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Geofencing

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Overview

Geofencing lets you define geographic areas, called geofences, and send a push notification when a contact's mobile device enters or leaves one. It powers location-based campaigns, such as a reminder near a store or an offer tied to a venue. Geofencing runs through the Mapp mobile SDK and works on both Android and iOS.

Because it relies on the device's operating system and location services, geofencing works within platform limits and depends on the right device permissions. This page explains those requirements and the practices that keep it reliable. To create and manage geofences, see Creating Locations and Location Clusters.

Key Terms

  • Location: a geofenced area of interest, defined by an address and a diameter (up to 500 m).

  • Location Cluster: a group of locations that you manage and target together.

  • Geofence: the virtual boundary around a location. Mapp Engage detects when a contact's device enters or exits it.

Requirements and Permissions

For geofencing to work, the contact must grant background location access: "Allow all the time" on Android, "Always Allow" on iOS. Without it, location-triggered push notifications are not delivered.

  • An active network connection is required. Location-triggered push is not delivered while the device is offline.

  • Keeping Wi-Fi (or Wi-Fi scanning) enabled improves location accuracy, even when the app does not use Wi-Fi directly.

Platform Limits

  • Android: up to 100 geofences per app (per device user on multi-user devices). Background events are processed periodically, not continuously.

  • iOS: about 20 locations can be monitored within a small area (for example, a 500 m radius). A location update is typically reported after the device moves around 500 m, and at most once every five minutes.

Triggering is never instant. Expect a short delay, usually under two minutes when moving, two to three minutes in the background, and up to several minutes if the device has been idle for a long time.

Best Practices

  • Use a geofence radius of at least 100 m (150 m recommended) for consistent detection.

  • Prefer fewer, broader geofences over many small ones.

  • Rely on network-based location for triggers. It saves battery and works indoors.

  • Prompt users to enable Wi-Fi or scanning if these are turned off, and use modern operating-system permission flows (for example, Android SettingsClient and Settings Panels).

  • Plan campaign timing around the expected trigger delay, especially for idle or backgrounded devices.

Testing

iOS does not support fake GPS input, so routes are simulated with a .gpx file during testing (for example, created in Google Earth Pro and added to the Xcode project). Android can be tested with standard location tools.