Android kills apps that run in the background. That is the whole problem. Pack asks for what it needs, but on most phones — and on every Samsung — the switches that actually keep it alive are buried in the system settings and no app can flip them for you.
Three minutes, once per phone. Then forget about it.
1 · Location: Allow all the time
This is the big one. The normal Android permission popup does not offer “all the time” — it only offers “while using the app”. You have to go set it yourself:
- 1Settings → Apps → Pack → Permissions → Location
- 2Pick Allow all the time
- 3Turn Use precise location on
2 · Battery: Unrestricted
- 1Settings → Apps → Pack → Battery
- 2Pick Unrestricted
3 · Samsung only: Never sleeping apps
On One UI, Unrestricted battery is not enough on its own. You also have to put Pack on the never-sleep list:
- 1Settings → Battery → Background usage limits
- 2Open Never sleeping apps
- 3Add Pack
Check it worked
Start any ride. Two things should be true:
- Your notification shade shows a permanent Pack — Live Ride notification. That notification is the proof the tracker is alive. No notification, no tracking.
- In Pack, Settings → scroll to the bottom → the small grey line reads:
GPS: always ✓ · task ON · background
If it says bg denied ⚠ you missed step 1. If it says task off during a live ride, the phone killed the tracker — open Pack and it re-arms itself.
⚠ USING ANOTHER APP WHILE RIDING
On Samsung, actively using a different app during a ride can starve Pack anyway — that is an OEM policy no app can override. Screen off in your pocket, or Pack in front: both fine. Riding while you use another app: not fine. (Nobody should be doing that on a bike anyway.)
Every new Android in the club needs steps 1–3. Send them this page when you hand out the club code.