A mobile field communication app is software that brings a field team’s written messaging, location sharing, task tracking and, when needed, emergency alerts onto one phone screen. To choose well, look for answers to three questions: What does the app do when coverage ends, does it keep working while the phone is in a pocket, and is a verifiable record left behind when the operation is over? In this guide we cover the criteria, how to set up a field trial and how to embed the app in your team.
In short
- Start your selection from the hardest spot on your site, not from a feature list. The place where coverage ends is the real test.
- Ask what “works offline” actually means: Is it the map, the messages or the location that is offline?
- On Android 8.0 and higher, an app in the background can receive location updates only a few times each hour. Run your trial with the phone in a pocket.
- If you keep location and message records in Türkiye, the proportionality and notice rules of Law No. 6698, the country’s personal data protection law (KVKK), apply.
- Installing the app is only half the job. Without channel rules, a fallback method and drills, the tool alone will not deliver coordination.
How is it different from general messaging?
General messaging apps do the daily job where there is a network. The problem is building an operation on that assumption. Field teams often work where coverage is weak, and they need three things at once: to see who is where, to know what stage an assigned job has reached, and to answer “who said what, and when” from a record afterwards.
So what sets a field app apart is not that it sends messages. It combines messages, location, tasks and emergency alerts within the same operational context, can be structured by team, unit or shift, and can be managed centrally.
Define your site before you choose
Before collecting quotes, answer the questions below in writing. Your answers show which rows of the comparison table are decisive for you.
- Coverage: How much of its working time does the team spend without a network? Is an outage occasional, or the natural state of the site?
- Spread: Does the team work close together, or across an area measured in kilometres?
- Duration: Do tasks end with the shift or run for days? Is charging possible in the field?
- Roles: Who assigns tasks, who only reads, who monitors from the centre?
- Records: What data will you need for after-action review, audit or reporting?
For system-level criteria such as hardware, frequency and range, see our field communication system buyer’s guide. This post focuses on the application layer the team holds in its hands every day.
Comparison criteria
You can send the table below to vendors as a list of questions. A “yes” is not enough; ask to be shown how it works.
| Criterion | The question to ask | Why it matters in the field |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging without a network | With no internet, which hardware carries the message, and how far? | “Offline” often describes only one part of the product |
| Automatic switching | Does the user have to change a setting when the network drops? | Nobody hunts through menus under pressure |
| Sync on return | Are queued messages synchronised when coverage returns? | A fragmented history makes for an unreliable record |
| Offline map | Is the map data stored on the device? | The map is needed most outside coverage |
| Location sharing | How often is location sent while the screen is off? | In the field the phone is usually in a pocket |
| Group structure | Can separate groups be set up by team and unit? | Critical instructions do not get lost in general chat |
| Task tracking | Can tasks be assigned and their stage followed? | Asking “is it done?” ties up the channel |
| Emergency alert | How does someone who cannot reach their phone send an alert? | The most critical moment is when the screen cannot be used |
| Records and access | Is traffic stored with timestamps, and who can access it? | After-action review depends on the record |
| Encryption and data location | Is content encrypted, and whose server holds the data? | Operational information should stay under the organisation’s control |
| Platform and distribution | Are Android and iOS supported, and what distribution stage is the product at? | A team rarely carries one type of phone |
What happens when the phone is in a pocket?
In a promotional video the app is always on an open screen. In the field the phone is in a pocket, a case or a vehicle console. That is why you need to know the limits the operating system places on background apps.
According to Android’s developer documentation, on Android 8.0 and higher an app running in the background can receive location updates only a few times each hour; the purpose of the limit is to preserve battery life. For apps targeting Android 10 and higher, background location is also subject to a separate permission check.
Doze mode, which can start when a phone sits unused for a long time, suspends apps’ network access and defers their jobs and syncs. The deferred work runs in short maintenance windows that the system opens.
The question for the vendor is clear: How does your app deal with these restrictions, and which permissions does it ask the user for? Verify the answer in the trial below, not on paper. We describe live location in field use in our post on team location tracking.
Location, records and data protection
In Türkiye, an employee’s location and messages fall under the definition of personal data in Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (known as KVKK) when they can be linked to an identified person. Settle four points from the outset when rolling out a field app:
- Purpose and proportionality: Article 4 of the Law requires data to be processed for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes, and to be relevant, limited and proportionate to them. Seeing location during an operation is not the same as monitoring someone off shift.
- Retention period: The same article requires data to be kept only for the period set in legislation or needed for the purpose. Set the period before rollout.
- Notice: Article 10 requires the person concerned to be informed when data is obtained. The Personal Data Protection Authority, Türkiye’s regulator, stresses that the person must be informed in every case where their personal data is processed.
