Quick Start Guide
Everything you need to install the app, create your account, invite guardians, and start your first trip.
To install the app on your Android device, you first need to contact us and provide us your Google account's email. We'll give your account access to the app. Since this is currently a manual process, we'll get back in touch as soon as possible to let you know it's done.
You can contact us by filling the form below, or any other means by which you got to know us:
After we give you access, we'll send you a link to the Play Store listing of the app. Click it and you can install the app like any other app.
Create your account
Begin by creating an account. Open the app and tap the "Sign up" text, fill out the required fields and tap Sign up. Feel free to add the optional fields later — we use them to show a more complete profile to guardians.
Invite guardians
Now that you have a Vanu driver account, you may want to invite guardians to use the web app and subscribe to you. Once a guardian is registered and subscribed, you can add them to your own trips, so they can start making use of the app's benefits.
Go to Settings on the bottom bar and select "Manage guardians". Once there, tap the + button at the bottom right.
From here you can invite them in two ways:
Enter their email and tap "Send invitation". This will send them an email and guide them through the registration process.
A bit further down, you can "Share link". This will generate a link that you can send to the guardian you want to invite — when they click it, they will be guided through the registration process. The links are currently one-time use only.
Unregistered guardians
If a guardian refuses to use the app, you can add them as an "Unregistered guardian". This will serve you as a way to store this person's contact information and allows you to add them to your trips, even though they won't receive any of the alerts. Tap the + button just like when trying to invite a guardian regularly, but now scroll past both of the previous options and select to add a guardian manually. Here you can add the information you need for this guardian, including their address.
Manage schools
Now in Settings, go to "Manage schools". By tapping the + button at the bottom right, you can search and select the schools you work with. This will mainly allow you to add them quickly to your trips. If the school you work with is not listed, let us know so we can add it.
Feel free to skip this step as it is not fundamental for the app to work.
Creating a trip is the next natural step. Trips are where you list the guardians and plan the route. A guardian needs to be included on the trip in order to receive alerts and be able to see your location. Go to Home from the bottom bar and tap the + button at the bottom right. We'll ask you for location permissions so we can accurately show you the map.
Name your trip
Select a name for the trip. This name will be seen by the guardians you later include. We recommend something simple such as "Morning go to school".
Select trip type
Select if this is a pickup or dropoff trip. While this will generally be inconsequential, some guardians might need different addresses — for instance, if they need you to pick their kid up at their home, but drop them off at the grandparents' home. This is the way Vanu knows which address to use in those cases.
Add route stops
Time to select route stops. Here you list the stops you need to make along the way — you can add one by tapping the green + button. Guardians added here will be able to interact with this trip, will receive alerts when the trip starts and when you are approaching their stop.
Organize your route
If you want to make use of the app's routing, you can reorder stops manually by dragging them from the three horizontal lines. You can also make use of the "Optimize route" function, which reorders the stops to an optimal order while ensuring that the last stop remains last. You can also "lock" stops to ensure they don't change position during optimization.
Schedule your trip
Select a date and time for when the trip will take place. Indicate if this trip will be recurrent, in which case you'll need to select which days it repeats. You can also add an end date on which the trip will stop repeating.
Create the trip
Finally, tap "Create Trip". You'll be able to see the trips on the home screen on the day they take place, or in the calendar at any time.
Start a trip
Now that you've got your trips set up, all you need to do is — before setting out on your trip — tap the corresponding trip card on the app (it should appear on the Home screen on the right day). You will see a trip preview; scroll all the way down and tap "Start Trip". This will start sharing your location with the guardians on this trip and will automatically send them all corresponding alerts. This keeps working in the background, so you don't need to stay on this screen or in the app.
Finish the trip
Once you are done with the trip, go back to the trip on your app and tap "Finalize Trip" to stop sharing your location.
That's all you need to make the app work! We suggest you explore the rest of the app's functions at your own pace. There is a more comprehensive guide available here:
Driver App Guide