January 6, 2017
Traccar Manager version 2.0 is available for download on both Android and iOS platforms. The apps can be downloaded from Google Play and the App Store, respectively.
It is a major update from version 1.x of the apps. Instead of being a completely separate codebase, all apps are now based on the web app code. Basically, new apps are simple wrappers around the web interface with some tricks to make the user experience better than in a regular browser on a mobile device.
The first screen you see after opening the app is the settings screen where you can configure the server URL. Before proceeding to the next screen, the app will check if the URL is correct and if the server is available. The URL is saved in the local preferences on your mobile device, so next time the app won't ask you to enter the URL again. Also, in some cases when you update from a previous version, the app can re-use the URL and not show the first settings screen at all. If you want to re-configure the URL, you need to clear the app settings from the device settings menu. There is no way to go back to the settings screen from the app itself.
The main screen in the app is basically the same as the mobile version of the web interface. You get a standard Traccar login screen and a dashboard with a map view. The app doesn't have a native Android or iOS toolbar, so the app gets more screen real estate than it would get in a mobile web browser.
One trick used by the Android version of the app to improve performance and reduce data usage is that all the heavy JavaScript libraries are provided with the app bundle and don't need to be downloaded every time. It saves load times and data traffic as well. The iOS version doesn't have this feature yet, but there are plans to implement the same functionality.
As both apps were completely re-written from scratch, there might be some issues. Instead of posting a negative review for the apps, please submit a GitHub issue with details about your problem, and we'll try to fix it as soon as possible. Any feedback about the apps is welcome. Let us know what you think about this transition.
For those who like the old apps more, the source code is still available on a separate branch. Binaries for the old version of the Android app are also available on GitHub.
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