Tracking links
Share a vehicle's live position with someone who has no Yipii login — who can open it, when it stops working, and what a viewer can and cannot see.
A tracking link is a URL that shows one asset's live position to someone with no Yipii account. They open it and see a map. No login, no app.
You decide three things per link: what it shows, who can open it, and when it stops working.
The Sharing screen
- Sub-tabs — everything to do with sharing lives behind this rail, not on separate pages. Routes for recurring runs, Geofences for arrival zones, Logs for who opened what, Viewers for the emails you have collected, Forms and API for automation.
- Create Link — the main action.
- Search links — matches the internal name, so name links in a way you can search for.
- All Status — active, expired, disabled. New links default out of view here once they expire, which is why a list can look emptier than the counts above it.
The four cards below the header count Total, Active, Disabled and Expired links. Only Active counts against your allowance.
Create a link
Open Sharing from the main menu and click Create Link.
The dialog opens on Basics, and the tab rail (1) holds everything else. Access carries both the access mode and the expiry; Schedule is the hours the link works during; Display is what the viewer sees; Stops is for route links. A link created without touching them uses your sharing defaults.
Type a Title (2). Viewers never see this — it exists so you can find the link again in a list of forty, and it is what the search box on the Sharing screen matches. Bakery run 2026-08-03 beats Link 12.
Choose the Target (3): a single Asset, an asset Group, or a Route. Then pick the specific one from the list underneath. Title and Target are the only required fields.
Set the access mode and the expiry, both on the Access tab. Both are covered below.
Create Link (4), then copy the URL. It is short enough to put in an SMS or turn into a QR code.
What happens next
The link works immediately. Every time someone opens it, the visit is recorded under Logs with the time and, depending on the access mode, the email they gave.
Who can open it
| Mode | The viewer must | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Public | Nothing — open the link | Delivery tracking, QR codes on paperwork, anything you would put on a website |
| Email Only | Type an email address, which is logged | Sharing where you want a record of who looked |
| Email + Code | Type an email, then a 6-digit code sent to it | Proving the viewer controls that address. High-value or sensitive loads |
| Authorized Only | Be on a list of approved addresses you maintain | Contractual limits on who may see a vehicle |
Email Only does not verify anything. Anyone can type any address. If it matters that the person is who they say they are, use Email + Code.
When it stops working
An expired link shows a closing message instead of a map. It never silently keeps broadcasting.
| Expiry | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Never | Works until you disable or delete it |
| Fixed date and time | Stops at that moment |
| Hours after creation | Counts from when you made it, whether or not anyone opened it |
| Hours after first access | The clock starts when the first viewer opens it. Send it early, and it stays valid |
| On arrival | Stops when the vehicle reaches the destination |
Hours after first access is the one most people want and least often find. Send a link with the morning's dispatch and it is still valid when the customer finally checks it at 15:00.
On arrival
Set a destination on the map plus a radius (50 m to 5,000 m; 100 m by default) and a dwell time (0 to 60 minutes; 5 by default). The link expires once the vehicle has been inside the radius for the dwell period.
The dwell time is what stops a link dying because the van drove past the address on the way to somewhere else. Set the radius to match the place, not the vehicle: 100 m is right for a house, too tight for a depot with a long approach.
Arrival expiry is configured on the link itself. It does not need a geofence — geofences are for alerts and reports.
Restricting the hours
Expiry ends a link. A schedule controls when it works while it is still alive.
Turn on scheduling and set windows of days plus a start and end time. Outside those windows the viewer sees a "not available" message rather than a map.
This is what keeps a school bus link from showing where the driver parks overnight. Set 07:00–09:00 and 14:00–16:00, Monday to Friday, and the vehicle is invisible the rest of the time.
Routes, for recurring runs
A route solves the school-run problem: the same journey every day, a different vehicle depending on who is available.
Point a link at a route rather than an asset, and it shows whichever vehicle is assigned to that route today. Parents bookmark one URL for the year instead of getting a new link every morning.
Routes are built on the Routes sub-tab, with stops and a timetable.
What a viewer sees
The live position, and nothing else. Yipii strips the tracker IMEI, your account details and every internal identifier before the position is broadcast — a viewer cannot work out what hardware you run or what else is on your fleet.
Positions update live over a websocket. If that connection cannot be made, the map falls back to periodic refreshes rather than freezing.
Allowance and billing
Every account gets 3 free active links. Expired and disabled links do not count, so a link that ends on arrival frees its slot automatically.
A sharing add-on raises the cap; the header on the Sharing screen shows the arithmetic — for example 3 free + 100 from your add-on.
Above 3 active links, billing switches to every unique asset you are sharing, not the links beyond the third. Four links covering 10 assets bills 10 assets. Per-asset pricing is tiered, so the rate falls as the count rises — the current rates are on your billing settings.
Defaults
Settings → Sharing sets what a new link starts with — a default expiry of 1h, 2h, 8h, 24h, Until Arrival or No Expiry. Worth setting if you create links daily; it removes a decision from every one of them.
If it doesn't work
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Create Link returns an error about upgrading | You are at your active-link cap | Disable an unused link, or add the sharing add-on. Expired links are already free |
| The link shows "not available right now" | A schedule window is in force and this is outside it | Check the schedule on the link. Remember it uses your account's timezone |
| The link expired far too early | Expiry was set as hours after creation, not after first access | Recreate it as hours after first access |
| An arrival link never expires | The vehicle passes through the radius faster than the dwell time | Lower the dwell time, or widen the radius |
| An arrival link expired mid-journey | The route passes near the destination on the way | Tighten the radius, or raise the dwell time |
| The viewer sees a map but the vehicle never moves | The asset is not reporting | Check the asset on the map and its tracker |
| The code email never arrives | It has been filtered | Ask the viewer to check spam. For a repeat viewer, use Authorized Only instead |
| A viewer says "access denied" on an Authorized Only link | Their address is not on the list, or differs by a character | Add the exact address under the link's authorised emails |
| Deleting a link did not free a slot | Only active links count, and the count is of active links | Re-check the Active card; expired links never counted |
| Create Link does nothing | Title and Target are both required, and Target needs the specific asset picked below the choice | Fill both on Basics |
| You cannot find the expiry setting | It is on Access alongside the access mode, not on Schedule | Schedule is the working-hours windows, which is a different thing |
Related
- Geofences — for alerts and reports; not needed for arrival expiry.
- Trackers — a link is only as live as the device behind it.
- Billing — where the sharing add-on and the current rates are.
- Field service — tracking links used in a real workflow.
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