Goal

The Activity settings control how a field or activity-tracking app behaves at the moments that matter most: how an activity starts, how it ends, and how location and check-in work — including how far away a user can be and still check in, and what they see if they try from too far.

Think of an activity as any unit of field work your users start and finish: a route stop, a site visit, an inspection, a delivery, a check-in at a location. This guide walks you through the Activity tab in App Setup, where you control how those activities begin, end, and check against the user’s GPS location.

Note: These settings only come into play for apps that use activity tracking and location check-in. No activity or check-in screen in your app? Skip this category entirely.

Prerequisites

• MAM Suite installed with MAM Main activated, and an app already created.
• Access to Mobile App Manager → App Setup in WordPress admin.
• Your app should already include an activity / check-in screen (a listing or tab that lets users start and complete activities). Wiring up that screen itself is covered separately; this guide configures its behavior.
• For the distance / check-in features to be meaningful, your activities or locations must have GPS coordinates, and the app must have location permission on the device.

Where these settings live

You’ll find every setting below on the Activity tab of the app settings page (category = activity). Open Mobile App Manager → App Setup, then select the Activity tab. Each option is listed with its setting variable in the steps that follow, so you can cross-reference it if you’re reviewing stored values directly.

Steps

1. Decide on the start flow

Decide whether starting an activity opens a form first, or jumps straight in.

• Use Start Form When Starting Activity (activity_use_start_form) — Turn this on and a form appears when the user starts an activity, giving them a chance to capture start details before work begins. Leave it off and the activity starts right away, with no form in the way.

Turn it on when you need to capture something at the start — notes, a condition, a reading, a selection. Leave it off when speed matters most and you just want a fast “tap to start” experience.

2. Decide on the end flow

Decide what happens the moment a user ends an activity.

• Use Dialog when Ending Activity (activity_use_end_dialog) — Turn this on and a confirmation dialog appears when the user ends an activity, guarding against accidental taps and giving them a chance to confirm or cancel.

Turn it on when ending an activity is a big deal or hard to undo. Leave it off when speed matters more than a confirmation click.

3. Set the allowable check-in distance

Decide how close a user needs to be to a location before they can check in.

• Allowable Distance for Check in – Feet (0 or blank for infinite) (distance_for_check_in) — This is the farthest a user can be from a location, in feet, and still check in. Enter 0 or leave it blank and there’s no distance limit at all.

Set a real value — a few hundred feet, say — when you want to make sure users are physically at the location before checking in. Use 0 or leave it blank when location proximity shouldn’t be enforced.

4. Decide whether users can override the distance check

Decide what happens when a user is outside the allowable distance.

• Allow override if not close enough to location? (distance_for_check_in_override) — Turn this on and users can override the distance check, checking in even when they’re not close enough to the location. Leave it off and being outside the allowed distance blocks the check-in outright.

Turn it on when you’d rather the distance be a guideline than a hard block — the user stays accountable for overriding, which helps when GPS gets unreliable indoors or in dense areas.

5. Customize the override prompt (optional)

If you turned on overrides in step 4, here’s your chance to customize what the user sees when they check in from too far away. Both fields are plain text — leave them blank and the app falls back to its defaults.

• Activity checkin override title (activity_override_start_title) — Custom title shown on the override prompt that appears when a user checks in outside the allowed distance.
• Activity checkin override message (activity_override_start_message) — Custom message shown on that same override prompt.

Use these fields to explain your policy in your own words — maybe that overriding is allowed but logged, or just a reminder to be on-site.

6. Tune the map and list display (optional)

These settings change how activities and distances look on screen, without touching the start/end or check-in logic underneath.

• Hide distance on map? (activity_hide_distance_on_map) — Turn this on and the distance to the location is hidden on the activity map.
• Use color bar to show In Progress items? (activity_use_color_bar_for_in_progress) — Turn this on and in-progress items get a colored bar so they stand out in the list.
• Reload activities every five minutes (reload_activities_on_timer) — Turn this on and the activities list reloads itself every five minutes — handy for keeping a shared queue fresh without anyone needing to pull-to-refresh.
• Include refresh button on tab bar? (listing_show_refresh_button) — Turn this on and a refresh button appears so users can reload the list whenever they want.

7. Configure location tracking and auto-close (optional)

If your app tracks movement during an activity — routes, drives, deliveries — this is where you set up GPS pings and speed-based auto-close.

• Track GPS pings during activity (send_gps_pings_on_activities) — Turn this on and the app sends periodic GPS location updates while an activity is in progress.
• Trigger close at speed (MPH) (close_activity_at_mph) — The speed, in MPH, at which an in-progress activity automatically closes.
• Request close at max velocity (request_close_activity_at_mph) — Turn this on and the app prompts to close, rather than closing silently, once the speed threshold is reached.
• Distance between Markers (distance_between_markers) — Controls how far apart route markers are spaced on the map.

Keep in mind: tracking GPS while an activity runs draws on location services and battery. Turn it on only for apps that genuinely need movement tracking, and make sure your app’s store listing and privacy disclosures reflect background/foreground location use.

8. Require signatures at each location (optional)

• Require signature for activities at each location? (activity_combine_signatures_for_location) — Turn this on and a signature is required for activities at each location — built for proof-of-service or chain-of-custody workflows.

9. Save and verify on a device

1. Save your Activity settings.
2. Rebuild or refresh the app so it picks up the new settings, using your normal preview/build process.
3. On a test device, start an activity and confirm the start form shows up (or doesn’t) the way you set it in step 1.
4. End an activity and confirm the end dialog behaves the way you set it in step 2.
5. From outside the allowable distance, try a check-in and confirm you see the block — or the override prompt with your custom title/message — as set up in steps 3–5.

Tips and gotchas

• Distance is in feet. The check-in distance field measures feet, not meters or miles. Entering 0 or leaving it blank means no limit — not zero distance.
• Override prompt only appears when override is on. The custom title and message fields from step 5 only ever show up when Allow override if not close enough to location? is turned on.
• Start form vs. end dialog are independent. Use either one, both, or neither — a start form captures data, while an end dialog only confirms.
• GPS-dependent settings need coordinates and permission. Distance check-in and GPS pings both depend on the activity or location having coordinates, and on the device granting location permission. If users report check-ins always failing or always passing, check both of those before you touch the distance value.

Related

• App Setting Reference: activity_use_start_form, activity_use_end_dialog, distance_for_check_in, distance_for_check_in_override, activity_override_start_title, activity_override_start_message
• App Setting Reference: send_gps_pings_on_activities, close_activity_at_mph, request_close_activity_at_mph, activity_combine_signatures_for_location

What’s next

• Set up the listing or tab that shows activities to your users.
• Collecting data at the start? Design your start form fields.
• Enforcing check-in distance? Confirm your locations carry accurate GPS coordinates.

Last verified against mam-main — includes/app-settings/admin-settings-page.php (Activity category settings) and the Activity app-setting reference docs. Re-verify if Activity setting variables, labels, or the Activity tab are reorganized.