Aptli

Mobile App

Aptli's mobile interface is designed for field workers on smartphones and tablets. Install it directly from your browser — no app store required — and get offline-capable access to your assignments, swipe-action work lists, activity checklists, a QR scanner for inventory pickups, report creation with GPS and photo capture, and map drafting. The mobile experience focuses on execution; administration tasks remain on the desktop.

What is a PWA?

Progressive Web App = installable website that works like a native app:

Installation: Install directly from the browser — no app store, no approval process. The exact path depends on your device (detailed per-platform steps below):

  • Android (Chrome/Edge): log in, then tap Add to home in the app's menu. Fallback: the browser's three-dot menu → Install app / Add to Home screen.
  • iOS (Safari): tap the Share button → Add to Home Screen. iOS does not auto-prompt, ever.
  • Desktop (Chrome/Edge): click the small install icon on the right side of the address bar, or use the three-dot menu → Install Aptli.

Once installed, the app opens in full-screen mode with no browser chrome.

Benefits Over Mobile Browser:

  • Faster launch (cached on device)
  • Works without a connection (Work from Device)
  • Push notifications
  • Home screen shortcuts to specific functions
  • Better performance (optimized assets)

Extra Desktop Tools: some features such as bulk imports, deep editing and data export are only available on the desktop app; the mobile PWA provides a "Data-Transfer" shortcut but export is limited to the desktop version.

No App Store Required:

  • No Apple/Google approval process
  • Updates deploy instantly (no app store review delay)
  • Same codebase as web version (maintenance efficiency)

Mobile Scope

Included - Execution Functions:

  • ✅ View work orders and jobs (all or just mine)
  • ✅ Create work orders from a job (swipe action)
  • ✅ Create reports from work orders
  • ✅ Tick activity checklists on work orders (what "done" means, step by step)
  • ✅ Scan QR codes (pickup authorization)
  • ✅ View map with features and jobs, including your ranked route
  • ✅ Create simple map features (point, line, polygon)
  • ✅ View reports (all or just mine)
  • ✅ Upload photos to reports
  • ✅ Edit own user profile
  • ✅ Validate phone number (2FA)
  • ✅ Request help (help request form)
  • ✅ Respond to help requests directed to you

Excluded - Administration Functions:

  • ❌ Modify inventory (desktop only, except for authorized staff scans)
  • ❌ Register new features (simple drafts OK, bulk imports desktop only)
  • ❌ Add roles to users (desktop only)
  • ❌ Bulk operations (desktop only)

Rationale:

  • 5% of desktop app size/complexity
  • Focus on field execution
  • Complex admin tasks better on desktop

Mobile Interface

Bottom Navigation — five fixed sections:

The bottom bar always shows the same five slots, so your muscle memory never breaks:

  • Today — your dashboard: open work assigned to you, ranked and color-coded, plus at-a-glance sections contributed by the features your organization licenses.
  • Work — jobs, work orders, reports, and (for auditors) validations.
  • Stock — pickups, your held stock, stock search, and sites.
  • Map — Field Records, the interactive map.
  • More — a directory of additional pages: help requests, your profile, and administration pages you have permission for.

What appears inside Work, Stock, and More depends on what your organization licenses and what your account can do — the bar itself never changes shape. If your organization doesn't license work management or inventory, the corresponding section simply isn't there.

Section tabs (top strip):

When a section contains several pages (Work, Stock), a row of pill-shaped tabs appears under the header. Tap a pill to switch pages — the strip does not respond to swiping, because horizontal swiping belongs to the list cards (see Swipe Actions below). Tapping a bottom-bar section reopens the page you last used in it.

Some inner tabs are contextual:

  • My Items (Stock) appears only while you actually hold stock. It shows up the moment a pickup or transfer lands in your hands and quietly retires when you no longer hold anything. The page itself stays reachable from links and notifications either way.
  • Validations (Work) appears only for users who can create validations — it's an auditor's queue.

