Before you start

You need a Civic.ly account. If you have not set one up yet, follow Set Up Your Account first.

Before you start adding assets, you need to configure two things on your phone: camera location tagging and app location access. This takes a few minutes and only needs to be done once.

Warning

This step is worth doing properly. When your camera embeds GPS data into photos, Civic.ly can automatically place every asset on the map the moment you upload it. Without it, you would need to find and position each asset on the map by hand — which gets very tedious when you are adding dozens of benches, bins, and lampposts across a parish. And when the Civic.ly app knows your location, you can sort assets, inspections, jobs, and defects by nearest — and get directions straight from the app. These two settings together make fieldwork dramatically faster.

Install the Mobile App

  1. Download the app for your device:
  2. iPhone / iPad: Civic.ly on the App Store
  3. Android: Civic.ly on Google Play
  4. Look for the app with the green star icon. There is another app with a similar name (a US education app) — make sure you pick the right one.
  5. Install the app and open it.
  6. Log in with the same username and password you used for the web app.

The app may take a moment to load on first login. If it seems to hang, double-check that your username and password are correct, including uppercase and lowercase letters.

Part 1: Enable Location Tagging on Your Camera

Your camera app needs to embed GPS coordinates into every photo. This is sometimes called "geotagging" or "location tags". Civic.ly uses this GPS data to automatically place assets on the map.

iPhone / iPad

  1. Open the Settings app on your device.
  2. Scroll down and tap Privacy & Security.
  3. Tap Location Services.
  4. Make sure Location Services is toggled on at the top.
  5. Scroll down the app list and tap Camera.
  6. Select While Using the App.

Your camera will now embed GPS coordinates into every photo you take.

Android

Android devices vary by manufacturer, so menu names may differ slightly.

Step A — Enable location permission for the Camera app:

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Apps (or Apps & Notifications on some devices).
  3. Find and tap Camera.
  4. Tap Permissions.
  5. Tap Location and select Allow only while using the app.
Warning

Step A alone is not enough. Giving the Camera app location permission just means it is allowed to use GPS — but you still need to tell it to actually save that data into your photos. That is what Step B does. If you skip it, your photos will not contain GPS coordinates and Civic.ly cannot map them automatically.

Step B — Turn on location tags in Camera settings:

  1. Open the Camera app.
  2. Tap the Settings cog (usually in the top corner).
  3. Look for Location tags (or Save location / Geotagging) and toggle it on.
Note

On Samsung phones, the setting is called "Location tags" in Camera > Settings. On Google Pixel devices, it is under Camera > Settings > Save location.

Part 2: Grant Location Access to the Civic.ly App

The Civic.ly app uses your location to show where you are on the map, sort items by nearest, and give you directions to assets, inspections, jobs, and defects in the field. When you first open the app, it will ask you to grant location access. Tap Allow While Using the App when prompted, and you are all set.

If you accidentally tapped "Don't Allow" or dismissed the prompt, you can enable it manually:

iPhone / iPad

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Scroll down and tap Civic.ly (listed under your installed apps).
  3. Tap Location.
  4. Select While Using the App.

Android

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Apps (or Apps & Notifications).
  3. Find and tap Civic.ly.
  4. Tap Permissions.
  5. Tap Location and select Allow only while using the app.

Verify Everything is Working

Once you have completed both parts, do a quick check:

  1. Take a test photo outdoors using your camera app. Open the photo in your gallery and check its details — you should see GPS coordinates or a location name.
  2. Open the Civic.ly app and go to the map view. You should see a blue dot showing your current location.
  3. Allow access to your photo library when asked — you need this to upload photos of assets.

If all three checks pass, your device is ready to go.

Tips
  • Always upload photos directly from your phone via the Civic.ly app. Transferring photos to a computer first can strip out the GPS data.
  • On Android, you need both the camera location permission (Step A) and the in-camera location tag setting (Step B). Missing either one means photos will not have GPS data.
  • If a photo's GPS is slightly off (common near buildings or trees), you can drag and drop the asset pin to the correct position in Civic.ly later.

Common Questions

Make sure both the camera's location permission and the in-camera location tag setting are turned on. On Android, both are required. On iPhone, you just need Location Services enabled for the Camera app.

Check that the Civic.ly app has location permission set to "While Using the App". Also check that your device's overall Location Services are turned on in Settings.

GPS accuracy can be affected by buildings, trees, and signal quality. This is normal, especially in built-up areas. You can drag and drop the asset pin to the correct position in Civic.ly.

The setting name varies by manufacturer. On Samsung phones it is called "Location tags" in Camera > Settings. On Google Pixel it is under Camera > Settings > Save location. If you cannot find it, try searching for "location" in your camera app settings.

What's next

Your device is set up and ready. Now let's add your first asset.

Add Your First Asset →