Getting started

Installing

KoaLocator is on the Apple App Store, free, for iPhone.

Creating an account

Tap Register on the login screen. You need a username, your email address and a password. Your email is used for password recovery, so use one you can get to.

Logging in

Enter your username and password. The app remembers you, so you normally won't log in again unless you log out.

Unlocking with Face ID (optional)

Settings → Security → Unlock with Face ID.

Off by default. When on, the app asks for a face or fingerprint scan on launch. It works offline. If the scan is cancelled or fails, you simply get the normal password screen — you're never locked out.

Recording a rescue, sighting or death

The main screen is the record form.

Event type

Three buttons, colour-coded throughout the app:

• - Rescue (amber) — you picked the animal up

• - Sighting (green) — you saw it, it was fine

• - Deceased (grey) — the animal was found dead

Species (Carer/Shelter)

Defaults to Koala. Tap to choose from around 3,500 Australian species from the BioNet list — Koala, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Bare-nosed Wombat and Swamp Wallaby are at the top of the wheel, and there's a search box.
Standard accounts don't see this and every record is a koala.

Record Description

A free-text name for the record — "Joey by the creek", "Roadside near the bridge". This is not the address; it's how you'll recognise the record in a list later.

Location

There are three ways to record the location, and you can mix them:

1. - The arrow button captures your current GPS position

2. - Type an address and tap the magnifying glass to look up its coordinates

3. - Type coordinates and tap the magnifying glass to look up the address

Whichever you use, the app fills in the other. If you leave the description blank, the record will show its address instead.

Injuries and comments

Free text. Anything that will matter later — visible injuries, behaviour, who else attended, where the animal was taken.

Photos, video and audio

• Add Photo — camera or photo library, several per record

• Video and Audio — one each per record

Photos are encrypted on your phone. Audio and video are protected by the iPhone's own file protection.

Note: if you delete and reinstall the app, photos taken on that phone and not yet uploaded cannot be recovered — the encryption key lives in the device's Keychain and is removed with the app. Records that have synced are safe on the server.

Saving

Tap Save in the section header. A thank-you appears showing how many records of that species you've now logged. If you tap Save on a completely empty form, the app checks that you meant it.

Working offline

The app is built to work with no signal. This is the normal case, not an error. Records save to your phone immediately and are marked pending. When your phone next has a connection, they upload on their own — you don't have to do anything.
Photos, video and audio go with them.
If an upload fails, the app retries. You can also force a sync from the menu.
A small spinner in the header means a sync is running in the background. It never blocks you — you can keep recording while it works.

Finding your records

Open the menu (top right).

List Records

Every record, newest first. Each row shows the event type, the location or description, the date and time, and any koala match. Tap a record to open and edit it.

World Map

All your records as pins on a map. Tap a pin for a summary; open it from there to edit. Includes a heat map view showing where activity concentrates.

Export

Produces a ZIP containing a CSV of your records plus all photos, video and audio. Progress is shown while it builds — larger exports take a moment because media is downloaded.

KoaID — identifying individual koalas

Available to Carer/Shelter accounts and administrators.
Every koala has a unique pattern on its nose, like a fingerprint. KoaID photographs that pattern and compares it against every koala registered in the system.

Identify Koala

1. Open Identify Koala from the menu

2. Hold the phone so the koala's nose fills the oval

3. Tap the oval to arm auto-capture, then hold steady — it takes the photo when the framing is sharp enough. The shutter button always works if you'd rather take it yourself.

4. Adjust the crop circle if needed, then submit

You can also pick an existing photo with Choose from Library.

Reading the result:

• A confident match names the koala and shows its registered nose prints so you can check with your own eyes

• No confident match shows the closest candidates with scores. Scroll the wheel to find the right koala if the top guess is wrong, then confirm — that both tags the record and improves future matching

• Seen before lists other records of that koala. You see full detail for your own records; for other carers' records you see the suburb only.

'Identifying' needs an Internet connection, because the comparison happens on the server.

Register Koala

Enrols a new koala. Capture several nose prints of the same animal from slightly different angles — more prints means better recognition later. Registration works offline and uploads when you're back in range.

After saving a record

If you attach a photo of a koala's face to a record, the app quietly checks it against registered koalas. If it recognises the animal, a card appears a few seconds after saving telling you where that koala has been recorded before.

Triage — clinical records

Carer/Shelter accounts only. Available on a saved record.

Open a record and tap Triage.

• Admission — sex, age class, admission date, reason, finder's contact

• Measurements — weight in kilograms, head and body length in centimetres, body condition

• Injuries — tap a body region on the koala diagram to select it, then set injury type and severity. Regions are colour-coded by severity. Other species get a list of body regions instead of the diagram.

• Clinical notes, Veterinary, Medications — free text

• Documents & imaging — attach x-rays, scans or pathology PDFs and images

Exporting a triage record

The share button offers:

• PDF — a formatted clinical record including the body map, photos, a location map and the koala's registered nose prints. Suitable for a vet or a regulator

• CSV — the same data as a single row, without images

Both work offline; the map and nose prints are simply left out.

Settings

• Account — change details, delete your account

• Appearance — Light, Dark or match the system

• Security — Face ID / Touch ID unlock

• Carer / Shelter — show or hide the clinical tools (carer accounts)

• Experimental — opt in to features still being tested (carer accounts)

• Koala Ear Tags — alerts for nearby tagged koalas (see below)

Access levels

Standard — record rescues, sightings and deaths; map; list; export. Every record is a koala.

Carer / Shelter — everything above, plus triage, multi-species and KoaID.

To request Carer/Shelter access, go to Settings and use *Request Carer / Shelter access*. Tell us your shelter and your role. You'll be notified when it's approved, and you'll need to log out and back in for it to take effect.

Administrator — shelter-wide heat map, system dashboard, koala management and access-request approvals.

Koala ear tags (experimental)

Some koalas in research programs wear Bluetooth ear tags. KoaLocator can watch for them and alert you when a tagged koala is nearby, even with the screen locked.

This is experimental and may never detect anything. The tag identifier was worked out from a research app rather than confirmed against a real tag, and a detected tag shows a number, not a verified koala identity. It needs Bluetooth, notifications and "Always" location access. Detection range is roughly 30–70 m.

Carers can switch it on in Settings → Experimental.

Privacy

Your records are yours. Other users cannot see your record detail.

When KoaID tells another carer that a koala has been recorded before, they see the suburb only — never your exact location — unless the record is theirs.

Clinical and triage information is never shared between users.

Photos are encrypted on your device, and all communication with the server is encrypted.

You can delete your account from Settings → Account.

If something goes wrong

"Could not reach the server" — usually signal, sometimes the server. Your records are safe on your phone and will upload when the connection returns.

Nothing is lost.

A record shows coordinates instead of an address — the address lookup hasn't run yet. It resolves on the next sync with a connection.

A photo doesn't appear — if the record hasn't synced yet, the photo is still on your phone. Force a sync from the menu.

Identify says it needs a connection — nose-print matching compares against the whole database, which lives on the server. Registration works offline; identification doesn't.

You can't see triage or species options — those need a Carer/Shelter account. Request access in Settings.

Getting help

— koalocator@gmail.com

The Wildlings Woodend Wildlife Shelter

www.thewildlingswoodendwildlifeshelter.com.au