The menu (upper-right) vs. More:

  • More (bottom bar) takes you to pages: help requests, your profile, access-request management (admins), and the service-portal directory (portal managers).
  • The menu button (upper-right ☰) performs actions and holds preferences: the QR scanner, Show-my-QR, language and unit toggles, theme, fullscreen, tutorials, the offline cache button (iOS), hiding the navigation bar, and logout.

Gesture Support:

  • Swipe list cards left/right for quick actions (see below)
  • Pull-to-refresh (update data)
  • Pinch-zoom on map

Swipe Actions on List Cards

Every work and stock list uses the same swipe grammar, so you learn it once:

  • Short swipe right → reveals the primary action for that record type:
    • Jobs → create a work order for the job
    • Work Orders → create a report from the work order
    • Reports / Validations → add a validation (if you're permitted)
    • My Items → transfer stock
  • Short swipe left → reveals the lifecycle action: delete (or restore, when viewing deleted records). Only shown if your account has the matching permission — otherwise the card simply springs back.
  • Long swipe right (all the way) → View on map: jumps to the Map section framed on that record's location.
  • Long swipe left (all the way) → Hide: tucks the card away on this device, on this list only. Hiding never changes anything on the server and never affects anyone else. A Hidden (n) toggle appears in the list's toolbar; switch it on to see hidden cards dimmed in place, and swipe again (or tap the revealed button) to unhide.

Tapping a card still opens it — swiping is a shortcut, never a replacement. Revealed delete buttons still need a tap to confirm, and deletions ride the same undo/submit flow as any other change.

Today — Your Open Work

The Today screen lists your open work orders with two sort modes — Nearest (cover ground) and Most urgent (deadline first). Each card carries a numbered, color-coded badge:

  • The number is the item's position in your current queue. It renumbers when you flip the sort mode or complete work.
  • The color is the urgency band, independent of sorting: red = overdue, amber = due soon, blue = comfortably scheduled, gray = no due date.

The same numbers and colors appear on the map's My route lens (below), so "stop 2, amber" means the same thing on the list and on the map.

Work Orders and Jobs

The Work section splits the work you've been handed across tabs: Jobs — the individual units of work — and Work Orders — the dispatches assigned to you, plus Reports and (for auditors) Validations.

Filter Options:

  • Mine / assigned to me / created by me
  • Status (pending, in-progress, completed)
  • Rich filters open in a slide-over panel (tap the filter icon)

Work-Order Card:

  • Name and description
  • Assigned users
  • Status badge
  • Due date and distance indicators
  • Linked job

Actions:

  • Tap to view details
  • Swipe right to create a report; swipe fully right to see it on the map
  • View QR code (if authorized and pickup code exists)
  • Update status (in-progress → completed)

Activity Checklists

Registered activities can carry a checklist — the steps that constitute completing that activity, defined once in the activity registry by your administrators.

When a work order dispatches an activity, the work order gets its own copy of that checklist. Open the work order and expand the checklist under each activity line:

  • Tick items off as you complete them — ticks save with the work order like any other edit.
  • Items marked Required must all be ticked for the checklist to count as complete; optional items never block completion.
  • A progress badge (e.g. 3/5 done) summarizes each line at a glance.
  • Ticking items on one work order never affects other work orders that dispatch the same activity, and later edits to the registry checklist don't disturb work already in flight.

Reports Creation

Quick Report Flow:

  1. From a work order → swipe right (or open it and tap "Create Report")
  2. Pre-filled: work order, jobs, suggested consumption
  3. Adjust actuals (what really happened)
  4. Tap camera icon → take photos
  5. GPS auto-captured (current location)
  6. Submit → consumption transactions created

Mobile-Optimized Fields:

  • Large touch targets (buttons, inputs)
  • Voice-to-text for descriptions
  • Photo upload from camera or gallery
  • GPS auto-fill (or manual map selection)
  • Minimal required fields (name, work completed, consumed from)

Working Without a Connection:

  • Create reports under Work from Device
  • Photos cached locally
  • Auto-submit when connection restored
  • Conflict resolution if data changed server-side

Map View

Features Displayed:

  • All committed features (from layers)
  • Jobs near current location (proximity filter)
  • Your work orders highlighted (color-coded lenses)

Map Controls:

  • Layer selector (toggle feature visibility)
  • Current location button (recenter on GPS)
  • Basemap switcher (roads, satellite, terrain)
  • Search (find feature by name/ID)

All drafting, zooming, and layer controls work exactly as before — the lenses below are additions, not replacements.

