top of page
Mia Lazar

How Scanlily’s GPS tracking really works

a cartoon truck drives to a house labeled with 34 flagged items

One of the questions customers ask the most frequently about our app is, what does it mean that stickers can help track the GPS coordinates of my belongings?


GPS tracking is a free, optional feature on the Scanlily app. An item’s GPS coordinates update every time its QR code is scanned. This is helpful when you’re managing items at multiple sites. For example, if your company needs to move equipment back and forth between two sites, all you need to do is scan the QR code once you get to the site. A team member can then look up items on the Scanlily app or website. You can also manually enter an item’s location.  Scanlily’s GPS tracking lets you know where every item is. 


Should I use Scanlily GPS or Airtags to track the location of my belongings?


Scanlily GPS and Airtags work very differently, and they are both useful in different circumstances. Airtags are useful when tracking belongings without needing to scan a QR code, because they will continually update their location automatically. They are also expensive (as of December 2024, a single Airtag sells for $25 on Amazon). They have a battery life between one and two years, so you will have to remember to replace them. 


Scanlily’s tracking system depends on a person physically scanning a QR sticker or manually entering the location into the app. The stickers are cheap and available online at Amazon or Walmart. Erik Leuschner, a Scanlily user, said that Scanlily’s GPS feature was more accurate than Airtags. When he used Airtags to track lock boxes, he often found that his Airtags were being reported a distance away from where they were actually located. This is because Airtags rely on bluetooth connections of the phones of passersby. In Erik’s case, the phones of passersby were in cars. It can take a couple minutes for phones to update the Airtag location to the Find My network, by which time the cars had already driven a distance away from the real location of Erik’s Airtags. This left Erik with an inaccurate map of his belongings. With Scanlily, however, the location of the items is updated to the map instantaneously with the scan of a QR. 


Airtags do not record the history of the places that they visit. Scanlily Business users can track the history of the addresses that each item is moved to. This can help users create reports about the history of equipment usage at different job sites.


A screenshot of the Scanlily App shows the locations of 130 items and their total value

Flagging items and Scanlily Map

On every item page, there is an option to flag the item using flag presets (like broken, Needs Inspection, etc). You can sort through your items to see all of the items under a specific flag.

Scanlily’s GPS feature makes visualizing flagged items much easier. If there is a flagged item in a location, the location will appear as red on the map on the Scanlily Dashboard. When you click on the location, you can view the list of all the flagged items in that location. 


Security at Scanlily

Security around your belongings, including their GPS locations, is Scanlily’s top priority. We use advanced security protocols and a highly secure system, so your items are protected. Items are backed up daily. Passwords are managed by Google, so we don't store anyone's passwords. All images are signed (passkey protected). QR codes are private by default, so others cannot access the information about your item without a passcode. You can set the QR to public on the item page. Read more about security at Scanlily here.

5 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Kommentare


bottom of page