Home Tab
Your starting grid of feature tiles, customized for your organization.
The Home tab is the first thing you see after signing in. It shows a grid of tiles, each one opening a different feature such as the directory, calendar, weather, GPS, or status board. Which tiles appear, and what they look like, is set up by your organization, so your grid may differ from a colleague's in another agency.
Overview
The Home tab lays out your features as a grid of tiles. The number of columns adjusts to your device. Each tile shows the feature's name and icon, and a red badge if it has unread messages.
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Feature tile | A tappable card showing a feature's name and icon |
| Unread badge | A red bubble on a tile showing unread chat messages for that feature |
| Down arrow | Scrolls to the bottom of the grid; shown only when the grid is long enough to scroll |
| Up arrow | Scrolls back to the top; shown only once you have scrolled down |
The grid resizes itself to fit the space it has.
| Device and orientation | Columns |
|---|---|
| Phone held upright | 2 |
| Tablet held upright | 3 |
| Phone or tablet held sideways | 4 |
Common tiles you may see on the Home tab include:
| Tile | Opens | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Directory | The personnel directory | Whether you can add, edit, or share entries depends on your role |
| Calendar | Calendar events | Opening it also clears notifications for events that no longer exist |
| Status | The status / availability board | See Status & Availability |
| Weather | Weather information and alerts for your agency's zones | — |
| GPS | The GPS map view | Only opens once map layers have downloaded |
| Compass | The compass | Reads true north or magnetic north, per your settings |
| Video Streams | Live video streams | — |
| Translation | The translation tool | Downloaded language packs work offline |
| Conference | The conference list | — |
| Tools | The tools collection | — |
| Custom forms | Your agency's own worksheets and forms | Named whatever your agency called them |
The exact tiles, their names, icons, and colors are configured by your organization. If a tile you expect is missing, it may not be enabled for your role or agency.
Getting Here
- Sign in to the app.
- Tap the Home tab at the bottom of the screen (it is selected by default unless your settings say otherwise).
Open a Feature
Each tile is a shortcut into a feature.
- Find the tile for the feature you want.
- Tap the tile to open that feature.
- Use the back control within the feature to return to the Home grid.
What you can do once inside is decided by your role, not by the tile.
| Right your agency can grant | What it lets you do |
|---|---|
| View | Open the feature and read its records |
| Add | Create new records |
| Edit | Change existing records |
| Share | Send records out of the app |
A tile shown in a faded or "disabled" style is not currently available to you — tapping it does nothing at all. Its colors come from your agency's disabled styling rather than a greyed-out version of the normal tile, so a disabled tile may still look colourful.
Tiles that wait for a download
Map-based features need their data on the device before they can open.
- Tap GPS.
- If map layers are still downloading, a short message reads "Downloading progress" and the feature does not open.
- Wait on a good connection and try again.
The same applies to Maps on the References Tab, which also waits for the offline map areas.
Find Unread Messages
The Home grid helps you spot where conversations are waiting.
- Look for tiles with a red number badge — that is the count of unread chat messages for that feature.
- If unread items are on a tile that has scrolled off screen, the up or down scroll arrow turns red to point you toward it.
- Tap the arrow or scroll to reach the tile, then open it to read the messages.
| Arrow colour | What it means |
|---|---|
| White | Nothing unread is hidden in that direction |
| Red | A tile with unread messages is off screen in that direction |
Do not rely on memory for unread messages — the red badges are the reliable signal that something needs your attention.
Loading and Empty States
| State | What you see |
|---|---|
| The grid is loading for the first time | Tiles appear as soon as your agency data is on the device |
| A tile's icon has not downloaded yet | The tile still shows its name, and the icon fills in once downloaded |
| Your agency has no Home features enabled | An empty grid with no tiles |
| The grid fits on one screen | Both scroll arrows are hidden |
| The grid is longer than one screen | The down arrow appears |
Pop-ups That Can Appear on Arrival
If you opened the app by tapping a notification that carries a form, the Home tab opens that form for you as a pop-up as soon as the grid appears. Fill it in or close it, and the grid is underneath.
How This Connects
The Home tab is a view of one part of your agency's feature list.
- The tiles are the features your agency assigned to the Home screen. The same list, split differently, fills the Logs Tab, References Tab, the Alerts tab, and the Account Tab.
- That list is downloaded during Sign In and stored on the device, which is why the grid appears instantly and works with no signal.
- Switching organizations in the header rebuilds this grid from the other agency's feature list — see Main Dashboard & Tab Bar.
- The badges are counted from messages stored on the device. Reading messages inside a feature clears its badge, and the tab badge at the bottom of the screen updates at the same time.
- Tile names, icons, and colors are your agency's. If an administrator renames a tile or changes its colour, your grid updates the next time your agency data refreshes.
- Losing signal does not empty the grid. Every tile stays, and features whose data was downloaded — directory, forms, translation packs, downloaded maps — keep working. Tiles that need live data show what they have and catch up later. If a download was still in progress when you lost service, the map tiles keep showing the downloading message until you reconnect and it finishes.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| A tile does nothing when tapped | It is disabled for your role. Ask your agency administrator. |
| Tapping GPS shows "Downloading progress" | Map layers are still downloading. Stay on a good connection and try again shortly. |
| A tile is missing | Check the organization name in the header, then confirm with your administrator that the feature is enabled for you. |
| The grid is empty | No Home features are enabled for this organization, or your agency data has not finished downloading. |
| A tile shows no icon | The icon file has not downloaded yet. It fills in on its own. |
| A badge count looks wrong | Open the feature and read the messages; the count comes from what is stored on the device. |
| A scroll arrow is red but you cannot find the tile | Tap the arrow — it scrolls straight to that end of the grid. |
| Only two columns show on a large phone | Turn the device sideways for four columns. |
| The grid will not scroll | Everything fits on one screen already. |
| Double-tapping the tab does nothing | You are already at the top of the grid. |
Related Pages
⬅️ Previous: Main Dashboard & Tab Bar | Next: Account Tab ➡️