Family Coverage

Setting up a household

You’ll need Android 12 or newer on each phone that records. Set aside ten minutes per phone.

1. Plan it

• Who records? Everyone whose phone goes to places that matter: the people who drive the kids, commute, or work somewhere with poor signal. A household can have up to 12 members.
• Which networks? Each phone measures the SIMs it has. To try a carrier you’re not on, add its prepaid eSIM as a second line for a month. The phone then measures both networks at the same moments and places: the fairest comparison there is. Turn off its data if you only want it measured, or leave automatic data switching on to see how the phone uses it.
• How long? Two weeks shows the routine; six weeks catches the odd trips. The longest a household can run is a year, and every household has an end date. After it the app stops on its own.

2. Start the household (first phone)

Install Family Coverage and choose Start a household:

• a name (“The Smiths”);
• the members, one per line, everyone who’ll record (you too);
• the end date;
• a server, only if you run one (most households don’t: see the server page).

When you enter a server, the app checks it before saving: ✓ when it’s a Family Coverage server that takes your household, ✗ when something else answers at that address (another kind of server, say), and ▲ when there’s no answer from where you are, which is expected away from a server that’s only on your home network or VPN. A phone joining with the setup code shows the same check.

Then choose which member you are.

3. Add the other phones

On the first phone, open Share this household (add a phone). On each other phone, install the app, choose Join a household and scan the QR code. Far apart? Use Share the code as text and paste it on the other phone.

The code carries the household’s name, members, end date, server and places. No phone numbers, and none of the recorded data.

4. Agree, allow, start

Each person reads What this phone records on their own phone and ticks the agreement. That text names your household’s real end date and server. Then work down the Setup list:

Permission	Why
Location, precise and all the time	Each reading’s place, and recording with the screen off
Phone	Each SIM’s network, which SIM carries data, and whether a call is on (to pause during calls)
Notifications	The “recording” notification, with its Stop button, and a note if recording stops
Battery: unrestricted	So Android doesn’t put the recording to sleep
SMS (F-Droid and GitHub build, only with test texts on)	Sending and receiving the test texts

Samsung phones also need Family Coverage in Settings > Battery > Background usage limits > Never sleeping apps.

Then tap Start recording.

If recording ever stops by itself, say because a permission was turned off, a notification says Family Coverage stopped recording and why: tap it, allow what’s marked ✗ and start again. Or, to stop for good, tap Turn recording off on the notification or in the app, and nothing asks again. At the end date it stops for good, and a notification says so.

5. Add your places

Stand at each place that matters and tap Add the spot you’re at. Give it a name and choose how far around it counts (150 m suits a house; 250 to 500 m a school campus or an office park). Share the household again afterwards, and on the other phones choose Scan an updated code, so every phone knows every place.

Two choices for test texts (step 6), when adding a place or later with Edit:

• Whose test texts it’s for. A place for some members only, such as one parent’s office, starts tests only on their phones. The report still compares networks there with everyone’s readings.
• Fallback times, such as 8:15, 15:20 on weekdays for the school run: at each time, a test goes out wherever the phone is, unless one went out in the hour before.

6. Test texts (optional)

Test texts check that texts get through, on every line, both ways. Choose two phones, usually the two that are apart most of the day. On each, under Test texts, choose who to test with and enter their number(s). Numbers stay on the phone.

• F-Droid and GitHub build: fully automatic. After 10 minutes at one of your places the phone texts its partner from each SIM, and the partner’s phone answers. At most 8 exchanges a day, never 9 pm to 7 am, never during a call. Between lines that carry “silent” texts (data SMS), no Messages app shows them; otherwise they’re visible texts like FC test 7F3A12 13:30:05. In the US, Verizon-network lines carry silent texts; AT&T’s network (Cricket too) doesn’t. Not sure? Leave the silent boxes unticked.
• Google Play build: the app reminds you at a place to send a test, and opens Messages with it filled in. When your partner’s test reaches you, tap Text arrived.

7. During the weeks

Nothing to do. Recording pauses during calls and sleeps between readings when the phone sits still. It uses about 1 to 2 GB of mobile data a month for its tests. Turn speed tests or data checks off under Measurements if that’s too much.

If someone calls or texts you to test coverage, open the app and tap what happened (Call rang, Text didn’t arrive…). That’s the best evidence of all.

8. Decide

On each phone, Export the data and save the zip somewhere you can reach from a computer (Drive, email to yourself, a USB cable). Open the report page and choose all the zips at once. Look at your places first: that’s where the decision is.

When you’re done, Delete the recorded data on each phone, or uninstall the app.

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