Questions and Answers on PA (People Around) usage.
Q - How to edit my profile? Are there any mandatory fields?
A - Edit your profile using the button "edit profile" in main screen. Name and birth year are mandatory.
Q - How does PA update my profile in a unique way?
A - By using your phone's "Device ID" which is a unique ID.
Q - Does that mean that you and your server knows my phone details ?
A - No. What PA does is to hash and encrypt the device ID so my server and the remote users only know a unique hash, but not your actual device ID.
Q - Can one fake people by messing with your server?
A - Not likely, since data is encrypted with a very well hidden key. But who would bother anyway?
Q - Please explain my profile options.
A - These are the fields:
Q - What's the interest filter?
A - Its what you specify that you want to find. For example, if you select "Pets" as your only interest filter, then you will be seeing only people that have "Pets" among their interests. To be able to see people that are interested in "sex" you must be over 18.
Q - What information is visible to others when I haven't contacted or accepted invitation from those yet?
A - Your name, age, gender, country, phone number (if set to be visible), country, photo URL and interests.
Q - What information is visible to others when I have accepted an invitation from those?
A - All of the above plus your precise GPS location data and your bluetooth information (if running the enhanced version).
Q - For how long is this information visible to someone that I have accepted an invitation?
A - Until your registration times out (1 hour without registration) or when you accept an invitation from another person.
Q - PA tells me "Update failed" , what's wrong?
A - One or more of the following is true:
Q - There is no people around me!
A - PA is a new network and it will take some time before it gets large. Just tell about it to all your android friends!
Q - What is the range of people detected?
A - Around 7Km far away from you.
Q - There are some people around me. Do they know where exactly I am?
A - If you have not specified to "hide exact position" in your profile, then yes your coordinates are visible to these people. If you have specified to hide the exact location your coordinates are not visible until you reveal them to any users that requests you to meet.
Q - Why my position/messages are updated each 10 minutes?
A - To avoid overloading my server. If you want, you can use the menu "tools" to update your position/messages at once.
Q - How do I delete my messages?
A - You don't. They are automatically deleted one hour after they are sent.
Q - How long does the registration last?
A - One hour. If someone updates it's position, it is visible within 1 hour of the update.
Q - I want to reveal my exact position to someone around me.
A - Send them an invitation to meet. Note that you won't know their exact position unless they accept the invitation to meet.
Q - We have agreed to meet. Now what?
A - The one that originally send the invitation should use "Go to <Name>" to locate both points in the map. Then they should go to their destination. The one that received the invitation should stay in place.
Alternatively, they can exchange messages to agree on a meeting point.
Q - My phone alarms and vibrates.
A - That means that there are people around and they are really close (<10m)
Q - What can be done if I or the remote person is constantly moving?
A - You are aware of their bearing and speed as soon as they accept the invitation to meet (so their coordinates are known to you), so plan accordingly.
Q - I am moving, will PA still wait 10 minutes before updating my position?
A - If you are moving slowly, PA will update your position if you get more than 30m away from your previous location. If you are moving rapidly, PA will update your position once per minute. However you should avoid moving fast when you are about to meet someone.
Q - What can I do if the altitude is important, e.g. I am at a mountain?
A - Use menu settings -> Use Altitude 3D. That way, calculations will be done while taking the altitude into account.
Q - Can I alter the detection range?
A - Not currently, but that's a future plan.
Q - What's the "enhanced version" ? Is it a paid version of PA?
A - No. It's for android 2.0 or later with bluetooth and camera, but it is also free.
Q - If it is free, why you have the "standard" version on the market?
A - Because I want people with android 1.6 or older to also use PA.
Q - How do I switch versions?
A - Use the menu Tools -> Change Version.
Q - How do I use the camera?
A - You use the camera to take a shot that will be uploaded to ImageShack , a free image hosting service that is used by PA to store the photo and keep the URL in your profile for others to see it.
Q - How do I use bluetooth?
A - There are 2 usages:
Q - Why do you use ads?
A - To help me keep the server that hosts the requests running.
Q - Is there a non-ad version?
A - Not yet.
Q - How do I donate?
A - Here.