ICE stands for "in case of emergency," and it's what many have been taught to look for if someone needs medical attention.

Where is your ICE info? One of the easiest and most convenient places to keep emergency information is on your smartphone, but only if you know the right way to do it so that someone can see it without having to unlock your phone.  This is used by first responders when attending an emergency situation, and its useful for them to know of any medical conditions (eg. diabetic), your blood type and any medication you may be currently on.  That allows them to triage a lot more effectively.

Depending on which phone you have and which version of Android you're running, you might have an emergency contact feature in your phone's setting. Check there first. It might be under a sub-menu such as My Information.  The other option is to check your Profile listed under "Contacts".  You can edit this and update with relevant information. 

Once updated, anyone should be able to access your medical information from a locked screen accessing it in the same way as you would the ICE Contacts as was blogged last week.  The page looks a little like this:

If you can't find an emergency contact field within the settings, there are apps for adding ICE info, but you'll need one that has a widget accessible from the lock screen.  One possible app found in Google Play Store is called ICE - in case of emergencyand can be found on this link -  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.clusor.ice&hl=en

Obviously this is not necessarily work related information, but it could a useful tip should you find yourself as a first responder, or you yourself are the one in the emergency situation.  Trust this is useful to you.

Have a great day, from Team iSG

You may or may not know that there is the ability to still be able to make calls when a phone is LOCKED.  Primarily its use on all devices is to contact the Emergency 111 Line.  This is done on a locked screen by swiping on the phone icon, and the PIN screen is then provided with the option for EMERGENCY CALL.

When selecting Emergency Call, the number pad appears and 111 can then be dialled in an emergency.

However, you can also select ICE (In Case of Emergency) contacts.  This is particularly useful in two cases:

1. The mobile user has a emergency type situation and those assisting them at the time need to get a hold of a next of kin (or their emergency contact) to alert them of the scenario; or
2. The mobile has been lost, and the 'finder' is able to use the ICE contacts to find out who the owner is to get the phone back to them.

If no ICE contacts exists, the following message will appear:

The owner of phone will need to add them in by following the instructions:

1. log into phone
2. go to Contacts app
3. select More options (or select the 3 dots on top corner of screen)
4. select Groups
5. select "ICE - emergency contacts" and add your preferred contacts for this

Once back on locked screen, select phone, emergency call, and select the + on screen to see the list of contacts added to your ICE group. You can then add your desired one and they will appear on screen for you to call on this locked screen.  Usually this is a one time setup, unless you wish to add other contacts to ICE group at a future date.  In that case, simply follow the instructions above again to add any further contacts.

Trust this is a helpful tip for you.

Have a great day from Team ISG

Today we are going to do a reminder about Roaming on your TSA Mobile by default all of our mobiles are set up with roaming by default. Which does not cost us any more while your in New Zealand.

All of our Mobiles are eligiible for the Vodafone $5 roaming in the countries its available

Roam like you’re at home for just $5 a day

Benefits

•  Operate your business overseas as you do in NZ
•  Peace of mind - low daily rate of $5, per device
•  Hassle free - buy more data when you need it
•  So easy - no set up required

To check roaming costs for countries not covered by $5 Roaming we suggest signing up and logging into your My Vodafone App on your mobile

Maritime Roaming - Please take note of this if you use crusie ships

To continue from the tips we offered the other week about setting up fingerprint security on a couple of different mobile handsets we are recommending at the moment, today we are going to look at setting up a mobile hotspot on the Nexus 5x handset (this means using your mobile phone as a WiFi hotspot whilst out of the office).

Most modern smart phones offer this function and both of the mobile phone plans you can get with TSA come with data. One of the plans is a smaller amount of data but would still be adequate to check your Notes email and calendar entries in a hurry if the need arose. 

Setting up a mobile hotspot on the Nexus 5x

1. Drag the notification panel down from the top of your screen and tap Settings
2. Tap More under Wireless & Networks then tap Tethering & portable hotspot.
3. The first time you use your hotspot, tap Set up Wi-Fi hotspot. Change the name of your hotspot (Network SSID) and security settings, if desired, create your own password and then tap Save.
4. Tap Portable Wi-Fi hotspot to turn your hotspot on.
5. Turn on the Wi-Fi feature on the device you want to connect. 
6. Scan for Wi-Fi networks from the device and select your phone's hotspot. If you didn't change the hotspot name in step 4, it appears as AndroidAP.
7. Enter the password to connect.

Give it a go! Set one up on your mobile phone. Its handy to have one configured for those times when you're out of the office and need internet in a hurry.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Sometimes you want to save text messages. Maybe because you're swapping phone, or because it is a text with some personal significance to you. Whatever the reason there are apps that make this possible. 

If you want to save your text messages to your Gmail, follow this article. 

