As we conclude 2016, we wish to kick off the new year in the best way possible; this is why we worked really hard in the past few weeks to improve our platform for a seamless and smooth user experience. We’re super excited about our latest release of the Observa app, and here’s why in a series of answered questions.

• • What are notifications?
    Notifications are our way to immediately let you know of observations around you. They are based upon your location in real-time. They can be triggered by simply going into an area with opportunities close by. For instance, driving into a city or walking into a store. Notifications can also be triggered everytime new opportunities are posted. For example, you’re sitting at work about to go on your lunch, and at that moment Observa posts new opportunities right around the corner.We don’t want notifications to be annoying so we have plenty of options to customize settings to your liking in the Observer Preferences.

• • How do you set the notification preferences?
    Login to the app > Click on the 3-bar icon (affectionately known as a hamburger) in the upper left corner > Select “Preferences”.
    Here’s what the preferences mean:
    • Allow my location to be tracked.
      This lets us send you real-time notification about available opportunities based on your current location. We wanted to leave it up to you whether your location can be tracked, but we strongly recommend it.
    • Receive alerts for nearby opportunities.
      It lets you turn notifications on or off.
    • Search radius.
      How far away would you like to be notified of opportunities? If you live in a city and don’t drive, you can set the radius to just a few miles, but if you like to travel the open roads, maybe your radius could more like 50 miles.
    • Repeat notification.
      How often should we remind you of opportunities in your area? For instance, if you’re at home all day, we’ll notify you that we posted a new observation near you at 10 AM. How often you want to be reminded of that particular observation is up to you. Every hour? Never? We’ve got you covered here. Set as you like.
    • Notification limit.
      As you move around and new opportunities come into the radius you’ve set, how often do you want to be notified? Not to be confused with the “repeat notifications,” this is how often you’ll get notified about new things.
    • Min. Opportunity Pay-out.
      Want to be notified about everything? Set your pay-out to $0.00.Is an opportunity only worth your time if it’s over $5.00? Set this to $5.00. What payment motivates you to do an observation is always up to you, and this option lets your notifications reflect your threshold.

• • How does the waitlist work?
    The waitlist is designed to let you know if an opportunity becomes available again after another user has accepted it. Opportunities can go back to be available for a number of reasons, but the main ones are that other users ran out of time, the observation was declined, or their attempt was rejected.You get on the waitlist by clicking on the “Join Waitlist” button for an opportunity that has already been accepted by another Observer.

• • Why is it faster?
    Without getting too nerdy, smarter updating of data. We only update your app with the things that have changed since your app was last checked.

• • What do the icons mean?
    There is a opportunity available here.
    You have accepted this opportunity.
    Someone else has accepted, but you can get on the waitlist.
    You are on the waitlist.

• • Is your privacy and information secure?
    Short answer is yes. Long answer is that we respect everyone’s right to privacy and information security. We obviously record the location of every observation that is taken. We also use your location with the new notification feature to determine what to notify you about. We do not store your location information to eliminate the threat of hackers, governments, stalkers, law enforcement agencies, marketers, or anyone else using it against you or for their profit.
    If you don’t want Observa to know about your location at all, you can turn off our usage of GPS for notifications in the Observer preferences.

• • Will opportunity emails still go out?
    Yes, we will continue to send emails out for the foreseeable future.

This concludes the list of updates and improvements you will experience after our latest app release. If you experience any issues or need help, don’t hesitate to contact us by sending an email to support@13.66.152.14. In the meanwhile, we’d like to wish you the best for this year to come. Happy New Year, Observers!