Troubleshooting
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- Not receiving alerts
- Not receiving alerts consistently, each time
- Alerts taking longer than 30s-60s to receive
- Can’t download the app
- Can’t subscribe to your sensor
- App was working, now it's not
- Location Inaccurate
- Battery not inserting well
- Can't see all my devices in app
Not receiving any alerts?
- Follow the SETUP instructions by downloading the Simtek Sensors app on Android Playstore or the Apple app store.
- Fully charge your battery, it could take a couple hours. Plug in the external antenna.
- Make sure you’re subscribed to your device, by downloading the app and taking scanning the QR code in-app, or entering your device number. If you see a screen that says “No data…” you need to trigger your alert first!
- Remember, you need to ‘arm’ then ‘trigger’ your device to get alerts. To do this, place your sensor in any dark and motionless space (like a dresser drawer). Wait for 5 seconds, then access the space and trigger the device by either waving in front of the device or having light come through.
- Try moving the device to a new location with better signal to see if you get alerts after arming and triggering. Note: first attempts can take up to 10 minutes to scan and find the new network. After the first successful alert, each consecutive alert should be 20-30s.
- Did you arm and trigger it properly? Easily check it, by arming and triggering the device and looking at the side LEDs. If you see green+red blinking lights, that means it’s trying to connect to a network and send you your alert.
- Are you properly subscribed to the QR code/macid in the app? Do you have notifications turned on and are able to receive SMS texts? Make sure your phone is turned on, you have service or wifi, and are setup in the Simtek app. Click EDIT in the Simtek App on your device, and make sure the device address matches the numbers under your QR code. Additionally, ensure you see your number in the “subscriber” section of the EDIT screen in the Simtek app and have push notifications turned on.
- Do you have cellular service on your phone? Generally if you have zero cellular signal at all in your area, it's possible your device is unable to find any network.
- Don’t see your problem here? Check out FAQ or SETUP.
Not receiving alerts consistently every time?
- First, perform ‘Not receiving any alerts?’ section.
- Take your sensor out of the area it’s in, and try to get alerts in an area with known good service (example, from the safe to a desk drawer)
- Attach the external antenna and try to arm/trigger your device.
- Is it low on battery? It won’t send alerts if battery is under 3.4v
- Is the antenna screwed in tight to its' magnetic base? Sometimes that becomes loose.
- Is it moved in a different location or orientation? Signal depends on coverage + antenna position and size. Poor coverage but good antenna position and a large antenna size (external) is fine. Poor for all three can make the alerts take longer, or potentially not come at all. This is and should be rare, but make sure you have the external antenna plugged in, and as close to an opening on your safe as you can. Place it alongside the edge where there’s a gap for best results. You may have to string the antenna outside the safe.
- Did you unsubscribe from alerts or notifications on your Simtek app?
- Did you delete the Simtek app?
- Do you have silent mode turned on your phone? Do you still have the same phone?
- Do you have wifi or cellular signal on your phone? In order to receive alerts, your phone also needs service.
Don’t see your problem here? Head on over to FAQ or SETUP.
If you can’t resolve on your own, contact help@simtek.io and describe your problems. Must include your device ID in the email, which is your QR code number.
Alerts taking longer than 30s-60s to receive?
- Remove and re-insert your battery.
- Insert the external antenna and ensure it's properly mounted.
- Move the antenna so it’s positioned near a gap, opening, crease, hole, door, etc. Closer to the opening, the better.
- Check your battery level.
- Check your signal level in the app.
- Try moving your sensor to a new location, and triggering it.
- If none of these options work, you can use a different, separate simcard that has data and sms as long as it’s GSM based and take ours out. ***Note, this is highly not recommended as we don’t have any control over the performance or compatibility. It will not ruin your device.
- Additionally, we are working on firmware that will allow the device to recognize this slow performance and switch carriers. Currently, we have firmware that will switch carriers in new areas/countries, and will find a new carrier if it can’t register at all. But increasing performance is the next one we’re working on, so reach out and hang tight.
- Don’t see your problem here? Check out FAQ or SETUP.
Can’t download the app?
- Make sure you have either an Android or iOS device. See the playstore and app store listing for compatibility with your device (Note: no ipads/tablets/tvs at this time).
- Check out SETUP.
Can’t subscribe to your sensor?
- Download the app, then scan the QR code or manually type in the device number (number under the QR code).
- Continue through the flow until you see a success box and you are into the activity screen which should show either “No data…” or your recent activity. If you see the “No data…” language, you will need to arm and trigger your device to get alerts. They will show up here.
- Check out SETUP.
Simtek App was showing alerts, now it’s not?
- It could be a temporary server issue. If you see the “No data..trigger your device” message, it’s probably temporary and should resolve on it’s own.
- Pull down to refresh the activity page, or quit the app and restart it.
- Always download the Simtek app updates.
- Uninstall and reinstall the latest version of the app.
- Min. requirements are iOS 10 and above.
Location Data Inaccurate?
This is a known problem that some sensors experience. The sensor uses cellular locational triangulation, which means that the accuracy is dependent on how many cellular towers are in the area. The more cellular towers your device can hit, the more accurate the location will be. We've seen the location data be very accurate and wildly inaccurate. Unfortunately, this isn't something within our control and we do not recommend you use the sensor as a pinpoint exact accurate source of location data. We're trying to work with the telecommunication networks to increase the accuracy in the future but at this time there isn't anything we can do to improve it on our end. We give this data as a free service to you, and cannot promise or guarantee location accuracy as it's dependent on your specific area.
Battery not inserting well?
This is a known problem that again only affects a small number of people. The happy accident in this is that your device will be less likely to experience sabotage because the intruder will have to spend more time trying to get the battery out. We did not intend for this battery door issue, but once we found the issue we decided that it was actually a tamper-resistant feature which arose out of this bug.
Can't see all my devices in the app
Swipe left or right! After you've added your devices, you simply swipe left or right in the app to cycle through them.
Still need help?
Head on over to FAQ or SETUP, as there is likely a simple explanation and solution without waiting on a reply. We're likely building the next-gen version and coding new features for your current version to make things even better so please try to work through this first on your own, it's usually something simple like battery needs to be charged, antenna was moved, or you didn't allow the sensor to auto-arm itself.
Email help@simtek.io for support and Please include the following:
- Description of problem
- Device ID
- How you tried to resolve the issue already (so we know how to help)