To transfer text messages from one phone to another, use the app SMS Backup & Restore.  

If you have an Army provided phone you will be using iBall to process your monthly bill. In consultation with Divisions, National Programmes, and Executive, we've updated iBall to handle voicemail calls differently.

The standard Army mobile plan doesn't include calls to voicemail. These are charged separately at 20 cents each call. iBall has been updated to automatically process these as official costs. That means that your bill will auto-process IF there are no costs EXCEPT the voicemail charges. 

You are still able to review these costs in the details of your bill. 

There has been a change in the HIGH mobile plan. It is an increase in the amount of data that is included every month and it is worth noting. Here are the new details for the HIGH Plan:

These are the important things to know: 

Other charges

Important things to know

• Unlimited talk and TXT is for standard person-to-person calls and TXTs to standard NZ and Australian numbers (excludes premium and special numbers). As long as you're talking to another person, or using your fingers to TXT them, unlimited talk and TXT is for you! However, unlimited talk and TXT is not for you if you plan to do any of the following. Unlimited talk and TXT is not for multiple simultaneous calling, re-supply, call centre usage, telemarketing, bulk messaging, application-to-person communication, continuously call forwarding, auto-dialling, machine to machine communication (including by using your SIM card in any other device), Cellular Trunking Units (CTUs), or any other activity that Vodafone considers to be non standard usage
• Your calls will be charged per minute, rounded up to the closest full minute
• For $5 a day you can use you're plan minutes, TXT and data with Daily Roaming. Simplified rates apply to other destinations
• Group calling is only available between eligible mobiles under the same account
• If you use a Local Number on Mobile some services, such as fax and broadband cannot be added or transferred to this number
• Read the full terms and conditions
• On Account Terms and Conditions apply

Modern life means we change mobile phone from time to time. For some this is an exciting time as we've got a new device that does new things and promises to make like better. For others, it is less exciting and more stressful. New features, re-loading apps, things working differently, and losing text messages!

Text messages often have a long history and we don't always want to lose them. Well there is a way to back them up (which means you can keep them)! Of course you need to have done this before your phone is lost / stolen / broken, so don't necessarily leave this until you've got your new phone!

Learn more here: howtogeek.com/back-up-text-messages

We would encourage you to use Google Drive as the location for your backup.

We have been getting a number of enquiries around charges on mobile phone bills. Specifically, there are a lot of questions about 17 cent charges for voicemail. This is correct and ONLY applies to the standard mobile plan. On the standard mobile plan you will be charged 17 cents each time you call your voicemail. The high plan doesn't incur this charge.

Mobile phones can be really helpful devices. I use alarms to remind me of things I need to do at specific times. Apps to track my todo list or prompt me to do something at a specific location. It also keeps me in touch with my work team and my family.

They are really helpful devices, but could a new trick make it more helpful? Decide for yourself by checking out this article detailing 5 innovative apps that can make your phone more useful. Honestly I think 2 of them are worth looking at, but perhaps you will find others helpful in how you use your mobile phone to be smarter. 

Do you have to monitor your data usage to prevent using more than you get each month? Do you wonder what is using data and want to limit things? Well check out this article to see how to examine what data your apps are using and prevent them!

Having to employ a new staff member can be cumbersome and frustrating, particularly when it comes to all the paperwork that needs to be completed.  Aaargh!!  And then to top it all off there can be unexpected delays with ETA's for various items new staff need to get on with their tasks.

Most of the paperwork relates to HR documentation required by law, but from an ISG perspective, you may also need to know what forms need to be completed, approved and submitted for action.

Most office staff will need a computer, a user account and sometimes even a mobile phone.  ISG have always had the following ETA's for these:

• a computer can take up to 3 weeks to arrive from the date the request is first received at ISG;
• a mobile phone can take up to 3 days to arrive from the date the request is first received at ISG;
• a new user account can take approximately 3 business days from date the request is received, assuming there is an active employee ID for the user. New user account requests are worked on Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's.  

All these requests, can be pre-empted and a manager is welcome to log them before the employee arrives.

• Computers and mobile phones can be requested before a manager has even made the final call on who will be employed.  Machines are only configured for users after they start, but the hardware itself can be requested, submitted to Divisional or Nationally Managed Boards for approval and subsequent submission to ISG for action.  The sooner a request is received, the sooner iSG are able to provide the necessary equipment;
• New user accounts can also be requested before an active ID is provided. All this means is that ISG will check for the activation of the ID and regular notifications will be sent to the person who logged the original ticket and their line manager letting them know if no active ID is available.

ISG do not like to keep people waiting, but the more advance notice a manager can give us for new staff, the sooner we can get the required work done and sorted for them.

Thanks for helping us help you.

From time to time we hear about people struggling with battery life on their smartphone. It is a fairly common theme as batteries performance deteriorates over time. However often other factors influence how well your battery lasts. 

