Live tracking — rider help
Setting up, and what to do when it goes wrong.
Setting up, and what to do when it goes wrong.
Stuck? WhatsApp us on +27 63 244 5650. Send your race number and a screenshot of what you are seeing. That is much faster than describing it.
Sign in at https://roa.wlab.co.za with the race number and code the organisers sent you, then tap Set up at the bottom of the screen. It walks you through four steps and takes about five minutes. Do it at home where you have signal — not at registration.
In the message the organisers sent you — it came by SMS, to the number on your entry. Your race number looks like roa26-137 and the code is eight characters with a dash, like KX9Q-ZZS6.
Check your SMS first — it went to the number on your entry, and it may be further down your message list than you expect. If it is not there, only an organiser can issue a new one: nobody can look up your existing code, because it is stored scrambled. WhatsApp +27 63 244 5650 with your race number and your name.
A phone with signal, and somewhere it can see the sky. Not a garage. The last step waits for a real GPS position and it will sit there forever indoors.
No. The app tracks one rider, and setting up a second one does not add him — it replaces the first. The rider who was on the phone silently stops being tracked, and nothing on either screen says so. Every rider needs the app on his own phone, signed in with his own race number and code.
Do it on their phone, not yours. Sign in with their race number and code, run Set up, then hand it back — that phone rides with that rider. A phone in somebody else's pocket or in a bakkie reports that vehicle's position under the rider's number, which is worse than no tracking: race control acts on it.
That is the map, not the app, and it needs no app at all — see following the race on the map. The app is only for the phone that rides with a rider.
Traccar Client — check the name exactly. The store lists other apps with similar names, and only this one reports your position. Installing the wrong one is the commonest mistake by a long way. You do not need any app to follow the race — that is a web link, and it is live now: roa.wlab.co.za/live.
The app on its own does nothing. Go back to the setup page in your browser and carry on from there — that is where the rest happens. The app only needs to be installed and opened once.
No — this is completely normal. A freshly installed Traccar Client points at its own demo server with a random identifier. Step 2 of the setup page is what points it at the Roof. Do not change anything by hand.
Yes, all of them. Location, notifications, and on an iPhone Motion & Fitness as well. Anything you decline is something that stops working later, and nothing will warn you.
It lets the app tell when you have stopped moving, so it can pause and save battery. Allow it.
Usually the app is not installed yet, or has not been opened at least once. Do both, then tap it again. If it still does nothing, that step has a “Nothing happened when I tapped that” section with a fallback.
\1That is expected and not broken. Your phone only lists a permission once the app has asked for it, and Traccar Client asks for location when you switch tracking on — which is step 3. Do step 3 first and the setting will be there.
Yes. The first prompt gives it location while you are using the app. A moment later a second one appears asking for background access — choose Change to Always Allow. The second one is the one that matters.
“While using the app” stops tracking the moment your screen goes off or you switch apps — so you would vanish from the map with the phone in your pocket. You need Always on an iPhone, Allow all the time on Android.
Yes, and you do not need to start over. On an iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Traccar Client → Always. On Android: Settings → Apps → Traccar Client → Permissions → Location → Allow all the time.
Leave it on. With it off your phone gives only an approximate position, which is no use for finding anybody on a mountain.
You need working mobile data in Lesotho, and there are two ways to get it. Either an Econet SIM — two are issued at registration, and loading data on them is between you and Econet, whose staff are there for that. Or roaming on your own SIM — check with your operator before you travel that your bundle covers Lesotho, and that data roaming is switched on. You need one of them working, not both.
Yes, but not by looking at the green tick. Once that tick has gone green it stays green — it records that your phone reached the server at least once, not that it is reporting now, so it cannot tell you whether a new SIM is working. Come past the tracking desk at registration instead and we will confirm your phone is actually reporting, on the data you will be racing on.
Yes, and this is the one that catches people out. A phone with two SIMs uses only one of them for mobile data. If data is still set to your old SIM, everything looks completely normal — full signal, app running — and nothing is being sent. Check mobile data is set to the Econet SIM, not just that the SIM is in the phone.
Almost always one of three things: the Econet SIM has no data loaded, your phone is still using the old SIM for data, or data roaming is off. Ask at registration or WhatsApp +27 63 244 5650.
Tracking uses very little — it sends a small position update, not video. But if the bundle on the SIM runs out you stop appearing on the map, and it looks exactly like being out of signal. Keep an eye on it.
Yes — it is GPS running all day. Bring a power bank and charge overnight, every night. Plan for it.
