Robin for Android

The Robin Team

Published on

January 7, 2015

In our ongoing mission to improve workplace coordination, we’ve been hustling to make Robin possible for all members of your team, not just folks with iPhones. With the arrival of Lollipop (Android 5.0) this fall, it made sense to bring automatic room booking to Android too.

We're kicking off the new year by announcing the arrival of the Robin Android app and new modes for greater privacy control. Cheers!

Meet the Robin Android app

It's Robin on Android. Here's what that means.

Looking for your teammate for a quick brainstorm? Swipe open the right-side drawer from the home screen to see where coworkers are in the office.

Which spaces are available now for a quick phone call? Swipe open the left-side drawer to see a list of both available and occupied spaces.

Want to know when a space will be available next? Tap on a space to see details about who is currently there and for how long.

Incognito Mode

We heard you loud and clear; sometimes you want to hide from your team. The Android app introduces a new way of saying "Someone's here" without sharing who. You can still turn off presence entirely, but you now have a third option: Incognito mode. Switch modes by tapping your avatar on the home screen.

Normal shares which space you're currently in with other people on your team. This mode makes it easy to find free people and lets them know when you're in the middle of something.

‍Incognito reports that a person is in the space but it doesn’t show who specifically. This mode lets co-workers know the space is “In Use” while giving you privacy to get your work done.

‍Off disables presence reporting and makes you invisible to Robin. This mode offers the greatest level of privacy.

‍Note: These new privacy modes are currently available in the Android app only, but are coming very soon to iOS. Consider it a gift for making you wait.

What took so long?

We have a lot of Android users on the team. We actually started this project last summer, but put it on hold thanks to problems with Bluetooth in Android. The differences in signal strength (RSSI) and distance reporting among devices to name a few. Phones with a metal versus plastic bodies would report inconsistent and contradictory presence information, even when placed in the same location.

As great as spontaneous teleportation is, it took the release of Lollipop this past fall to get everyone in the same room... literally.We'd like to give a special shout out to Radius Networks and David Young for work on AltBeacon, whose awesome work with Bluetooth made this build possible.Y ou can get the Android app on the Play Store. Use it, love it, or break it. Then let us know what you think at support@robinpowered.com.