LightBug Zero & Pro User Manual Due to software updates, your experience of the software interface (including but not limited to software features, user interfaces, and interaction experiences) may differ from the interface presented in this manual.
Contents Meet LightBug .......................................................................................5 Front View [Zero] ..............................................................................5 Front View [Pro] ................................................................................6 Setting up your tracker.........................................................................7 Charging your tracker before initial use: .......................................
Setting up Breadcrumbs............................................................... 27 Other advanced settings .............................................................. 28 Movement Settings: .................................................................. 28 Adjusting Motion Sensitivity .................................................... 29 Adjusting Wake Mode Timeout ............................................... 30 GPS Settings ...................................................................
Battery and signal strength – Short button press ..................... 66 SOS / Force update – 1 to 3 second button press ..................... 68 Device Reset – 10 second button press ...................................... 68 How Things Work Under the Hood .................................................. 68 How the Location Technologies Work ........................................ 68 Firmware Updates ......................................................................... 69 How to Apply Updates ......
Meet LightBug Front View [Zero] Lightbug User Manual Page 5 of 73
Front View [Pro] Lightbug User Manual Page 6 of 73
Setting up your tracker This section will highlight how to activate your tracker. Charging your tracker before initial use: You will need to charge your tracker as follows before initial use: The LightBug Zero needs to be charged for at least 2 hours The LightBug Pro needs to be charged overnight Charging your LightBug Zero: The LightBug Zero is charged via any standard USB cable either via wall adapter or via USB port.
The LED indicators on the LightBug Pro will turn off when it is fully charged.
Activating your tracker To activate your tracker you will need to download the LightBug App on your smartphone or visit our web portal: app.thelightbug.com Creating an account: Once you have downloaded the LightBug App or visited our web portal, you will need to register an account if you do not already have one.
Linking your first tracker to your account: After creating a new account the LightBug App or the web portal will guide you through 3 steps in order to link your tracker to your account.
Step 1: Entering Serial Numbers Enter your tracker Serial Number. The serial number is located on the front side of the LightBug Pro tracker. As for the LightBug Zero, the serial number is located on the back. Hint: The LightBug App will allow you to scan the barcodes using your smartphone’s camera.
Step 2: Setting up your Data Plan Choose a plan and the billing period. Hint: You can change your plan and billing period later on. Step 3: Adding billing information Add your billing information so that your tracker will remain active after your free trial period. Caution: Your LightBug tracker will not activate if you do not add your billing information. You will not be charged until your free trial period is over.
Lightbug User Manual Page 13 of 73
Adding more trackers to your account: If you would like to add more trackers to the same account you will need to be logged in from the desired account and then follow these 2 steps: Click on change device: Lightbug User Manual Page 14 of 73
Scroll down till you see “Add a new device” Then follow the steps highlighted earlier in this section.
Configuring your LightBug Tracker using the setup wizard: You can always change the setting on your tracker via the Tracker Settings tab: Step 1: Naming your tracker Give your tracker a name so you can quickly identify it if you have more than one tracker on the same account.
Lightbug User Manual Page 17 of 73
Step 2: Setting up GPS and WiFi Safe-Zones These settings will help you save battery life in areas where tracking is not required and where the tracker can report its location less often.
Setting up GPS Safe-Zone: Selecting “Set up a Safe-Zone” will open a map where you can create a geographical safe zone for the tracker. Simply tap or click on the map and start creating your custom polygon that covers the area you want.
Note: When setting up this type of safe-zone, it is advisable to make it at least 50m by 50m to account for GPS inaccuracies. Caution: When the tracker is inside this safe zone, it will only report according to its sleep interval settings (more information in the following steps) Setting up WiFi Safe-Zone: Setting up your WiFi Safe-Zone will allow the tracker battery to last longer.
Caution: When the tracker is inside this safe zone, it will only report according to its sleep interval settings. Step 3: Setting up motion and fall detection Enabling motion detection will unlock wake mode update interval. Disabling this option will only allow you to set up sleep mode interval. The fall detection feature alerts you when the tracker has been dropped or the person wearing it has fallen. Note: Enabling the fall detection feature will automatically create an alert.
Hint: Motion sensitivity can be adjusted in the advanced settings section. Caution: This step will not appear if you have not enabled motion detection in the previous step. Step 5: Setting up sleep mode update interval This step allows you to configure how often you want the tracker to update its location when not moving or when inside a safe-zones.
Hint: Longer intervals between location updates will increase battery life so it is advisable to set this to 12 hours. Caution: If your tracker moves outside the safe-zone it will wake up straight away, regardless of this setting.
Step 6: Applying the settings By pressing the button on the tracker the new settings will be applied immediately.
Note: You can skip this step if you do not have your tracker at hand, this will mean the tracker will update its settings the next time it is scheduled to send a location update. Configuring your LightBug Tracker using manual configurations This section outlines the more advanced settings available to advanced users who want to tweak their tracker to better suit their needs. To unlock these settings you will have to select “Manual Configuration” in your Tracker Settings Tab.
Setting up custom wake and sleep mode intervals You can adjust wake and sleep mode intervals via these settings if you are not happy with the preset settings in the setup wizard: Hint: You are able to set the wake mode interval to seconds if you select “0 hrs” and “0 min”, this will unlock a box that will allow you to input a custom number in seconds.
Setting up Breadcrumbs Breadcrumbs is a great power saving feature that allows your LightBug tracker to record location updates between transmissions, giving you more details with every location update while saving your battery.
location updates between these 30 minute transmissions. So you set up the Breadcrumbs value to 10, meaning the tracker will record 10 location updates between each transmission (one location is saved every 3 minutes) and send these saved locations all together in one go at the 30 minute mark. Other advanced settings To unlock this you have to scroll all the way down in your Manual Configuration until you see “Advanced Settings”. Click/Tap on the message and you will see more settings show up.
Adjusting Motion Sensitivity You can adjust how sensitive your tracker is to motion and vibrations via the slider shown below.
Moving the slider all the way to the left (1/5) means the slightest tap will wake up the tracker and trigger wake mode if your tracker is outside the safe zones. Moving the slider all the way to the right (5/5) means the tracker will need more of a shake to trigger wake mode if your tracker is outside the safe zone. Adjusting Wake Mode Timeout You can also adjust how long the tracker should remain still before it transmits a location update and enables sleep mode.
GPS Settings This allows you to program how long the tracker should wait on a GPS signal before resorting to other location technologies and how long it should wait on a more accurate GPS signal once it has a GPS fix. The first field allows you to select how long the tracker should wait for a GPS signal before giving up and using WPS or GSM triangulation. The second field allows you to select how long the GPS should run for after getting a GPS fix in order to improve accuracy.
Misc. Behavior Settings There are further settings that you can enable. Again we advise you not to change any of these unless you are certain you know what you are doing.
Using the LightBug App and Web Portal The LightBug App is available for both Android and iOS devices. You can also access your account from any browser (including smartphone browsers) by visiting app.thelightbug.com Caution: The web portal works and functions exactly as the LightBug App but you will only receive notifications to your phone if you have the App installed.
The Side Menu The side menu has all your tabs along with some information about your tracker: Note: In the Web Portal the side menu will be opened by default.
Battery status: Battery status is shown by these 4 bars. By default an alert will be triggered when the battery level is below 25%.
This will open a popup where you can set an automatic timer after which the tracker will automatically wake up and resume operations. Hint: You can wake your tracker up prematurely by pressing the button on the tracker. Sleep button will put the tracker to sleep for up to 24 hours.
This will allow you to logout of your account.
Selecting a Tracker In the LightBug App you will need to open the side menu and then tap on change device: A list will appear with all your trackers and you can tap on the one you would like to choose.
Latest Tab The Latest location history tab show you the last 10 location updates along with the last know location of the tracker: Lightbug User Manual Page 39 of 73
The popup message will display further information about the tracker such as: - Date & Time of the last location update Street address of your tracker If the tracker is moving it will display the speed in KM (or Miles depending on your settings), otherwise it will display “stationary” Lightbug User Manual Page 40 of 73
What the buttons do: This button, located on the top right, will pan the view of the map to center your tracker’s last known location This button, located at the bottom, will show you the tracker status. Clicking/tapping on this icon will display more information on when the next update can be expected. Caution: Tracker status might be showing as “asleep” even though it is in wake mode. This is because the tracker goes into sleep mode between transmissions to save battery.
Location History Tab This will display the location history of the selected tracker for the selected time period.
What the buttons do: This button, located on the top right, will pan the view of the map to center your tracker’s location history.
This enables you to set a start and end date for the location history you would like to see. Moving this slider allows you to look at a specific time within the selected dates. This allows you to auto play the location history. Tapping/clicking on the time and date here will allow you to adjust the playback speed.
Hint: When using the LightBug App, for better slider sensitivity it is advisable to see one day at a time or holding your phone in landscape mode.
Trips Tab & Filters This will be displayed by default on the Web Portal.
Here you can see your location history grouped into trips along with the stops. The Filter button on the top right will give you more control over how your history is displayed along with what information is displayed. Tapping on a trip will expand the view to show you the trip points for more details. Stops are highlighted, tapping on a stop will pan the map view to show you where the stop occurred.
Data Plan Tab The Data Plan Tab allows you to manage your tracker subscription and billing information. Hint: Making changes in this tab only affects the selected tracker. If you need to manage the subscription for another tracker be sure to select that tracker before you make the changes! Caution: Trackers with no billing information will not be active.
Once open you will see your active plan (if any) at the top and you will see a selection of data plans that you can pick from and their according prices: Lightbug User Manual Page 49 of 73
Lightbug User Manual Page 50 of 73
Rout Report Tab This tab shows a text report of your tracker’s location along with the distance travelled and the average speed.
