LocaTrack

How this guide is laid out

The words you need

LocaTrack uses a handful of words on purpose. Learn these and every screen makes sense.

That's the life of a part. Every arrow is something you can record in the app.

First-time setup

The Owner does this once, in this order. Order matters: places first, because every count needs a place to live.

The Setup tab: where all the steps below start

Step 1 - Add your places

1. Tap Setup → Locations.
2. In the Add box, type a name ("Truck 1", "Shop") and pick its Type: Shop Truck or Job site. Tap Add. Type is only a label to help you tell them apart - it doesn't change how counting works.
3. Repeat for each truck and for any job site you keep stock at long-term.

Step 2 - Check your lists

1. Setup → Lists has two: Categories (Breakers, Wire…) and Units (each, m, box…).
2. Tap one to add, rename or archive values. Renaming a value also renames it on every part that uses it.

Step 3 - Put your parts in

Two ways. Pick by size:

Adding one part - the form, field by field:

1. Photo (optional). Take photo or Choose from library. A picture helps a new hire pick the right one.
2. Name. Write it the way you'd say it out loud: "20A Single-Pole Breaker".
3. Category and Unit from your lists.
4. Manufacturer barcode (optional). Type it, or leave blank. If the box has a barcode, entering it means scanning the box finds the part later. No barcode? Skip it - LocaTrack gives every part its own code and QR label (chapter 5).
5. Cost section Owner only: Unit cost (what you pay), Sell price (what you charge, optional) and Reorder at (the "time to buy" number). Pick Reorder at as "how few can I be down to before I'm in trouble?" - enough to cover the days it takes the supplier to deliver.
6. Supplier note (optional). Supplier name and item code, e.g. "ACME, ABC12345". This is what groups your shopping list by supplier later.
7. Tap Save.

Step 4 - Enter what's on the shelves today

1. A new part starts at zero everywhere. Open it → Move stock → Receive.
2. Pick the place (Shop, a truck) and type what's physically there. Save.

Step 5 - Turn on alerts, set your name, invite your partner

1. Setup → Notifications → Low stock alerts. On: you'll be told when a part reaches its reorder number. You're told once, and only again if it recovers and drops again.
2. Setup → This device → name. Type your first name. It's stamped next to every Move you make so the history says who did it.
3. Setup → iCloud & Sharing to invite your partner - chapter 16.

The tabs along the bottom

Tap a tab to switch screens - they stay in the same spot every time. What you see depends on your role: Owners get four tabs, Technicians get four too, but the last one is different.

📦 Parts

The home screen. Your catalogue, with a count at your current place. Search it, filter it, do most of your day's work from here.

📷 Scan

Camera. Aim at a barcode or LocaTrack QR label and the part opens.

⚠️ Low stock

Your shopping list - everything at or below its reorder number.

⚙️ Setup Owner

Jobs, costs, history, places, lists, spreadsheets, sharing. Where the business side lives.

👤 Me Technician

Replaces Setup for a Technician. One box: your name, so your Moves are labelled.

The Parts tab

"Where am I?" - the location switcher

At the top of the Parts screen is a small place name - "Truck 1", say. This is the single most useful setting in the app.

1. Tap the place name at the top of Parts.
2. Pick where you are or whose stock you're working from: your truck in the morning, the Shop when you're in the building.
3. The counts in the list now show that place, and quick changes (chapter 7) apply there.

Tap the place name to switch

Finding a part

Three ways. Use whichever is quickest right now.

A · Search

1. Tap Parts. Pull the list down a little to show the search bar.
2. Type a few letters of the name, category or code - "break", "14/2", "wire". Fewer letters finds more. If nothing shows, try fewer.
3. Tap the part to open it (chapter 6).

B · Filter and sort

1. Tap the filter button at the top left of Parts.
2. On [place] only - show only parts that are here. Handy to see "what's actually on my truck".
3. Category - pick one, or "All categories".
4. Sort - Name (A to Z), Low stock first (what needs buying floats to the top), or Quantity.

Filter and sort menu

C · Scan

1. Tap Scan, then Scan (camera) the first time. Allow the camera when your phone asks.
2. Hold about a hand-width from the barcode or QR label, steady, in decent light.
3. The part opens by itself.

The Scan tab

If the code isn't known the app says so. An Owner gets an Add part button that starts a new part with that code already filled in. A Technician is told to ask an Owner.