My Route lens:

The lens bar above the map includes My route: numbered, urgency-colored markers for your open work — the same numbers and colors as the Today screen's badges, so the list and the map always agree. Named work shows its name beside the marker. Distance is shown where available; the app does not estimate driving times.

While My route is active, map taps are filtered to jobs only, so you can't accidentally select an unrelated field record while working your route. Turn the lens off and selection returns to normal. You can also override this yourself: the Only select jobs switch lives in the Selected Features panel, whichever way you want it.

Simple Drafting:

  • Tap the + floating action button; the first tap reveals the drawing tools, the second tap activates the selected tool (this two-level behaviour keeps the UI uncluttered on small screens)
  • Choose geometry type (point, line, polygon)
  • Tap map to add points
  • Fill basic properties
  • Save to draft version
  • Note: drafts created on mobile participate in the same version/commit system as desktop. Mobile users can request commit, but only admins can approve; finalized versions are visible to everyone once approved.

Offline Map Tiles:

  • Map tiles cached (30-day expiration)
  • Cached tiles load first for speed; network only used if they're missing
  • Works without internet connection
  • Syncs features when back online

Scanner Function

QR code scanner for inventory pickups and feature references:

Use Cases:

  • Scan assignment pickup QR → authorize inventory transfer
  • Scan feature QR tag → open feature detail
  • Scan help request QR → respond to specific issue

Workflow:

  1. Open the upper-right menu and tap QR Scanner (the scanner is a global modal, available on every mobile page)
  2. Camera opens with QR viewfinder
  3. Point at QR code
  4. Auto-detect and decode
  5. Action performed (pickup, navigate to feature, etc.)

Pickup Authorization:

  1. Scan assignment pickup QR
  2. Validate:
    • You're authorized recipient (or have canFacilitatePickups permission)
    • Stock available at source site
    • GPS location (within geofence if configured)
  3. Confirm pickup
  4. Transfer transaction created automatically
  5. Inventory added to your personal site — and the My Items tab appears in Stock if it wasn't already there

Offline QR Scans:

  • Scans cached while offline
  • Processed when back online
  • Prevents duplicate pickups (deduplication logic)

Stock Transfer (Authorized Staff Only)

Staff with canFacilitatePickups permission:

Workflow:

  1. Worker arrives at warehouse
  2. Shows assignment QR code
  3. Staff scans QR on behalf of worker
  4. System validates:
    • Worker is authorized recipient
    • Staff has canFacilitatePickups permission
    • Stock available
  5. Transfer performed
  6. Transaction records who performed the scan, on whose behalf, and the scan method (self vs. staff-assisted)

Manual Transfer Creation: Staff can create manual transfers:

  • Select source site
  • Select recipient
  • Select resources and volumes
  • Confirm → transaction created

Profile Management

Open More → Profile.

Editable Fields:

  • Name, title, division
  • Phone number (with validation)
  • Notification preferences
  • Language selection

Phone Validation:

  1. Enter phone number
  2. Tap "Send Code"
  3. Receive SMS with 6-digit code
  4. Enter code
  5. Phone validated (enables SMS notifications)

Two-Factor Authentication:

  • Enable 2FA from profile
  • Scan TOTP QR with authenticator app
  • Enter 6-digit code to confirm
  • Required on future logins

Cannot Edit on Mobile:

  • Email (security restriction)
  • Roles (admin function)
  • Admin rights (admin function)

Help Requests

Open More → Help.

Create Help Request:

  1. Fill form:
    • Subject line
    • Description (voice-to-text supported)
    • Category (technical, access, materials, etc.)
    • Priority (low, medium, high, urgent)
  2. Optional: Add photos
  3. Submit → notification sent to appropriate team

Respond to Help Requests:

  • View requests directed to you
  • Add comments/notes
  • Update status
  • Upload response photos
  • Close when resolved

Work from Device (Working Without a Connection)

Caching:

  • API responses cached (1-hour expiration)
  • Map tiles cached (30-day expiration)
  • App shell cached (instant load)
  • Images and assets cached

Connection-Independent Actions:

  • Create reports (submit when online)
  • Take photos (upload when online)
  • Draft map features (sync when online)
  • View cached assignments/reports

Sync Indicators:

  • Online: Green dot
  • Offline: Gray dot + "X items pending sync"
  • Syncing: Spinner + "Syncing X items..."
  • Last sync time displayed

Installation Instructions

Aptli installs directly from your browser — no app store, no approval process. The exact path depends on your device.

Android (Chrome or Edge)

Primary path — in-app button:

  1. Open Aptli in Chrome or Edge.
  2. Log in → you land on the mobile home page.
  3. Tap Add to home in the header (download icon).
  4. Chrome's native install dialog appears — tap Install.
  5. Aptli's icon appears on your home screen.

Fallback path — browser menu:

  1. Tap the browser's three-dot menu.
  2. Tap Install app or Add to Home Screen.
  3. Confirm — Aptli's icon appears on your home screen.

Chrome removed the auto-appearing install banner in Chrome 76 (2019). On modern Android, installing always starts with a tap — either the in-app Add to home button or the browser menu. Both work; the in-app button is faster once you're logged in.

iOS (Safari)

iOS is Safari-only for PWA installation — Chrome and Firefox on iOS are WebKit shells without install UI. iOS also never shows an automatic install prompt; you initiate it from the Share menu.

  1. Open Aptli in Safari.
  2. Tap the Share button (box with arrow).
  3. Scroll and tap Add to Home Screen.
  4. Tap Add.
  5. Aptli's icon appears on your home screen.

Desktop (Chrome, Edge, or other Chromium browser)

  1. Open Aptli in the browser.
  2. Look for the install icon (⊕ or a small monitor/computer icon) on the right side of the address bar.
  3. Click it — the browser's install dialog appears.
  4. Click Install.
  5. Aptli opens in its own window with no browser chrome. It also appears in your OS app launcher (Start menu, Applications folder, etc.).

If the install icon isn't visible:

  • Chrome: three-dot menu → Install Aptli.
  • Edge: three-dot menu → Apps → Install this site as an app.

Firefox and other browsers

PWA installation is best supported in Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave) and Safari on iOS. Firefox supports installation on Android but not on desktop.

Updates

PWA updates automatically:

  • No app store updates needed
  • New version downloads in background
  • Prompt to refresh when update ready
  • Instant deployment of fixes/features

Security Considerations

On-Device Storage:

  • Session data is secured on the device
  • No sensitive data is stored in plain text
  • All local data is cleared on logout

GPS Privacy:

  • Location accessed only when needed (reports, QR pickups)
  • Permission requested explicitly
  • Can decline (manual location entry supported)
  • GPS data encrypted in transit (HTTPS)

Photo Privacy:

  • Photos stored locally until uploaded
  • Deleted after successful upload
  • Server storage encrypted
  • Access controlled by permissions

Best Practices

Install the PWA:

  • Faster than mobile browser
  • Works without a connection
  • Better experience

Enable Notifications:

  • Receive assignment updates
  • Help request responses
  • Pickup code expirations

Learn the Swipe Grammar:

  • Short swipes act on the record; long swipes are universal (map / hide)
  • The same gestures work on every list — learn once, use everywhere

Sync Regularly:

  • Open app daily (even if offline)
  • Queued actions process automatically
  • Prevents large backlog

Use Camera:

  • Photos prove work completed
  • Document quality issues
  • Faster than typing descriptions

Report from Field:

  • Submit while still on-site
  • Fresh memory = accurate details
  • GPS auto-capture (don't forget location)

Cache Map Tiles:

  • Open map in service area while online
  • Tiles cache for 30 days
  • Map usable offline