Screen time drains battery the fastest. So when you're not using your phone switch it off! 

Apps too have a big impact on battery life. Not just the ones you're running (e.g. using) either. Most apps will run in the background so notifications work among other things. However, not all apps drain the battery equally.

3 of the worse offenders for draining your battery in the background are also 3 very popular apps!

• Facebook
• Facebook Messenger
• Instagram

Want to learn more about what drains your battery and what steps you can take? See the CBS News article here. 

Chances are you're surrounded by several phones, your mobile, a desk phone, then various phones in meeting rooms, reception desks, etc. We also seem to have more and more people working almost exclusively from their mobile. How do we know? They're asking if they can have it work as an extension and get a local calling number associated with it.

The answer? Yes! You can have one phone to ring them all!

Our mobile plan means it is very cost effective (on either plan) to simply use your mobile as your primary phone. We can make it work as an extension (on our Avaya), and we can also provide a local calling number. All free of charge!

This means you could conceivably dispose of your desk phone and live with just your mobile without anyone having to pay anymore (in fact you will probably pay less)! If you are interested in learning more please log a ticket in the Supportal and we'll work through the details of having just one phone.

Do you need to ring Australia? If so then the most affordable way to do this is with your (Salvation Army account) mobile phone! Included in the 350 minutes are calls to standard NZ and Australian numbers. The same applies to the unlimited calling, you can ring standard Australian numbers.

This means that your desk phone may possibly be able to be retired. More about that in the next blog post ...

Recently there have been several incidents involving lost or stolen mobile phones. It happens and it is really disruptive. First, you're without communications, possibly your primary device. Second, there is the possibility of unauthorised usage and any associated charges!

So what should you do when you *think* your phone has been lost or stolen? Ring 0508 725 2769 (0508 SALARMY) immediately! You can then request a block be put on all out-going calls, text messages, and internet usage. 

This will prevent any unauthorised use, while leaving the phone able to be rung (so if it had slipped down the couch you can find it). It is also relatively easy for this block to be removed. Once you've coordinated the stop with Vodafonne, please log a ticket at support.sarmy.net.nz advising us. We will make contact to sort out options for replacing the handset and getting you working again. 

Today we're letting you know about some upcoming changes to iBall. This is the system for processing your mobile phone bill each month. If you don't have an Army issued mobile phone then you don't need to read on.

Notifications are going to be federated. This means instead of getting separate notifications, you'll get one with details of the bills that are ready for processing. Notifications will also be set to a regular time schedule (day of the week).

Additional information will be made available. Details like the handset you have, when it was upgraded, etc will be visible. We're also going to help you visualise the information by displaying the additional charges and personal expense totals. 

There are other tweaks and improvements being made so the system is simpler to use. Remember that you only need to process your bill each month if there are additional charges. When you stay within the plan (84% of us can according to our usage), then your bill is auto-processed for you (meaning you don't need to do anything but get told it has happened)! 

This blog post only applies if you have a mobile phone that is running on the official TSA plan. There are changes coming with the plans and part of our preparation is reviewing the fleet of handsets. This means that the oldest and most problematic handsets are going to be upgraded. This is happening without any cost to centre budgets and we hope to complete the process this month.

It is possible that you've used a personal Google account on your mobile so can't see your work information on your phone. If that is the case then don't panic, this post is for you! Your mobile allows you to have multiple Google accounts for accessing Drive. This means you can see both your work information (@salvationarmy.org.nz) and your personal information (@gmail.com if you use it). 

Start by going to the SETTINGS on your smartphone (the make and model smartphone you have will determine how you access settings - it isn't the same on every phone):

From here you will see a list of accounts that are already on your phone. This will include lots of different services including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Telegram, and anything else you use on your phone. Tap on add account:

Now you have to select the type of account you want to add and we're going to add a Google account so select Google:

Now enter your email address remembering that it is vital to use @salvationarmy.org.nz

From here we're going to leave you to follow the prompts. If you're having trouble with your password check out a recent blog post titled Google Drive which explains how to set your Google password. Otherwise you will now be able to view and interact with Google Drive from your mobile phone or tablet. This includes being able to share files!

Google Sheets is an app that is similar to Excel. It also has a mobile version (here) so you can install it on your phone. One of the great features about Google Sheets is that with it on your phone and using your @salvationarmy.org.nz account you can access your spreadsheets, anywhere! On a computer you just need a web browser and you get full functionality!

The mobile app (which does need to be installed from here), gives you edit access to your spreadsheets on the go. Using it with your @salvationarmy.org.nz account means it stays updated even if you're on your phone or your home computer!

So if you use spreedsheets regularly in your job consider using Google Sheets with your  @salvationarmy.org.nz account so you can keep all your relevant data in your pocket!