The Calmdogs guide

What's in the box

• The Calmdogs tracker, with its SIM already inside.
• A magnetic charging cable.
• A quick-start card with your tracker's QR code and pairing code.

The same code is printed on the "Keep this card" page of the leaflet. Keep it somewhere safe: you need it if you ever set the tracker up again, for example on a new account.

Charging

Clip the magnetic cable onto the back of the tracker and plug it into any USB phone charger. The light shows red while charging and green when full. A full charge takes about 2 hours.

Charge it fully before the first use. After that, the app tells you when it's time to charge again.

Setting up

1. Download the Calmdogs app from the App Store or Google Play.
2. Create an account with your email, or sign in with Apple or Google.
3. Type your dog's name and add a photo if you like.
4. Type the tracker's IMEI number and pairing code from the card in the box.
5. Draw your home zone on the map: drag the circle over your home and choose its size.
6. Allow notifications, so the app can tell you when your dog leaves home.

That's it. Put the tracker on the collar and the app starts showing where your dog is.

Reading the map

The map shows your dog's photo where the tracker last was. The card at the bottom says it in words:

• Safe at home: inside your home zone.
• Out and about: outside the home zone, for example on a walk.
• No contact: the tracker hasn't checked in for a while. It may be out of signal or the battery may be flat.

Under that you see when the tracker last checked in, how precise the position is, and the battery. Slide the top of the card down to see more map, and up again to bring back the buttons.

Home zone and home Wi-Fi

Your home zone is the circle you drew during setup. You can change it any time in Alerts.

Calmdogs also learns your home Wi-Fi by itself. When the tracker can hear it, the app shows "In range, Home Wi-Fi" and knows your dog is home, even indoors where GPS doesn't work. Calmdogs never connects to your Wi-Fi and never needs your password: the tracker only notices that your router is nearby.

Walks happen by themselves

You don't need to start or stop anything. When your dog leaves home, walk mode switches on by itself:

• For the first hour of a walk, the tracker sends its position every minute.
• On longer walks, it slows down to every 3 minutes to save battery.
• Back at home, it checks in about every 10 minutes.
• When the battery is below 30%, it stays at every 10 minutes, so it doesn't run out on the way home.

When your dog is asleep and not moving, the tracker rests too. It wakes up the moment your dog moves.

Find now

Tap Find now on the map to ask the tracker for a fresh position. It usually arrives within a minute. The app then says where your dog is, how far from you, and how precise it is.

At home, the answer may come from your home Wi-Fi instead of GPS. Indoors, a fresh position can take longer.

Light up collar

Tap Light up collar to make the tracker's light flash, handy in a dark park or garden. It turns off by itself after 10 minutes, or tap Turn light off.

Lost dog mode

If your dog has run off, tap Lost? at the top of the map and confirm. Then:

• The tracker sends its position every 10 seconds and the map follows your dog.
• The collar light flashes, so your dog is easier to spot.
• Share with friends sends a ready-made message with the last position, for WhatsApp, Facebook or text.

Lost dog mode stops by itself after 30 minutes, or when your dog is back home. To stop it sooner, tap Stop lost dog mode on the card, or Live ✕ at the top. It uses much more battery, so only use it when you need it.

You can try it at home first, so you know how it works before you ever need it.

Alerts

Calmdogs sends a notification when:

• your dog leaves the home zone, and when they're back,
• the battery is getting low,
• the tracker hasn't checked in for a long time, and when it's back in touch.

Choose which ones you want in the Alerts tab. Every alert of the last 30 days is listed there too.

History

The History tab shows each day's walks on a map, with the distance and the time your dog was out. It keeps the last 7 days.

Family sharing

In Settings, tap Invite family and type a family member's email. They get an invite and, once they accept in their own Calmdogs app, see the same map and alerts. Only the owner can change the tracker's settings, and you can remove someone at any time.

Battery life and battery saver

The app shows the battery as days left, which is easier than a percentage. How long a charge lasts depends mostly on how many walks your dog has: the tracker uses more battery while it reports every minute.

If you'd like it to last longer, switch on Battery saver in your dog's settings. Walks then report every 5 minutes instead of every minute, and home checks are less frequent. Lost dog mode still works fully.

We're measuring real battery life in everyday use and will add the numbers here before launch.

Why a position is sometimes rough

Outdoors, the tracker uses GPS and the position is precise to a few metres. Indoors or under thick cover, GPS can't reach, so the tracker works out a rough position from nearby Wi-Fi networks or phone masts.

• Rough (Wi-Fi): usually right to within tens of metres.
• Rough (phone mast): only the general area, sometimes a kilometre or more out. The app shows this as a shaded area, never as an exact pin.

Looking after the tracker

• Keep the charging contacts clean and dry before charging.
• Rinse off mud and salt water with fresh water and let it dry.
• Don't leave it in a hot car or in direct sun on a windowsill.
• At the end of its life, recycle it as electronic waste, not in household rubbish.