Does Crew Track Users With Location?

When a user first installs Crew, the Permissions screen alerts them to the fact that the app will have access to various parts of their phone’s operating system.

Location access is needed to make the Location Groups feature work, but is only approximate and never stored

 

The need for location permissions—required for the Location Groups feature—has prompted some users to wonder if, when, and why, Crew is tracking their location.

We value your privacy

The privacy of our users is extremely important to us, and that’s why we designed the app in general, and the Location Groups feature in particular, with your privacy very much in mind. The feature does not—cannot—follow your exact movements, and none of the location data we do use is stored on—or even goes to—our servers.

How does Crew use my location data?

The Location Groups feature works because Crew has given the parameters of your Organization’s physical location to your phone; your phone then reports back to Crew when it either enters or leaves those parameters. That’s it. Crew never knows exactly where you, or your phone, are. Your Organization’s admins never know exactly where you, or your phone, are—only whether you have entered or left the location site. The specific latitude and longitude registered by the GPS on your phone never leave that device—Crew doesn’t actually need them.

Battery life

As if protecting your privacy wasn’t enough, tapping your location data selectively in this way has an additional benefit: it saves on battery life. The Crew app doesn’t need to wake up your GPS to check where you are all the time, the way some location apps do; it doesn’t work that way. Instead, the GPS is only activated when you enter or leave the location site, making its drain on your battery extremely minimal.

Location Groups only

If your admin hasn’t set up any Location Groups for your Organization, your location data isn’t used by the app at all.