ACR OLAS: Marine Alert System 4+

No help for this app

I recently received my tag and downloaded the app. I tried the tag and it works but there is no way In the app to change the setting to solo or put in automatic call number without using the vessel information page which you can’t use if you don’t have an MMSI number. And if you click the app help link it just takes you to the ACR page which doesn’t give any direction on how to use the app

So this is basically useless to me

Update 8-13-2020
Playing around with the app on my iPad instead of the iPhone, I found that when you hit the menu selection button in the left upper corner, a drop down box appears in gray and you can select items such as solo mode and vessel. However, on the iPhone , there is a glitch and this area is blacked out and you can’t see the wording which is in black. If you hit different spots you can get lucky and hit the menu option you were searching for. This is only on the phone, the iPad works fine.

On a side note, I emailed the company and no one responded. I love ACR products and have several but the app and response isn’t great

ARC OLAS Guardian JUNK

What a waste of Time and Money, first the wire diagram does not match Mercury as I have two purple wires at the cut off switch. The app picture shows that you should see a float-on if the tag is set for “Cut-Off and Alert” I can only get a picture of the wrest tag. The engine will not shut off and I have tried exchanging the wires. Other options appear on the app such smart key, disable cut-off, enable smart lock and others with no explanation of how to use these or what they do in any of the directions. I have called and spoke with I believe Filex he was nice enough but had no idea what I was talking about said he would have his supervisor Chris get in touch with me but never did . I have now sent an email but I don’t expect much. Save your money and time look elsewhere! This is supposed to be a safety item and I believe is Junk!

Does Not Work On iPhone or iPad

I bought 4 of the wrist units to go along with this app and the system does not function reliably. The wrist unit gets about about 100 feet away from the phone or iPad before the alarm sounds and when it does it randomly switches between MOB and paused. It does not allow you to track back to the last location. This is a complete piece of crap and when I called the company they got back to me and verified the issue. No fix yet. Wasted several hundred bucks on these wrist units. Don’t waste your money.... actually a pretty dangerous situation as you are expecting to be able to track back to last location. Somebody is going to die because this did not work.

Developer Response ,

Update - We have just released an update which has removed the 'Paused' location status making it easier to indicate when a device looses connection. Connection does temporarily get broken for number of reasons but if it reconnects within 8 seconds the alert is not activated, if longer than 8 seconds it is calculated that the tag has gone out of range and/or fallen overboard and the alert is activated.

Hi cmarem,
Thank you for highlighting your experience with the OLAS App. I hope the below information encourages you to re-test the system for the purpose it is designed.
The system is based on a positive connection and designed to be used on a vessel at sea, up-to 40ft in length. If a user is overboard the tag will be submerged and the connection between tag and phone broken. After an 8 second delay (to ensure the tag was not temporarily out of range) the alarm on the OLAS app will sound and the GPS location recorded (normally with 10-20 meter accuracy subject to your mobile devices GPS status). If trying to simulate this on land you would experience the 100ft break point as you are breaking connection due to distance not due to the tag being submerged, then adding on 8 seconds for you to continue walking.
It is also important to note that once the alarm has been triggered, if the tag reconnects, the alarm is automatically cancelled and a pop up appears for 5 seconds to indicate that this has occurred. This allows the GPS location to be updated if the tag comes back into range and then is lost again.
To track back to the last know position you first need to be +20 meters away from the stored GPS position, as if the vessel was sailing on. You are then given a clear arrow and distance to the stored GPS location.
If you require a faster alert time we offer the ACR OLAS Core, with a possible 2 second default time before alert, it then sounds an alarm on the Core unit and the mobile app. This is compatible with your ACR OLAS tags.
If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us directly.
All the best,
OLAS Team