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Anyone else struggling with technicians not using the mobile app consistently?

Ray DeLuca

Look, I know this isn't a new problem, but I'm hitting a wall here. We've got 14 techs in the field, and I'd say maybe 6 of them are actually updating job status in real time. The rest? They'll mark everything "complete" at 4:30 PM from their driveway. Or worse, they don't mark anything at all and I spend my mornings playing detective.

We've tried:

  • Weekly reminders in the team meeting (ignored)
  • Making it "required" in their performance eval (too vague to enforce)
  • Texting individuals when jobs sit open (works for a day)

The frustrating part is the app works fine. They all have company phones. It's not a technical problem, it's a... I don't know, behavioral thing? Cultural?

I'm not looking for lectures about accountability. I want to know what actually worked for your teams. Bonus points if you figured out how to get buy-in from guys who've been doing this job for 15+ years and think paperwork is for "the office people."

...and yes, I've seen the mobile app update post. New dashboard looks nice. Doesn't help if they don't open it.

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  • We had this exact scenario and solved it with a simple rule that everyone understood: if the job isn't marked "arrived" within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, it shows up on a daily report that goes to the operations manager. No exceptions, no excuses.

    Here's the key — we automated it. Nobody had to manually check. The report just existed, every day, and everyone knew it. Visibility drives behavior.

    Also, side note: we paired this with a quick win. First month, anyone with 95%+ real-time compliance got first pick of overtime jobs. The resistant ones came around fast when they realized the early birds were getting all the weekend work.

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  • We had this exact scenario and solved it with a simple rule that everyone understood: if the job isn't marked "arrived" within 15 minutes of the scheduled time, it shows up on a daily report that goes to the operations manager. No exceptions, no excuses.

    Here's the key — we automated it. Nobody had to manually check. The report just existed, every day, and everyone knew it. Visibility drives behavior.

    Also, side note: we paired this with a quick win. First month, anyone with 95%+ real-time compliance got first pick of overtime jobs. The resistant ones came around fast when they realized the early birds were getting all the weekend work.

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  • in reply to Gwen Albright

    the overtime thing is smart. we just get yelled at. id update the app more if it got me something

    also tbh half the time i forget bc im driving job to job and the app logs me out and i dont remember my password. maybe make it stay logged in longer? idk if thats a thing

  • in reply to Tyler Hatch

    Thanks for sharing that context, Tyler! We want to make sure you're set up for success here.

    The mobile app should stay logged in for 30 days by default, but if you're seeing more frequent logouts, that might be a device-level setting or a security policy your IT team has configured. Happy to help troubleshoot — I'll send you a direct message with some steps to check.

    And great discussion everyone! We're actually gathering feedback on real-time compliance workflows right now. If anyone wants to share more about what incentives or nudges have worked (or failed), we'd love to hear it.

  • in reply to Gwen Albright

    2 years of this. tried everything above. what actually worked: we stopped paying hours not in the app.

    clock in via app or you weren't on site. one pay period of "where's my missing 6 hours" and suddenly everyone remembers.

    harsh but we're not running a charity