PressureWashingBossPro Blog — Crew App

iPhone or Android: Running the Pressure Washing Crew App on the Phones Your Washers Already Carry

Walk around any washing crew and you will find a mix of phones. A new iPhone, an Android a few years old, one with a cracked screen held together by its case. If a crew app only works well on one kind of phone, the owner ends up buying hardware or leaving someone out. The PressureWashingBossPro crew app runs in the browser, so it works on both iPhone and Android.

Whose Phone, Which Phone

Whether washers use their own phones or a phone that stays with the rig is covered in Shared Rig Phones or Personal Phones for the Pressure Washing Crew App. Either way, the next question is the same: will it run on this phone? For almost any phone that can open a modern website, the answer is yes.

Why a Browser App Works on Both

Store apps are built separately for iPhone and Android, and the two versions often differ. Features arrive on one before the other. Older phones get cut off when a new version requires a newer operating system.

A browser app is one app that runs the same way on both. The crew app opens in Safari on iPhone or Chrome on Android, and it can be added to the home screen so it opens from an icon like any other app. Every washer sees the same job list, the same job cards, the same Start, Skip and Complete, the same camera for photos, and the same time clock.

That matters in practice. When the owner on an iPhone trains a new washer on an Android, the screens look the same. Nobody has to say “on yours it is probably under a different menu.”

Setting It Up on iPhone

1. Open the crew app link in Safari.
2. Tap the Share button and choose Add to Home Screen.
3. Open the app from the new icon and sign in with the company login and personal PIN.
4. Allow location when asked, so crew GPS shows on the office map.
5. Allow camera access the first time the washer takes a photo.

If location was denied by accident, it can be turned back on in the phone's settings under privacy and location for Safari or the browser being used.

Setting It Up on Android

1. Open the crew app link in Chrome.
2. Open the browser menu and choose Add to Home screen or Install app.
3. Open the app from the new icon and sign in with the company login and personal PIN.
4. Allow location and camera when asked.

Android phones vary a lot between makers. If a menu item is named slightly differently, it is usually close by. Some Android phones are aggressive about saving battery and may limit apps running in the background. If GPS seems spotty, check the battery settings for the browser.

Older Phones

Most phones from the last several years run the crew app without trouble. Very old phones may have an outdated browser. Updating the phone's system software and the browser usually fixes that. If a phone cannot be updated at all, it is probably time to replace it, and an inexpensive current phone in a rugged case is often all a washing crew needs.

Battery matters more than age. An older phone with a tired battery will struggle through a long day of navigation, photos and GPS. A charger in every truck solves most of that.

Storage matters too. Before-and-after photos add up over a season, and a phone that is completely full can refuse to open the camera. Ask washers to clear out old videos before the busy months, especially on a rig phone that several people share.

Tablets and Other Devices

Because the app runs in the browser, it can also open on a tablet. Some owners like a tablet in the truck for a bigger view of the job card. For most washers, though, a phone is easier: it fits in a pocket, the camera is handy, and it is what they already carry. The office side of PressureWashingBossPro runs on a computer in the browser too, so the owner can build routes on a laptop and check the day from a phone.

One Thing Every Phone Needs

Whatever the phone, the crew app needs a data connection to load the route and record each tap. That is true on iPhone and Android alike. Planning around weak signal is covered next in Poor Signal on the Route: What the Pressure Washing Crew App Needs and How to Plan Around Dead Zones. For everything else on the crew's phone, see the PressureWashingBossPro crew app page.