Reading a part's page

Tap any part. Top to bottom, here's everything on the page.

Section	What it tells you
Top	Photo, name, category, and On hand - the total across all places.
Quick adjust at [place]	Big − and + buttons with the count at your current place in the middle. See chapter 7.
Stock by location	Every place with its count, plus a Total. Your current place is marked here.
Identification	Manufacturer barcode (if any), LocaTrack code, and Show / print QR label.
Cost Owner	Unit cost, sell price, reorder number. Technicians never see this section.
Supplier	The supplier note, if there is one.
History	Every Move for this part: what, how many, where, which job, who, and when. Newest first.

At the top right: Move stock for anything beyond a single tap, and Edit Owner to change the part's details.

A part page

Quick one-at-a-time changes

Grabbed one breaker? Don't open a form. Three equally good ways to record "one":

1. Check the place at the top of Parts is where you are (chapter 4).
2. Swipe or tap. Your phone gives a small buzz so you know it registered.
3. The count changes at that place.

Move stock

Open a part and tap Move stock. Four big tiles appear. Picking the right tile is the only real decision - everything else follows from it.

Tile	Use it when…	Count at the place
Receive	New stock arrives: supplier delivery, or a return you're adding back.	Goes up
Use	Parts leave and are consumed - installed on a job.	Goes down
Transfer	Parts go from one of your places to another. Nothing is used up.	One down, one up
Adjust	The shelf disagrees with the app. Correction only.	Whatever you enter

Move stock: the Use tile

The four tiles (Receive is selected)

The Save button is grey until it makes sense

You can't save half a form: Save stays grey until the quantity is a real number and the places are filled in (and for Adjust, the note). Grey Save means something is still missing, not that the app is broken.

Receive - a delivery arrives

1. Open the part → Move stock → Receive.
2. Location: where the stock physically landed. Deliveries usually go to the Shop.
3. Quantity: a positive number - what came in. Just under it, "At Shop" shows the count right now, so you can see it before you save.
4. Note (optional): "Invoice 4417", "Return from Main St".
5. Save.

Use - parts go on a job

1. Open the part → Move stock → Use.
2. Location: where you took them from - usually your truck.
3. Quantity: how many you used (e.g. 3).
4. Job (optional) - a new section appears only on Use. Tap it to open a menu: pick a job, choose None, or New job to type "123 Main St" right there.
5. Save. The count at that place drops.

Transfer - from one place to another

1. Open the part → Move stock → Transfer.
2. Two boxes appear: From and To. Pick them (e.g. From Shop, To Truck 1).
3. Quantity: how many.
4. Save stays grey if From and To are the same place.

Adjust - fixing a wrong count

1. Walk the shelf and count. Say you find 11 and the app says 14.
2. Open the part → Move stock → Adjust.
3. Location: the place you counted.
4. New adjustment (+/−): type the difference, not the new total: −3. (Use a plus for found extras: 2 or +2.)
5. Note (required): "Cycle count", "Damaged, tossed", "Found behind the shelf".
6. Save. The count is now 11.

Pick several parts to a job

Loading the truck for a whole job? Don't Move stock part by part. Fill a basket, then post it in one go.

1. On Parts, set your location (chapter 4) to the place you're pulling from.
2. Tap the briefcase button (top left). A menu lists your active jobs - pick one, or New job to type a new name. The screen changes: an orange bar at the top says "Picking for [job]" so you can't mistake this for normal browsing.
3. Each row now shows "N on hand here" and a − / number / ＋ control. Tap ＋ for each part and quantity you're taking. You can also type the number. Set a quantity back to 0 and the part drops out of the basket.
4. Prefer scanning? Tap the barcode button in the bottom bar and scan each box - every scan adds 1 and shows a brief message with the new quantity. A code that isn't in the catalogue says "No part for [code]".
5. The bottom bar shows the job name and a running count of parts picked. Owners also see the running cost; Technicians never do.
6. Done? Tap Commit. Every picked line is recorded as Used on that job, at your current location.
7. A banner appears: "Committed N parts to [job]" with an Undo button. It only stays for a few seconds.

The briefcase menu: pick the job

Leaving without committing

If the basket has items and you try to leave, the app asks. Keep picking returns to your basket. Discard throws it away and nothing changes.

Undoing a mistake

You never edit or delete a Move. You reverse it.