On Android: Settings → Apps → Traccar Client → Battery → Unrestricted. Also turn off “Pause app activity if unused”, and leave background data on. On iPhone: Low Power Mode off, and Adaptive Power off as well, under Settings → Battery → Power Mode.
Because it turns Low Power Mode back on by itself at 20%. So you can correctly switch Low Power Mode off at home and have your phone quietly switch it back on halfway through day two — and Low Power Mode is exactly what suspends the tracking. Turn Adaptive Power off as well.
Samsung puts an app to sleep after about three days of you not opening it, and you will set this up once and never open it again. Go to Settings → Battery and device care → Battery → Background usage limits. Turn Put unused apps to sleep off, remove Traccar Client from Sleeping apps and Deep sleeping apps if it is listed, then add it to Never sleeping apps. Turn Adaptive battery off as well. Do it in that order — otherwise the timer simply puts it back.
Those add their own battery manager on top of Android's, and it will kill the app even with everything above set correctly. dontkillmyapp.com has the exact steps for your make. Worth doing — it is a common cause of a rider going quiet on day two.
No. Swiping it away in the app switcher stops tracking dead until you reopen it. Leave it running.
The last step of Set up waits until the server has a real position from your phone, then turns green and says Successfully onboarded. That is the proof your setup worked — everything else can look perfect while the phone reports to nowhere. It is not a live reading, though: once green it stays green, so it will not tell you later whether you are still reporting.
Work through these in order. One: are you outdoors, or at least where the phone can see sky? A first GPS fix indoors can take forever. Two: is Continuous tracking actually switched on in the app? Three: does the identifier in the app start with ROA26- and your race number? If it is a plain string of digits, step 2 did not apply — go back and do it again. Four: do you have signal or wifi right now? If all four are yes and it still has not gone green after a few minutes, WhatsApp +27 63 244 5650 with your race number and a screenshot.
Yes. Leave the app installed and running, keep the settings as they are, and charge every night.
Nothing bad. The app stores your positions and sends the backlog when you get coverage again, so your track fills in retroactively. Do not go hunting for signal on our account.
That is deliberate. It pauses while you are stationary to save battery and picks up again when you move. A gap while you are fixing a bike is the system working.
It sends an alert straight to the race team with your race number and your position, and somebody acts on it. It is for a medical or safety emergency — you, or somebody you have come across, needs help to come to them. That is all it is for.
A broken bike is not an SOS. Mechanical trouble, no fuel, lost or tired are not emergencies — if you have signal, call the race office. An SOS can put rescue resources in the air, and the organisers will charge the cost of a misused call-out to the rider.
No. Every press is treated as real.
No. It goes out over mobile data, the same as your position. In a valley with no coverage it cannot leave your phone — it sends the moment you are back in signal. It is not a satellite beacon. Do not ride deeper into a dead area on the strength of having it.
A wet-weather alternate — an easier way through if the weather goes bad. It is drawn on the map all the time, and it is only ridden if race control says so on the day. Ride the marked route unless you are told otherwise at the start. A blue line being shorter is not permission to take it.
Yes. Sign in at roa.wlab.co.za with your own race number and code, and the day's route for your class is drawn on the map with you on it. That works now — it does not wait for the 23rd.
No. The route is there to ride to, not to export. The GPX files for your GPS come from the organisers' website, not from us.
Yes — the map is live. Send them roa.wlab.co.za/live, or the LIVE TRACKING button on the tracking site's login page. No login and no code: it is a link to a place, so it is safe to forward. They find you by your race number. You only appear on it once you are in the race area — a rider at home or on the road is not shown, which is deliberate. What the map shows, and how they find you on it: following the race on the map.
No. When you are done, turn tracking off or uninstall the app — otherwise it carries on reporting your position long after you have gone home.
No. The tag is the timing transponder and it belongs to the timing crew — it records your times, not your position. Return it after your last day, even if you retire early; there is a €60 charge if you do not. Nothing about the tag affects the app, and nothing about the app affects your times.
Your position, speed and the time of each report, during the event, to the event's tracking page. Anyone with the spectator link can see your race number, your name and where you are — that is the point of it, and it is how your family follows you and how race control finds you.
No. It reports location and nothing else.
Yes — it is yours alone. Anyone who has it can sign in as you. Do not put it in a group chat.
Sign in on the new phone and go through Set up again. On the last step there is a Set up a different phone button if it tells you that you are already tracked. Your race number and code stay the same.
Find a marshal or come to the timing tent. Do not let someone else set up their phone with your details.
Still stuck? WhatsApp +27 63 244 5650 — race number and a screenshot.