AutoMate support

Need help with AutoMate, previously Avara? Contact geopolyapp@gmail.com. Include your app version, device model and the steps leading to the issue. Do not send passwords, provider secrets or a full personal backup unless support has arranged an appropriate secure process.

Set up your first shift or bill

The welcome flow lets you choose either task. Add a real entry to see your preparation times or the bills your accounts need to cover. Help in the app contains short task guides, and you can explore without an account.

Your Today page

Today shows your next shift’s date, duty name, start/finish hours and preparation times. A finish on another date is labelled; missing finish times are not guessed. Wake-up and leave-by times are planning information—check Automatic Shift Alarms separately to see whether an alarm is enabled and confirmed.

From your bank shows unpaid bank bills before your next payday, with a separate credit-card amount for the same period. Tap the card to open Money and inspect the included bills. More about your week opens sleep planning, payday and additional weekly details. Shared days off count only dates explicitly marked Day off in each rota.

View someone else’s shifts

Add a person in Settings, then select that person above the shift calendar. You can add their shifts, import a file/QR code, or open an AutoMate rota link and confirm Add. Link imports create a separate person without overwriting your own rota. These are saved schedules, not automatic access to another person’s private cloud account. Updates shared by another person still need to be imported.

Choose Shifts → Share my rota by link, sign in, name the rota and choose whether to include route/duty titles. Create the link, then use the system share sheet. Recipients can preview it without an account. After installing AutoMate, they must return to that original link and tap Open in AutoMate, then Add. Installation alone does not import a rota automatically.

Each link is a snapshot of eligible shifts, valid for 30 days. Bills, money, addresses, notes and absence entries are excluded. Anyone holding the link can view it. Stop sharing in the app to disable future access; this cannot erase copies already imported by recipients. Send a new snapshot when your shifts change. Weekly image cards remain available without an account.

Restore on another device

When account sync is enabled in your build, open Settings → Account & sync and sign in with the same provider and account used on your first device. Wait for a successful sync on the first device before restoring elsewhere. Apple Hide My Email and a Google login can be separate accounts. Account linking is not currently available.

Open AutoMate after reconnecting to send offline changes. Check the last-success time in Account & sync. If both devices changed the same record, compare both copies and choose which to keep.

A manual backup is another recovery option: export the passphrase-protected file, keep the passphrase safe, then import it on the destination device. Restoring replaces the local planning copy. If signed in, restored planning data can sync to that account.

Missing shifts after signing in

Update to AutoMate 1.2.0 build 57 or later when available. This build protects shifts against incomplete sync copies. Keep the app installed and check that the correct person is selected above the calendar.

If shifts are still missing, Settings → Account & sync → Recover missing shifts can check saved history for entries that are absent, without replacing current entries or intentionally deleted shifts. Recovery depends on a saved copy existing. If you already re-entered the shifts, do not run recovery without checking with support: the older entries may have different identifiers and appear as duplicates. Export a manual backup first. After a successful recovery, tap Sync now.

Enable automatic alarms

Add a shift and check its preparation times. Enable the alarms you want, allow the system permission, and wait for confirmation of the next scheduled alarm. Automatic alarms require iOS/iPadOS 26 or later. Set permissions separately on each device where you want them.

The seven-day preview starts with the first successfully scheduled alarm. The app displays when it ends. Alarms beyond the preview require Premium. A preview is not an automatic subscription purchase. If an alarm is important, check that it is confirmed on the device you will carry.

Bills and payday estimates

Enter the bill’s amount, due date and repeat pattern, then set your payday and pay frequency. Mark actual payments as paid. AutoMate uses your entries to calculate estimates; it does not observe your bank account or pay bills for you.

Understand the Money page

Choose Paid From on each bill and assign its bank account or credit card. Bank cards show the full recorded bill charges still due before your next payday, including overdue unpaid bills. Credit cards show the selected month’s bill charges (including bills marked paid) and the amount still due before payday. Tap any account to see the included bills. Without a payday, the overview clearly uses the next 30 days.

These are bill totals, not live balances or card statements. Shared-bill reimbursements are not deducted from the debit amount. Enter any credit-card repayment separately as a bill paid from your bank. Savings, debt planning, trends and payment-account management remain in Money → More.

Restore Premium

From version 1.2.0, Premium costs £3.99 once in the UK and removes ads and unlocks automatic shift alarms. The app shows your local App Store price before purchase. There is no new subscription. Choose Restore Purchases with the Apple Account that originally bought Premium; your optional Apple/Google cloud sign-in is separate.

Previous customers with a verified, non-refunded paid monthly or yearly transaction receive permanent Premium at no extra cost, including after expiry. A free trial alone does not qualify. You can cancel an old subscription’s remaining renewal through Apple’s subscription settings and keep this permanent unlock. For App Store refunds, use Apple’s Report a Problem service.

Redeem an Apple Premium offer

From build 57, Settings → Redeem an Apple offer code opens Apple’s redemption screen. An official free offer for Premium gives the same permanent ad-free access and automatic alarms as the one-time purchase. Redemption uses your App Store Apple Account. Use Restore Purchases on another device with that same purchasing account.

Developer-issued codes from older builds no longer unlock Premium. Contact support if you previously received one so we can arrange an official Apple offer when the product is approved. A code’s redemption deadline does not make the redeemed lifetime purchase expire.

Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets

Look for AutoMate in the widget picker. Widgets include Next Shift, Next Bill, Bill Payments and Payday. Bill Payments uses the same bank and card calculations as Money; it does not infer your actual bank balance or whether you have enough saved. If it asks you to refresh, open AutoMate to load the latest planning period. Existing installed widgets retain their identifiers when the app updates.

Widgets read a local snapshot. Open AutoMate after editing a plan on another device so sync and the local widget snapshot can update.

Delete your data

Account & sync → Delete cloud account removes the hosted account and saved plan. It leaves downloaded device copies and exported files in place. Remove all data from this device clears the local planning copy and signs out. Neither action cancels an Apple subscription.