FAQs

General

I'm having a problem with the app. I should probably leave a short comment and low rating right?

No, please don't. This is not the way to get help with issues. I have no good way of responding to or addressing issues posted elsewhere.

If you car breaks down, you take it to a mechanic and explain the problem, right?

If you get seriously ill, you go see a doctor and explain the problem, right?

So if you have a problem with the app, please just email me (TreKingApp@gmail.com) and explain the problem.

I personally respond to every user email I get and can usually resolve most issues very quickly. It's that simple to get help with issues.

If you don't want to reveal your email or if you're experiencing a reproducible bug or crash, you can even use the Trek Support option from within the app itself to submit an anonymous bug report.

There's no reason to report issues on the market you got the app from.

Can you add X or Y feature?

Probably! Just email me (TreKingApp@gmail.com) your suggestion and let's discuss!

Are you single!? ;)

Depends who's asking, you little minx. Please send a pic.

Why aren't Pace, Metra, and South Shore available in the free version?

CTA routes are available for free because the CTA itself provides the data for free. They store, serve, and maintain the data. All I have to do is get it and show it to you.

Unfortunately, there is currently no equivalent bus or train tracker system for Pace, Metra, or South Shore that's provided for free to developers.

This app's support for those transit systems is completely unofficial.

This means that I have to do extra work to access the data, manipulate it to fit the app, store it, serve it to you, and then maintain it as things change.

This is all a lot of work that literally costs me time and money. If I were to provide all of this for free, I would end up losing money on this hobby app. Obviously, that makes no sense for me.

So these extra systems, at least for the time being, must be restricted to the paid version of the app to limit the number of people that are using the resources.

If and when it becomes cost-effective, I hope to enable these extra transit systems for the free version.

Google Play Issues

I tried to buy the full version, but the Google Play Store is stuck downloading, authorizing purchase, or always fails to download. What do I do to fix this?

Unfortunately this is an ongoing issue with the Google Play that plagues many people.

This is out of my control and there's really nothing I can do about it.

The best thing to do is simply stop using the Google Play Store. It is an awful platform for both users and developers.

I highly recommend using the Amazon Appstore instead.

If you must use the Google Play Store, then the only thing I can suggest is to go to the Google Play Support Forum and search for the error message you see.

You will find many similar posts, some of which may have suggestions on fixing the problem.

I bought the paid version of the app and am now getting a new device. Can you transfer the purchase?

There's nothing that needs to be done! When it works correctly, both the Google Play Store and the Amazon Appstore will automatically allow access to the apps you paid for on a new device as long as:

1 - You sign in with the same account you originally purchased the app with and

2 - The app supports the new device you got.

The app automatically backs up your data to the SD card so you can continue right where you left off!

OK, I read the above FAQ, but I've changed my Google Account! Now what?

If you purchased the app on the Google Play Store, buy the app again with your new account then email me (TreKingApp@gmail.com) the Google Checkout Number for both your original and new purchase.

Once your new purchase is verified, I'll refund your original purchase. Easy peasy!

If you purchased the app on the Amazon Appstore, you will have to contact Amazon customer service as they have full control over sales and refunds. Sorry!

Why is the Google Play Store such a terrible, terrible platform?

I've been asking that for a very long time. I don't have an answer for you, sorry. Give the Amazon Appstore a whirl.

Troubleshooting

I've moved to a new device but my data did not automatically transfer over! How do I get it back?

Normally, your data should just automatically transfer over if you move your SD card from one device to the next and run the app.

However, some devices either don't have an SD card or, if they do, don't use it as the "primary storage", causing problems.

Two transfer your data in this case, there are two ways about this.

