android to be active in order to share your location with others.

When you run Moby with Location Services disabled, you will be able to receive location points from those sharing with you. If you wish to share your location, please ensure 'Use Wireless Networks' and 'Use GPS Satellites' are both checked under 'Location' in the Android settings.

5. Can I use Moby with no network connection?

Moby will not function when you are using your Android in Airplane Mode, when you are out of coverage, or when wireless data is disabled. If Moby is not functioning properly, please check to make sure that Android Airplane mode is disabled, and that you have either 3G or WiFi services.

6. How does Moby protect my privacy?

Moby gives you complete control over with whom and when you share your location. To ensure your location is never visible to any third parties, Moby will never share your location via social networking sites and always obfuscates map links sent via email or SMS. We here at Moby take privacy concerns very seriously. If you or anyone you know is a victim of stalking or cyberstalking, please contact your local authorities or visit the Stalking Resource Center at http://www.ncvc.org/src/Main.aspx

7. Moby is draining my battery. How do I fix this?

When in use, Moby uses your Android GPS capabilities to update and transmit your location, which can cause battery drain. Even when not sharing location, Moby is in communication with our servers to update your friend’s location points. We advise shutting down Moby or disabling ‘Location Services’ when Moby is not in use to preserve battery life. To stop Moby completely when the map view is displayed on your phone, tap the 'Back' button twice. Otherwise, access the 'Manage applications' menu under 'Settings - Applications'. Select Moby and tap the 'Force stop' button.

Note that if Moby is closed, you will still receive location sharing requests from family or friends via Push notifications.

8. Why can’t my friend see my location points on the Moby Application?

- Are they using Moby?
Once your friend is using the Moby app for iPhone or Android, make sure that you have imported your friend to Moby using the same phone number and email address they used when they registered for Moby. If your friend registered for Moby using a different phone number or email address than you identified when you imported them, you won’t see their points on the map. If your friend is unable to see you, please ensure they have imported you using the same phone number and email address you used to register for Moby as well.

- Has their map zoomed or panned to the point where you can’t be seen?
If you have initiated location sharing, the map can automatically be adjusted to show all friends by using the ‘Zoom to All’ feature (available on the bottom left side of the map view). Alternately, the map view can be adjusted by pinching or unpinching (zoom in and zoom out, respectively) or panned by swiping your finger across the screen in the direction you wish to pan.

- Do you have location sharing initiated?
If location sharing is enabled, the ‘Location Share’ button at the top center of the map view will be set to ‘ON’ and the bars and buttons along the top and bottom of the map will be teal colored. When location sharing is off, the bars and buttons will appear grey.

- Do you have a network connection?
If you are connected to either WiFi or your cellular network the appropriate icon will appear in the status bar to indicate the connection type. You can also confirm this by accessing the ‘Settings’ menu on your iPhone.

- Are location services enabled for Moby and the Android?
You can see if location services are enabled for your Android by accessing the ‘Settings’ menu, choosing ‘Location’ and 'My Location’. Ensure both 'Use Wireless Networks' and 'Use GPS Satellites' are checked.

9. What if my friend doesn’t have an Android or iPhone? Can I still share my location?

Yes. You can share your location to your friends and family via SMS and Email. When you initiate location sharing with a someone who is not using the Moby app, they will receive a secure link on their smartphone or computer which will take them to a private map showing your 10 most recent locations. The map will automatically update every 2 minutes until you stop sharing location.

10. I’ve stopped sharing my location but I can still friends’ points on the map. Why?

Even if you stop sharing your location with your friends, you will continue to see their points on the map as long as they are sharing with you.

11. What is the difference between Moby for Android and Moby for BlackBerry?

Moby for Android represents the next generation of Moby and incorporates more of our vision of a safe, secure location-sharing network. Moby for BlackBerry, while including many of the same features, does not include the real-time location sharing interface (although subscribers are still able to send alerts and share location via the BlackBerry interface). In the near future Moby will encompass all handsets and operating systems for a seamless cross-platform location sharing experience.

Known Android Issues

1. Moby requires a valid, logged-in Google account

- In order for you to share, check-in and communicate with friends, Moby requires that Notifications be enabled on your Android phone. Google Android notifications require that there be a valid Google account created on your phone, and be logged in (authenticated) to Google, such as Gmail™ or a Google Calendar account.

- Typically, you will have been prompted to create this account when you first configured your Android phone. If you do not have an account configured or logged in, access the Android Settings and select 'Accounts & sync'. Tap the 'Add account' button and select 'Google'. Instructions will be provided for adding your new account.

2. Contacts

- When importing your Android contacts, the photo you have selected in your contact list is also imported for their Moby avatar. If the photo for the contact is changed, the avatar will not update automatically; to update the avatar you will need to remove the contact and add again.

- If you have previously regsitered Moby on another device with the same phone number, you may receive an error when attempting to register using the same information. if this happens, please email us at support@mymoby.com and we will be happy to fix the issue for you.

- There is a 22 character limit on email addresses for Moby contacts. If the email address for your contact is over 22 characters, the address will not be properly visible and you will be unable to select the address for notifications.

- When you designate a friend as a default Alert recipient, that state is remembered when you import another friend and the ‘default Alert recipient’ status will be set to ‘On’.

- If you import a new friend with the same phone number or email as an existing subscriber, you will be unable to save the new friend record.

3. Delayed Notifications from friends

Sometimes Google notifications can be delayed by 2-5 minutes, which may result in delayed delivery of location sharing sessions, check-ins, requests for check-in and Alerts.

4. Mapview

- Street view’ is currently the only option available for the Moby map. ‘Satellite’ and ‘Hybrid’ support will be added in a future release.

- An avatar in an alert state may be hidden behind the avatars of other friends in the same area. In future releases, an alert avatar will remain on top until the alert state has passed.

- There is currently no way to cancel an alert once it has been generated. Alerts will expire after 10 minutes, at which point the subscriber will be returned to their normal state.

5. Stopping the Moby App

- When Moby is running on your Android phone, tapping the 'Home' button will put Moby into the background so that sharing sessions may continue. To exit the Moby app when the map view is displayed on your phone, tap the 'Back' button twice.

- An alternate method for stopping the Moby App is to access the 'Manage applications' menu under 'Settings - Applications'. Select Moby and tap the 'Force stop' button.

Didn’t find an answer to your question?

Visit our GetSatisfaction Community Support Page or email us at support [at] mymoby [dot] com.