Would you like to be alerted when your pet either leaves or enters a certain area, such as your home or a local park? If so, you can set up a Virtual Fence, which is a perimeter that defines a safe area (Safe Zone) or a dangerous place (No-Go Zone) for your pet to be in.
Just set up your customizable Virtual Fence and both you and anyone you have shared your tracker with will receive notifications when your pet enters or leaves the perimeter of the Virtual Fence!
What are Safe Zones and No-Go Zones
Safe Zones signify spaces where you are generally happy for your pet to be, but you’d like to be informed when they leave and re-enter that zone, such as the area around your home or a local park. Safe Zones are shown in green in the app.
No-Go Zones are for more dangerous places, such as a busy road or an area with wild or aggressive animals. These areas are shown in red in the app.
How to Set Up a Virtual Fence
In the Tractive GPS mobile app:
- On the Map tab, tap the + icon in the bottom right
- Tap Add Virtual Fence
- You can choose whether it should be a Safe Zone or No-Go Zone.
- Then choose the type of fence (e.g. Park, Home or Office)
- Next you can customize your fence by changing the shape (circular, rectangular, or in a customizable shape.) Please note, Virtual fences have a minimum size, read more here.
- Once you are happy with the size of the fence, select Continue where you can then name the fence.
- Lastly, you will see a summary of your Virtual Fence, if you are happy select Create.
If you set up more than one Virtual Fence, we recommend that they do not overlap as this can decrease the accuracy of the Virtual Fence notifications. You can read more about this topic here: How can I fix false Virtual Fence notifications?
Deactivate/Activate a Virtual Fence
In the Tractive GPS mobile app:
- Tap Profile on the bottom bar
- Under Safety & Location select Virtual Fences
- Toggle the Active button to the left.
- Press Save
- An inactive fence turns of notifications when entering or leaving the zone.
- To reactive the Virtual Fence toggle the Active button to the right and select Save.
Delete a Virtual Fence
In the Tractive GPS mobile app:
- Tap Profile on the bottom bar
- Under Safety & Location select Virtual Fences
- Select the Virtual Fence you would like to delete
- Tap the trash can icon in the top right-hand corner
How do Virtual Fence notifications work?
Once your tracker detects that your pet has crossed the boundary of a Virtual Fence (Safe Zone or No-Go Zone) that you have set up, you and anyone you have shared your tracker with will receive a notification.
When in default tracking mode, your tracker detects a new position every 2 minutes or so when your pet is on the move. In LIVE tracking mode, you get position updates every 2-3 seconds. This means that Virtual Fence notifications are typically sent within a couple of minutes when in default tracking mode, and practically instantly in LIVE tracking mode.
If you have any problems with Virtual Fence notifications, please follow the tips in these articles:
- Why am I not receiving Virtual Fence notifications?
- How can I fix false Virtual Fence notifications?
Below, you can see an example of the push notifications that are sent when your pet enters or leaves a Virtual Fence. Please keep in mind that you need to be logged in to your account on your cell phone to receive push notifications: