Somebody on your crew will ask whether this app tracks them. They deserve a straight answer, and “I think it’s fine” is not one. The app has a Location Usage screen that states its own behaviour, and this is what it says.
1 Find it in the app
In the worker app settings there is a screen called Location Usage, headed How We Use Your Location. Anyone on your crew can read it themselves without asking you. That is the point of it.
2 What it uses location for
Four things, and the app names each one:
Displaying jobs on a map. Shows scheduled jobs on a map so the worker can plan their route for the day.
Navigation. Launches turn-by-turn directions to the job site directly from the app.
Job Completion. Records location at the time a job is marked complete, to verify on-site presence. This is the one behind the on-site verification messages.
While Working. Location access may remain active while a worker is actively working a job.
3 What it does not do
The commitments the screen makes, in its own words:
- Location is not collected when you are off duty.
- Location data is used solely to support your field work.
- It is never sold or shared with third parties.
- You can manage location permissions in your device settings at any time.
“Not collected when you are off duty” is the sentence that answers the real question. This is job-linked location, not a tracker following someone home. That distinction is the whole difference between a tool a crew accepts and one they resent.
4 Have the conversation early
Bring it up on day one rather than waiting to be asked. Something like:
The app records where you are when you mark a job complete, so we can prove to a customer that we turned up. It uses your location for the map and directions while you are working. It is not on when you are off the clock, and it is not shared with anybody.
Then point them at the Location Usage screen so they can check you are telling the truth. Somebody who has read it themselves is far less uneasy than somebody who was told not to worry.
5 If permission is refused
The app still works, but on-site verification does not, and the crew member will keep hitting permission prompts when starting and completing jobs.
If it has been permanently denied, the app can no longer ask, and it has to be granted in the phone’s own settings. The app gives the exact path: Settings, Apps, ClippingCash Field Worker, Permissions.
Sort permissions during onboarding, alongside setting the PIN. Two minutes on day one saves a roadside phone call later.
A note on what this protects
On-site GPS is not surveillance of your crew. It is evidence for your crew. When a customer claims nobody came on Tuesday, the record showing the phone at that property with time-stamped photos settles it in your favour and theirs.
Frame it that way, because it is true.