Locker Heartbeat

Created: Modified: Documentation

This feature prioritizes check out for devices that continuously report healthy Locker app function. This reduces checkout failures, often characterized as ‘Device did not unlock’. There are several scenarios that can lead to a missing heartbeat such as loss of device network connectivity, the screen being manually locked by repeated presses of the power button, Locker app removed, Locker app crashing, and device OS related issues.

To improve the checkout experience, the Locker app (iOS and Android) sends a periodic heartbeat to the GroundControl server, informing GroundControl of the device’s eligibility for check out.

  • The GroundControl server monitors and displays a heart icon in the Device Checkout Status field for any device without a recent heartbeat.
  • The GroundControl server will always prioritize a device with a recent heartbeat over a device without.
  • When a device has not sent a heartbeat within a certain interval, the server assumes that the device is not ready for check out.
  • The GroundControl server will still attempt to checkout a device with no heartbeat if there are no devices with recent heartbeat checked in.
  • Admins can attempt a re-checkin, reboot (iOS), or re-provision (iOS) to address issues, although the resolution may vary depending on the cause, and may require manual intervention outside of GroundControl.
When Devices Have No Heartbeat

Devices can return a status of “no heartbeat” when they are checked in, but network connectivity to the device is disabled.

Determining the Device Heartbeat Status

You can determine the heartbeat status of a device by one of several methods using the GroundControl console:

  • From the Launchpad details page. The Device Checkout Status column displays that the device is checked in, but has detected no recent heartbeat activity.
  • From the Device details dialog.

Admins can deploy Workflows in bulk to devices that have a status of “device has no heartbeat“, in an attempt to remediate them. For more information, see Deploy Workflows in Bulk to Devices That Have No Heartbeat.