If your old device and new device both have an SD card:

1. On the first device (the one you're moving from)
   1. Determine the file path of the SD card on the device. You can use a File Manager app to figure this out. It will be something like "/mnt/sdcard/", but may vary by device.
   2. Open the app and go to Menu->More->Settings->SD Card Path. Verify this setting matches your SD card path. If not, change it so it does.
   3. Back out of the settings and select Menu->More->Manual Backup->Save to create a backup of your data.
   4. Move your SD card to the new device.
2. On the second device (the one you're moving to)
   1. Determine the file path of the SD card on the device, just as on the previous device.
   2. Open the app, return to the Settings page, and verify the SD Card Path setting matches your device's SD card path. If not, change it so it does.
   3. Back out of the settings and select Menu->More-Manual Backup->Restore to restore. Your data should be restored.
   4. Return to Settings->SD Card Path and update the setting again as in step 2 since the restoring of the settings overwrote this value with the old device settings.

Otherwise, if there is no SD card on either one or both devices:

1. On the first device (the one you're moving from)
   1. Mount the device to your PC.
   2. Browse to the root folder of the data and locate the "TreKing" folder.
   3. Copy this entire folder to your PC.
2. On the second device (the one you're moving to)
   1. Mount the device to your PC.
   2. Browse to the root folder of the data.
   3. Copy the TreKing folder from your PC to this root folder.
   4. Unmount your device from the PC.
   5. Install the app and open it - it should automatically read in the data from the copied folder.

If this does not work for you, shoot me an email: TreKingApp@gmail.com

The app gave a prediction of X minutes but my ride came in Y minutes, what gives?

For transit systems that provide real-time predictions, the data presented by the application come directly from the transit system in question.

I have absolutely no control in generating these predictions and cannot be held responsible for inaccurate timings. This is simply what the system is reporting.

For predictions that are based on posted schedules, obviously the data is static and there is no guarantee that the transit system will adhere to the schedule precisely.

Again, I can only report when vehicles should be arriving. I have absolutely no way to force the transit system to keep to their own posted schedules.

I'm comparing the app predictions to the transit agency's website and the app is slow by a few minutes, why don't they match?

Good question! I have checked, double-checked, and triple-checked the app logic and I'm absolutely, positively showing you exactly what I get from the transit system.

There are latency, rounding, and caching issues that could be at play when getting predictions in the app versus getting them on the website.

To account for this problem, the app has a "Prediction Offset" setting which allows you to adjust the predicted times by up to 3 minutes, ensuring you will always catch your ride.

If you run into this issue consistently and / or find that the times are off by more than 2 minutes or so, please email me with information on the route, stop, direction, time of day, and prediction times you received.

I can take this data back to the transit system in question and work with them to get the kinks in the system worked out.

Why was there no prediction for the vehicle that's arriving at this very minute?

For transit systems with real-time predictions, the system relies on each vehicle accurately reporting it's current location via GPS to generate predictions.

Sometimes these vehicles stop reporting their locations and predictions for them cannot be generated.

Again, this is out of my control and there's nothing I can do about this.

Stop information for stops found via the Map screen or Quick Treks is wrong. What's up with that?

These features work through an online database that I maintain and refresh periodically.

Transit systems frequently make changes to stops so there are going to be times when the database is out of date.

Just let me know if you run into this problem and I will update the database ASAP.

There's no data showing up for routes, directions, or stops in the Trek Tracker. What's wrong?

The app caches this data for faster, offline use later.

Sometimes, if the app fails to fully download the data, it will cache an empty list.

In this case, go to the Settings screen and select "Clear Cache Now", then try again.

It will force the app to re-download the data and should work correctly.

One or more of my saved Treks are no longer loading predictions. It was working fine. What gives?

By saving stops to My Treks the app saves the current stop ID to look up data for that stop.

Sometimes, stops get moved, changed, or completely removed, in which case the data will no longer load.

Try deleting the Trek and creating it anew.

The "Response to Comments" alerts are annoying me! Can I disable them!?

Sure thing. Just uncheck the options at the bottom of the Settings.

My question is not answered here. Now what?

Just email me directly at TreKingApp@gmail.com and I'll respond ASAP!