by Jennifer Chou, on October 17, 2019
Welcome back to Crew Tips, a bi-weekly series that gives you best practices and simple steps for making the most out of your Crew app, on both Android and iOS. In our last installment of Crew Tips, we went over how much space Crew takes up so you understand the impact of Crew on your phone.
This week, we’re answering a question about whether or not Crew tracks your personal 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. 
Nevertheless, this 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. Here’s what you should know about this topic:
We value your privacy
First and foremost, your privacy is extremely important to us, and that’s why we designed the app in general, and the Location Groups feature in particular (which helps managers message only employees who are currently working), 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.
Do you have other questions on this topic? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Crew Support! What else would you like to learn about? Let us know on Twitter using #CrewTips!
READ MORE :: In case you missed last week’s post and wanted to share it with your team, check it out here: How much space does Crew take up on my phone?