- Security and the provider: Under Article 12 the data controller must take the necessary technical and administrative measures; where someone else processes the data on its behalf, the two are jointly responsible for those measures.
This section is not legal advice. Work out which processing condition you rely on and what your policy says with your organisation’s legal team.
How to run a field trial
A short but realistic trial tells you more than the longest comparison table. Repeat the same scenario for each candidate.
- Pick the hardest spotRun the trial where coverage really weakens in your working area, not in the office yard.
- Use real phonesInclude the different makes and versions the team carries, without touching their battery settings. Test iPhone users separately.
- Cut the networkTurn off connectivity and check whether the message arrives and whether the user had to do anything.
- Put the phone in a pocketWork for an hour or two with the screen off, then look for gaps in the location trail.
- Measure the emergency alertTime with a stopwatch how many seconds the alert takes and who it reaches.
- Return to the networkCheck whether queued messages synchronise and whether the history appears complete.
- Look at the recordAt the end of the trial, answer “who sent what, and when” from a report.
Finally, have someone on the team who has had no training use the app. The person who will struggle most in the field is the one who did not sit through the sales presentation.
Embedding the app in your team
The right app can still fail in the wrong setup. Make these decisions before rollout:
- Whose phone is it? Organisation-provided and personal phones need different management. NIST SP 800-124 Rev. 2, from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, addresses enterprise mobile device security together with centralised management and covers both scenarios.
- Which information goes in which group? Separate critical instructions from general chat and name the authorised people from the start.
- How is confirmation obtained? Ask for an “understood” reply to important messages and define the next step if none arrives.
- What is the fallback? Write down what will be used when the primary channel drops and who decides.
For workplaces in Türkiye, this last point is more than good practice. Article 10 of the Regulation on Emergencies in Workplaces requires emergency response methods, communication among them, to be determined and put in writing. Article 13 provides for a drill at least once a year in workplaces other than mines. A drill is a good opportunity to test your app in a no-network scenario.
Teams that use radios need a decision too. A written app complements radios rather than taking their place: instant voice calls can stay on the radio, while instructions, location and status flow through the written channel and leave a record.
Our approach
When designing BosApp, our first choice was never to make the user ask “which mode am I in?” If there is a network, the message goes over the internet; if not, it goes over the mesh through the device beside you, and no setting has to be changed for the switch.
Our second choice is written, timestamped communication. A written message waits if the other person is not looking at that moment, and it remains as a record when the operation ends.
The third is that the data belongs to the organisation. On a private closed network, data is held on the organisation’s own server, and the organisation decides who can join the network.
— Emir Tanrıver, BosNets co-founder
Where does BosApp stand on these criteria?
BosApp is a field communication app for Android and iOS: written messaging, a range of group setups, location sharing, offline maps, task tracking and emergency alerts are in one app. Message content is encrypted with AES-256.
Let us state its limits plainly too. With internet or a cellular network, BosApp works on its own; on a site with no network, reaching the mesh requires a BosMag device connected to the phone over Bluetooth. The single-hop range between two BosMag devices is 5 km in open terrain and about 2 km in a city, and if someone moves out of range of the mesh, communication stops. The app is currently in closed testing. You can read about switching between network and mesh in our post on hybrid communication, and find usage scenarios on our field operations page. For the coordination centre, the browser-based BosLog admin interface archives traffic with timestamps.
Frequently asked questions
Is a general messaging app enough for a field team?
It can be enough for work where the network is constant and the need for records is low. Where coverage breaks, where work needs task tracking or where a verifiable after-action record is required, an app designed for the field is a better fit.
Does a mobile field app work without the internet?
It depends on the app. In some products only the map is offline; in others messages are also carried over additional hardware. Ask the vendor how a message travels with no network, and how far, then test the answer in the field.
Is it legal to track an employee’s location with an app?
In Türkiye, location is personal data when it can be linked to a person, and it is subject to the general principles of Law No. 6698: the purpose must be specified, processing must be proportionate, retention must be limited and the employee must be informed. Consult your legal team for an assessment specific to your organisation.
How long should a field trial last?
There is no single right length. The trial should be long enough to include a stretch with the network cut, a stretch of an hour or two with phones in pockets, and the return to the network.
Sources
- Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (mevzuat.gov.tr, in Turkish)
- Personal Data Protection Authority: Obligation to Inform (in Turkish)
- Regulation on Emergencies in Workplaces (mevzuat.gov.tr, in Turkish)
- NIST SP 800-124 Rev. 2: Guidelines for Managing the Security of Mobile Devices in the Enterprise
- Android Developers: Background location access
- Android Developers: Doze and App Standby