Lightbug User Manual Page 52 of 73
Your trip report should look like the following with the distance travelled at the bottom left of each section and the average speed on the bottom right.
Alerts Tab The Alerts Tab allows you manage your alerts and notifications. Here you can create alerts, edit existing alerts and customize how/when you would like to be notified.
What the buttons do: This will show you the log of your recent alerts.
This will allow you to edit an existing notification. This icon, located on the left of each alert will allow you to delete a an alert Caution: Some Alerts cannot be deleted and will be automatically generated. To disable these you will need to edit the alert and disable all the delivery methods. Creating new alerts: Once inside your alerts tab you can create a new alert by selecting “CREATE NEW ALERT” button.
1) Naming your alert Naming your alert will allow you to quickly identify it later. The name set will also be displayed on every notification you get relating to that alert. 2) Setting the alert type There are quite a few alert types to choose from: Geofence alerts will trigger when your tracker sends a location update outside the set Safe Zone.
Motion alerts will trigger whenever the tracker moves or detects motion. Motion sensitivity can be adjusted under the advanced settings section. All new location alerts will trigger whenever there is a new location update sent by the tracker regardless of motion. New locations whilst moving alert will trigger when new locations updates are sent by the tracker but only when there is motion or movement. Low battery alert will trigger when the battery level reaches 25%.
Caution: Push to phone alerts do not work for the web portal, you will need to download the LightBug App on your smartphone in order for this to work. 4) Setting how often you are notified Here you can mute a triggered alert for some time before the same alert is triggered again.
Then follow the instructions outlined in the previous section. Account Settings Tab This tab allows you to set account preferences, delete your data or change your password.
Deleting your tracking history: After ensuring you have selected the correct tracker, you can delete all your tracking history from this button: Account Preferences: Here you can control how things are displayed on your App and inside specific tabs.
Changing account password: You can change your password in the account settings tab by scrolling all the way down to this section: Lightbug User Manual Page 62 of 73
Caution: If you forgot your password or you are having any difficulty with this, contact us and we will do the needful.
Deactivating Your Tracker If you would like to stop the automatic billing in order to stop the monthly charges you need to follow these simple steps: Stopping Billing First select the tracker you want to deactivate the billing for and then go to your Data Plan Tab: This will open your active data plan and if you scroll all the way to the bottom you will see an option to cancel the service: Lightbug User Manual Page 64 of 73
A popup will prompt you to confirm your selection before the service is cancelled.
LED Indicators and Button presses This section will outline what the different types of button presses are and how you can find out the battery status and the signal strength through the LEDs rather than the App.
Stage 2: Signal strength will appear in stage two where LED lights will turn on from right to left to indicate the 2G/4G signal strength.
SOS / Force update – 1 to 3 second button press Pressing the button for 1 to 3 seconds will force the tracker to connect, update settings and download any firmware updates. This will also trigger an SOS alert if configured to do so via the LightBug App. This mode will turn on the LEDs in a sequence from left to right. Device Reset – 10 second button press If for any reason your tracker is not responding or is behaving oddly, you can reset your tracker by pressing and holding the button for 10 seconds.
1) GPS location: This is the most accurate location type but it requires a direct line of sight with the sky to work. Meaning it will work best when outdoors or near windows that can see the sky. The accuracy is usually between 0.5 and 5 meters. 2) WPS (WiFi Positioning System) location: If GPS location fails the tracker will use any WiFi signals around to figure out its location. The accuracy is usually between 10-30 meters.
How to Apply Updates Updates should be applied automatically but in some cases you will need to keep your tracker on charge. To confirm the update has been applied, the “Firmware update pending” message should no longer appear. Caution: If your tracker LED (far left) is flashing continuously and the tracker is not responding it means the update is being downloaded and applied. We strongly advise you to place your tracker on charge in such a case.
To confirm the settings have been applied, the “Settings Changed” message should no longer appear. Simple Troubleshooting If for whatever reason your tracker is not responding or behaving as it should, you can reset the tracker by pressing and holding the button for 10 seconds. This will not affect your settings. Why location updates are not instant? Location updates are not instant in general as it takes time to get a GPS fix and if that fails the other location technologies come into action.
- Place the tracker outside for 5 minutes after completing all the above Why is my tracker giving inaccurate locations? Location accuracy depend on a number of variable, please refer to How the Location Technologies Work section for more details on how these technologies work. Generally speaking here are a few good practices that help improve the location accuracy of your tracker.
- - Is the tracker indoors? If the tracker is indoors more power will be used as the tracker will try to look for a GPS fix before attempting to locate itself via WPS or GSM. Find out more about this under the How the location technologies work section Make sure you have WiFi and GPS Safe Zones set up where applicable Motion sensitivity: it might be that your tracker is sending more location updates than it should because the motion sensitivity is too high.
FCC Warning This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Any Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment.