Battery and Data

How each tracker reports battery, what alerts fire, and what to do when a Tive dies mid-shipment.

A tracker is only useful while it’s powered. This page explains how chrt reports battery for each device type, when low-battery alerts fire, and what to do when a Tive battery dies in the middle of a shipment.

How battery is reported per device

Device typeBattery sourceWhere you see itAlerts
Tive Tag / LabelDevice telemetry, reported with each pingTive device detail sheet and map data-point popupLow-battery alert fires below a configured threshold
chrt driver app (iPhone / Android)Phone OS battery levelDriver detail page (when reported)OS-level low-power mode can pause background location
OBC modeTive telemetry or phone OS battery (depending on which you use)Same as the underlying deviceSame as the underlying device

1. Read battery on a Tive device

Open chrt.com/tracking/devices and click a Tive device row to open its detail sheet. The sheet shows the device name, Tive device ID, account, current shipment, and the latest telemetry — including battery percentage from the most recent ping.

On the order Map tab, click any Tive data point to open the readout popover. The popover shows the latest battery, temperature, and light readings at that point in time.

2. Read battery on a driver phone

When a driver runs the chrt app, the app reports the phone’s battery level back to chrt alongside each location ping. You can see the most recent battery reading on the driver’s profile in the dispatch view.

Phone battery in chrt is read-only telemetry — chrt can’t keep a driver’s phone awake or override the OS battery saver. If you see a driver’s location stop updating, the most common cause is the phone entering OS low-power mode or losing background-location permission. See Location & battery on the driver-app side.

3. Low-battery alerts

For Tive devices on a chrt order or standalone session, chrt fires a low-battery alert when telemetry drops below a configured threshold. The notification is delivered through the same channels as your other order alerts — see Notifications for how to configure who receives them.

If you’re running long-haul or international freight, configure the low-battery alert threshold higher than the default so you have time to swap the device before it dies in transit.

4. Recover from a dead Tive mid-shipment

If a Tive device dies between pings and you have access to the cargo:

  1. Swap the device. Replace the dead tracker with a charged one.
  2. Register the replacement. If the replacement is new to your org, open chrt.com/tracking/devices and click Register Device to add it.
  3. Link to the same cargo (on an order). On the order page, open Add Tracker in the order header and link the new device to the same cargo item. The replacement starts reporting on the next ping cycle.
  4. Start a new session (standalone). If you’re running the tracker outside an order, open the new device and start a fresh tracking session. The original session’s history stays available on the terminated session detail page.

If the cargo is in flight or otherwise inaccessible, there’s no way to swap. The session stops at the last ping; pings resume only if the device comes back online (uncommon — most Tive devices stop reporting once the battery is fully drained).

A dead Tive tracker cannot be remotely “woken up.” If the device is inaccessible (in flight, sealed in cargo, in customs), you’ll see no further data until physical access is restored.

How to know it worked

  • After swapping a Tive device, the new device appears in the cargo’s tracker list within seconds.
  • The first ping from the replacement can take up to about 15 minutes to appear on the map.
  • The original session’s history remains viewable on its session detail page, even after termination.

If something looks different

  • Battery shows as — on a Tive device. The device hasn’t reported telemetry recently. Wait for the next ping cycle, or contact trackers@chrt.com if it stays empty after 30 minutes.
  • Driver phone battery is stale or missing. The driver app hasn’t reported telemetry — usually because the app was force-quit or background permissions were revoked. Ask the driver to reopen the app and verify location permission is set to Always allow.
  • Low-battery alert never fired. Check that the recipient is in the notification group on the order. See Notifications.
  • Contact trackers@chrt.com for hardware issues or hi@chrt.com for everything else.