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Battery consumption

It is challenging to provide an exact measure of the SDK’s battery consumption, as many factors influence battery usage. However, we can explore two different scenarios to give a general understanding.

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Scenario 1: Existing GPS and Backend Communication

In this scenario, let’s assume your app already frequently records the courier’s GPS position (e.g., at 0.5 Hz) and communicates with the backend periodically using mobile data. Additionally, several background processes are running. In this case, the SDK (Truemetrics) will not significantly increase battery consumption. Since your app is already using the power-intensive GPS receiver, Truemetrics simply reuses the GPS data. While there may be a slight increase in battery usage due to communication with the backend, it will be so minimal that it is most of the time difficult to measure.

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Scenario 2: No Existing Location Services in your app

In the second scenario, your app currently doesn’t use the location provider and communicates minimally with the backend, sending almost no data. All physical sensors are disabled. However, adding TrueMetrics will increase battery consumption. As a rough estimate, battery usage may rise to about 7%–15% per hour, depending on factors such as the Android version, manufacturer, and phone model. This typically results in a battery life of 7–11 hours.

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Data consumption

trueMetrics collects sensor data from mobile phones and sends it to its backend system to analyze stops, detect entrances, and identify parking locations. This process generates additional data traffic. It can be challenging to estimate the total amount of data transferred each month, as many factors influence the volume. However, most of our customers upload between 400MB and 2GB per month, while downloads typically stay below 50MB.

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Data Transmission Modes

The amount of data sent can vary significantly based on the selected upload mode. We currently offer three modes: Upload-Always, WiFi-Only, and Metadata-Triggered. You cannot change the mode yourself; please contact us, and we can adjust it on our backend.

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Upload-Always Mode

This is the default mode, allowing the SDK to upload data using either WiFi or mobile connections.

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WiFi-Only Mode

In this mode, data is stored locally on the mobile device and only uploaded when a WiFi connection is available. This is ideal if your drivers regularly access WiFi networks.

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Metadata-Triggered Mode

This mode was developed to reduce unnecessary sensor data transmission. For example, periods like a courier’s lunch break or time spent at a depot often don’t need to be recorded and transmitted, as they do not provide valuable information and unnecessarily increase data consumption. In Metadata-triggered Mode, sensor data is buffered on the device and only sent when metadata is recorded around the same time. For instance, if a driver spends time in a depot from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM and then completes the first delivery at 10:30 AM (triggering metadata), only sensor data from around 10:20 AM to 10:40 AM would be sent.