Help & FAQ

What is Circle Check?

Circle Check lets you share your live location with selected circles of people so you can see where everyone is on the map. You stay in control of who can see you and when.

How does the map & tracking work?

The Map screen shows your location and the locations of people in your circles:

  • You appear as a green “ME” marker.
  • Each circle member appears as a colored marker with initials.
  • Tap any marker to open a panel with their email, shared circles, last update time, and a "Get Directions" button.
  • The panel also shows the live distance between you and the selected member as locations change.

If you tap "Track" on someone from the Circles screen, the map will center on them and use a highlight color so you can easily follow where they are.

How do circles and invites work?

Circles are groups of people who can see each other on the map:

  • You can create a new circle and give it a name.
  • Each member in a circle can have their own marker color that you can change (tap the color swatch).
  • The "Track" button next to a member centers the map on that person and may send them a push notification letting them know you're getting directions to them.

To invite someone:

  • Enter their email address and tap "Invite".
  • If they already have an account, they'll receive an invite and can Accept or Decline in the app.
  • If they don't have an account yet, they'll get a magic link email to sign up and then can join your circle.

What are radius alerts and how do they work?

Radius alerts let you define areas on the map where you want to be notified when circle members enter or leave.

Creating a radius:

  • On the Map screen, choose "New radius at center" (or similar action).
  • Pan/zoom the map so the center is where you want the alert, then choose a name, radius size (in meters), and a color, and save.
  • Radii are shown as colored circles on the map. The app prevents you from creating or moving a radius so that it overlaps any of your other radii.

Managing radii:

  • Open the Radius Alerts screen to see all of your radii.
  • For each radius you can see its name, distance, center coordinates, whether it's enabled, how many circle members are currently inside, and who they are.
  • You can toggle a radius on/off, edit its details, or tap "View on map" to center and highlight it on the map.

Advanced options per radius:

  • Cooldown: minimum time between alerts for the same person and radius. Default is about 1 minute, so you don't get spammed if someone is hovering around the boundary.
  • Active hours: optional "from" / "to" window in 24‑hour time (e.g. 08:00–22:00). Alerts outside this window are paused for that radius.
  • Active hours use your notification time zone from Settings (e.g. Europe/Berlin). If alerts don't fire when you expect, check your time zone there.

How do notifications work and how can I control them?

Circle Check uses push notifications for things like:

  • New circle invites.
  • When someone accepts or declines an invite (optional).
  • Tracking requests (when someone gets directions to you).
  • Radius alerts when members enter or leave your defined areas.

You can manage notification preferences in the app:

  • Toggle "Push notifications" on or off.
  • Open your system notification settings to adjust sound, banners, etc.
  • Set your notification time zone; this is used for formatting times in alerts and for evaluating each radius's active hours.

Privacy & location sharing

Your location is only visible to people who share at least one circle with you. The app uses one latest‑location row per user in the database to reduce stored history.

You stay in control:

  • You can turn off "Share live location" in Settings.
  • You can revoke OS location permission at any time in your device settings.
  • If you sign out, your session is cleared and you stop sending updates.

Account & data deletion

You can request deletion of your Circle Check account and data:

  • In‑app: Open Settings → "Delete account and data" (in the mobile app). This removes your profile, circle memberships, latest location, radius alerts, and device tokens from Circle Check.
  • Email (full deletion): Send a request to circlecheck.help@outlook.com with the subject "Account Deletion Request" and include the email address you use to sign in. We will confirm ownership before proceeding.
  • Email (partial deletion): If you would like only some of your data removed (for example, certain circles, locations, or radius alerts), email circlecheck.help@outlook.com with the subject "Partial Data Deletion Request", the email you use to sign in, and a clear description of what you want deleted.

When we delete your account, we remove or anonymize your profile, memberships, latest location, device tokens, radius subscriptions, and related alert state. Limited server logs may be retained for up to 30 days for fraud prevention, debugging, and legal compliance, but these do not include precise location content.

Common issues

  • If someone does not appear on your map, make sure you both joined the same circle, they have granted location permission and enabled sharing, and they have opened the app recently.
  • If radius alerts don't fire, check that the radius is enabled and that you can see the member on the map when they move into the area.