How it works

• How does CellTRAKR capture events on my phone(s)?
• What phone types are supported?
• Is CellTRAKR Spyware?
• How does the GPS location and speed tracking work?
• Does GPS cost anything?
• When is CellTRAKR running?
• What are the Parent and Child roles in CellTRAKR?
• What is the deal with iPhone and CellTRAKR?

How does CellTRAKR capture events on my phone(s)?

Once CellTRAKR software has been installed on your phone and you have authenticated with your username/password, event capture is automatic.   CellTRAKR operates in the background and captures all events as they happen.   In some cases you may wish to disable some or all of the event capture on a phone or group of phones.   This can be accomplished by adjusting the User Profile from the CellTRAKR Web Portal.  

What phone types are supported?

The following table lists common phone types and their support level.   "Can be Tracked" means that activity, location, and speed data can be captured on these phones.   "Monitor Others" means that these phones can be used to monitor data captured by tracked users.   If your phone is not shown or is not supported, please don't hesitate to contact us.  

Phone Type	Can be Tracked	Monitor Others	Comments
Android	Yes	Yes	2.1 or higher recommended
BlackBerry	Yes	Yes	4.7 or higher recommended
iPhone	No	Yes	Monitoring version available now
Windows Mobile 5 & 6	No	Yes	Tracking version coming soon
Windows Phone 7	No	Yes	Tracking version coming soon
Other	No	Yes	Must have internet access

Is CellTRAKR Spyware?

In creating CellTRAKR, we made two key decisions:

• We would not strive to make CellTRAKR’s existence invisible to the cell phone user
• We would not stop a user from performing any specific activity and would instead focus on reporting the activity to the relevant party

Why It Isn’t Invisible
We had three reasons for not trying to make CellTRAKR invisible.   First, it is very difficult to make it invisible to a sophisticated user and once even one user discovers it, there is the potential that the word spreads quickly.   We didn’t think it was a good idea to run risk of have children be alienated by this sort of discovery.   Second, and more importantly, it limits our ability to help the child.   Features like driving mode, the ability to self report their location and the ability to add a note explaining an exception require the user to know about CellTRAKR and how to access it.   Third, we were keenly aware of the possibility of misuse.   An inappropriate CellTRAKR installation would have the potential to invade a person’s privacy or even help a predator.  

Why It Doesn’t Stop Certain Activities
Although our CellTRAKR software is intelligent, it can’t envision every possible circumstance.   For example, if your child is in a car that is being chased by anther car, would you want us to block their calls?   If they were hiding from someone and wanted to send you a text message requesting help, would you want us to block it because it was during its prohibited hours?   We think the answer is no to these sorts of questions.   On the other hand, when kids know that bad behavior is being reported they are most likely to avoid engaging in such behavior.   That approach delivers the vast majority of the benefits, while avoiding the risks.  

So, What Is It?
It is a powerful parenting tool that parents, and kids, can use together to improve child safety.   It’s that simple.  

How does the GPS location and speed tracking work?

While CellTRAKR can track many things, our customers are often particularly interested in tracking locations and speed.   This is best done by using GPS.   Cell phones use GPS (Global Position System) satellites to get very precise locations and also speed and direction information.   However, GPS is not always available, so CellTRAKR may use wireless network location tracking as a backup.   This is much less precise and does not allow for the capture of speed information.   GPS location and speed are generally captured during/after each event (call, text message, etc), on a regular interval, and on-demand when requested from a Parent.   In order to use the Location and Speed tracking features of CellTRAKR, you must have a GPS enabled phone.   Your mobile carrier must also support GPS (which most do).  

Does GPS cost anything?

Generally there is no cost to get this information, but it does use up the cell phone’s battery, so it should be used carefully.   We generally recommend to set it for no more often than every 30 minutes.   When you need something more current, then just use the request location function on the Monitor page and you will typically get the latest location in two minutes or less.  

When is CellTRAKR running?

Any time your phone is powered on CellTRAKR is running.   When your phone is restarted, CellTRAKR will restart also.   As long as the CellTRAKR software remains on the phone and is authenticated with username and password, CellTRAKR will continue to operate properly.  

What are the Parent and Child roles in CellTRAKR?

Each account should have one or more Parent users, and one or more Child users. The Parent and Child roles define which family members will be tracked, and which have access to the monitoring tools to examine the data collected.   Typically a Child will have CellTRAKR installed on their phone in order to capture activity and location, and have limited access to monitoring tools.   Parents are granted full monitoring access and may optionally choose to track their own phone activity and/or location.  

Each family member is given one of the following roles and sets of capabilities:

Capability	Parent / Caregiver	Child / Teen
See location of all users	Yes	Yes
See activity and usage of all users	Yes	No
Track personal location	Yes	Yes
Track personal activity and usage	Yes	Yes
Turn off location and usage tracking	Yes	No
Use driving mode	Yes	Yes
Receive daily reports	Yes	No
PC access	Yes	No

What is the deal with iPhone and CellTRAKR?

The iPhone is the major success story with mobile smart phones over the past three years and with a lower price point and more carriers supporting the product, it is going to remain a major provider of cell phones for end users.  

CellTRAKR works very well with iPhone for parents wanting to monitor the activities of their youth/teens from their iPhone.   A single click on the CellTRAKR application and the iPhone provides all of the normally available data that any other supported phone provides on CellTRAKR.  

The iPhone, however, has major limitations in using CellTRAKR for youth/teens.   There are technical reasons why this arises and we have attempted to lobby Apple directly and with other software developers to address these issues.   What happens is that unlike Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Android phones, Apple will not allow our software to interface with the iPhone to track user data (voice calls, text messages, email) and for location based services CellTRAKR cannot work without the direct acknowledgement each time an update is requested or no data will be sent.  

There are two unstated reasons that Apple refuses to open its software to allow access to this data:  (a) the iPhone has no battery replacement so any applications that may affect battery life are banned---and this would be somewhat true with CellTRAKR; and (b) they have not provided a software gateway to access the data we need.  

As a result, we recommend that the iPhone is well suited for a parent to use with CellTRAKR as long as the youth/teens are using Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile phones.   The iPhone is not well suited to work as a youth/teen phone if you are interested in using CellTRAKR.

We believe that if enough interest is shown to Apple that they may reconsider this policy.   If you would take a moment to do so, please click the link below and inform Apple of this feedback.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

We have even written copy below that you are more than welcome to "cut and paste" into the form at the Apple site.

My family is interested in using CellTRAKR software that allows parents to remotely view phone activity including call detail records, text messages, email, and web browser traffic.   CellTRAKR also allows me to see from my phone or Mac where my children are at any time, based on phone location data.   It looks like an exceptional tool for helping me keep up with my kids.   When I asked CellTRAKR about using iPhones, they informed me that the iPhone won’t work with CellTRAKR as the iOS does not allow for this type of information to be accessed by CellTRAKR software.  

I would appreciate you looking into this matter and allowing for iPhone to be used safely by children and offering their parents the peace of mind provided by CellTRAKR.

Account Setup

• What are the first steps?
• How can I monitor data collected from the tracked phones on my account?
• Is CellTRAKR customizable?

What are the first steps?

Two critical things must happen for CellTRAKR to function properly, and be a useful and effective tool:

1) Add Family Members - Sign Up for a CellTRAKR account, and tell us about the members of your family that will use CellTRAKR.   Add both users that will be Tracked, and users that will Monitor those Tracked users.   Each user will be given a unique CellTRAKR Username and Password.  

2) Install CellTRAKR on All Phones - CellTRAKR software must be installed on all Tracked phones, and optionally on Monitorning phones.   Once installed be sure to login to each phone with the Username and Password provided for that phone's user.   The CellTRAHR phone client is essential to gathering event, location, and speed data.  

How can I monitor data collected from the tracked phones on my account?

There are 3 basic options for monitoring the activity of tracked users:

1) From your PC - The secure CellTRAKR Web Portal allows you to monitor from any internet connected PC.   It also allows you to manage your account and tailor CellTRAKR to meet your exact needs.   Visit the CellTRAKR Web Portal and login with your CellTRAKR Username and Password.   Only Parent users will have access to the web portal.   The Dashboard page allows you to monitor others by selecting them in the dropdown list.   To adjust which users show up in this list, click the Settings link within the dashboard.   Only users that are Tracked or Monitor & Tracked will display activity.  

2) From your Phone - Web enabled phones can be used to monitor tracked phones.   Depending on your phone type, you may be able to use the CellTRAKR phone software for monitoring.   Supported phones include Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile 6 phones (iPhone and Windows 7 clients coming soon).   You can also use your phone's browser to access the monitoring application by visiting the Mobile Login Page.  

3) Receive Scheduled Reports - Reports are sent on a recurring basis either Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.   Visit the CellTRAKR Web Portal to adjust your Report settings.   After logging in, go to the Setttings tab (along the top bar) and click Reports in the left-hand menu.   Add one or more reports to be sent via email.  

Is CellTRAKR customizable?

Yes.   Each user of the system has a "User Profile" which is basically a group of configuration settings that controls how CellTRAKR behaves on their phone.   The User Profile can be viewed and modified by visiting the CellTRAKR Web Portal under Settings > User Profiles.   The Users page tells you which User Profile each member belongs to.   Making changes to the User Profile will affect all users that belong to that User Profile.   You can add new User Profiles or modify existing ones to meet your specific needs.  

Troubleshooting

• Why is my phone activity not being tracked?
• Why are my GPS lcoations not showing up?
• How do I know if my cell phone is GPS capable?
• How do I know if my GPS and wireless network location services are on?
• Why don’t I always get a GPS location?
• Why do I sometimes get strange locations and speeds?
• How can I get support?

Why is my phone activity not being tracked?

Three things are required to track phone activity:

• Install CellTRAKR software on supported phone.
• Login with valid Username and Password.
• User must have tracking option turned on.  Monitoring users only have tracking disabled.

If you are still having problems, please Contact Us for assistance.

Why are my GPS lcoations not showing up?

Here are the basic requirements for GPS location tracking:

• GPS capable phone and carrier
• GPS function enabled on phone
• CellTRAKR software installed on phone being tracked
• User logged into CellTRAKR
• Location tracking turned on for your user

If you are still having problems, please Contact Us for assistance.

How do I know if my cell phone is GPS capable?

You can certainly ask your carrier, but the easiest way may be to go to your settings and see if there are GPS settings.   If there are not, then your phone is most likely is not GPS capable.   See the next questions for information about your settings.  

How do I know if my GPS and wireless network location services are on?

Go to your phone settings page and look for location related settings.   These must be turned on for GPS location to work properly:

• View typical Android location settings page
• View typical Blackberry location settings page

Why don’t I always get a GPS location?

GPS requires clear access to the sky so that the phone can communicate with the GPS satellites.   If you are in a building, particularly if you are away from a window, then it is very likely tht GPS is unavailable at that moment.   This is why we use wireless network location services as a backup.  

Why do I sometimes get strange locations and speeds?

The GPS chip in your cell phone uses satellite information to calculate location, speed and direction.   Occasionally, the information it receives is incomplete or incorrect.   CellTRAKR filters out obviously bad locations, but we can’t spot all of them.   When in doubt, we feel it is better to publish a suspect location rather than not publish a location that you may very well need to see.  

How can I get support?

Contact Us anytime.