1. Open the part and scroll to History (or, as an Owner, open Setup → Shop history for every part at once).
2. Swipe the line left and tap Reverse (purple).
3. A confirmation shows exactly what will be reversed, e.g. "Reverse −3". Tap it to confirm, or Cancel. The extra confirmation is there so a slip of the thumb can't undo something by accident.
4. A new line appears with the opposite amount. The original stays.

Low stock and reordering

A part appears on the Low stock tab when its total across all places is at or below its reorder number. A part with no reorder number set never appears.

1. Tap Low stock.
2. Each row shows the part, its reorder number, and the count it has now (red).
3. Owners also see Inventory value at the top - what the stock on your shelves is worth at cost.
4. Owners: tap the Export button to send the list as PDF, Excel or CSV by email or message.

The export is grouped by supplier (from each part's Supplier note), with a subtotal for each. That's one purchase order per supplier, ready to send. "Order" quantity is how many to buy to climb back up to the reorder number - never less than 1.

5. When the delivery arrives, record it as a Receive (chapter 8). The part drops off the list on its own.

Alerts: with Low stock alerts on in Setup, you're told when a part first reaches its reorder number. They show while the app is open or in use, and only repeat after the part has recovered and dropped again.

The Low stock tab (Owner view)

Job costs and Shop history

What did that job cost?

1. Setup → Job costs.
2. Job: choose one from the list.
3. Period: set the From and To dates. Widen them to cover the whole job.
4. You see each part used, quantity × unit cost, the line total, and the Job total.
5. Use Export to send it as PDF, Excel or CSV for the invoice.

Where did those breakers go?

1. Setup → Shop history.
2. You see the latest 200 Moves across all parts, newest first - what, where, which job, who, and when.
3. Use the Job menu at the top to narrow it to one job.
4. Swipe a line to Reverse it (chapter 10).

Tidying up: jobs, places and parts

The app almost never deletes things, because deleting would also delete the history behind your records. Here's what each choice does:

Adding a job ahead of time

1. Setup → Jobs.
2. Type the Name ("123 Main St") and, if you like, the Client. Tap Add.

You can also create a job on the spot from Use or Pick - handy in the field.

Spreadsheets in and out

For lots of parts, a spreadsheet on a computer beats typing on a phone. Everything lives under Setup → Catalogue.

A · Start fresh with your real list

1. Export blank template and email it to yourself.
2. On a computer, fill in one row per part. Save as CSV.
3. If you've been playing with sample data, first do Danger zone → Empty inventory. It removes all parts and counts but keeps your places, jobs and lists.
4. Import spreadsheet (CSV) and choose your file. The app tells you how many parts were added or updated.

B · Round trip: edit your existing inventory

1. Export inventory (CSV) and open it on a computer.
2. Change costs, names or quantities. Don't touch the ID column.
3. Import it back. The app matches rows by that ID, so it updates the existing part instead of making a duplicate.

Owner vs Technician

The role controls what's visible. The idea: field workers need to move stock quickly, but don't need to see what anything costs or be able to change the catalogue.

Check what a Technician sees

1. Setup → Preview as Technician.
2. The app now behaves like a Technician's. A banner at the top says Previewing as Technician.
3. Tap Exit on the banner to come back.

Your name on every Move

Owners set it under Setup → This device; Technicians under the Me tab. Your name then appears beside each Move in the History. Set it once - it's what makes "who used the 14/2?" answerable.

Sharing with your partner

Your phone holds its own copy and shares it through iCloud. Both phones end up with the same counts, with no sign-in screens and no accounts to set up beyond iCloud.

Sending the invite Owner

1. Make sure your phone is signed in to iCloud (Settings → [your name]).
2. Setup → iCloud & Sharing → Share inventory.
3. The iPhone share sheet opens. Choose your partner by message or email.
4. Choose their access:

   Can make changes

   They join as an Owner: full access, including cost. For a co-owner.

   View only (Read Only)

   They join as a Technician: no cost, no catalogue editing, no Setup.

5. Send it.

Accepting Your partner

1. Install LocaTrack from the App Store.
2. Tap the invite link first (in the message or email) and accept. Don't build their own list first.
3. The inventory fills in. If it's slow, give it a few minutes with signal.

Checking it's working

Setup → iCloud sync shows the sync state. If Share inventory is greyed out, iCloud isn't ready on that phone - check Settings → [your name] → iCloud.

If you get stuck

Pocket cheat sheet