Aster is built to keep recording through dead zones, backgrounding and a dying battery — and to pick tracking back up if your phone's operating system tries to shut it down. A few habits make your track even cleaner and head off day-of surprises.
Before you go
- Allow location "all the time". Tracking has to keep recording while the app is in your pocket with the screen off. When the app asks for location, choose the always / allow all the time option, not "only while using the app".
- Allow notifications. These power your start reminders, the persistent tracking notification, and safety alerts.
- Let the app run in the background. Some Android phones (Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Huawei and others) run aggressive battery savers that shut background apps down. Exclude Aster from battery optimisation so your tracking isn't killed mid-ride. Aster will restart tracking by itself when you next open it, but excluding it up front avoids gaps in the first place.
- Register and open the event once with signal. That downloads the route and caches everything so you can start offline later. See Register for an event. (A Just Ride needs no download — just start it.)
- Start with a good charge and pick the right battery mode for how long you'll be out.
At the start
- Let the GPS warm up. Step into the open, away from buildings and tree cover, and let the short warm-up finish so your first position is accurate. Tap Start anyway once it looks good rather than starting against a wall.
- Give your phone a clear view of the sky where you can. A phone on the bars or an arm strap gets a cleaner signal than one buried deep in a bag or pocket.
While you're out
- You don't need to keep the app open. Tracking keeps recording in the background, and even if the app gets swiped away or shut down by your phone's operating system, it picks tracking back up on its own — you don't need to reopen it. Leaving it running is still the tidiest option, since it's one less thing to think about.
- Lost signal? Keep going. Your points are saved on the phone and upload when you reconnect; your live location catches up for watchers. See What happens when I lose signal?.
- Use Pause for real stops so a café, a mechanical or a nature break doesn't count against your moving time. See Pausing and resuming.
After
- Open the app with signal once you're done, especially if you were in a dead zone, so any saved points finish uploading and your track fills in completely.
If something looks off
- A short track or a missing section after an offline ride usually fills in once the app uploads its saved points — open it with signal and give it a moment.
- Your finish time is always safe, even if the very tail of the trail is still uploading. See Why your distance and time are accurate.