Getting the best results from AutoKnock

AutoKnock works from two things: where your phone says you were, and what it heard. These habits help with both.

#Say the house number, then the outcome

As you reach each door, say its house number and then what happened: "742, not home." "750, gate locked." "758, not interested." Each house number you say starts a new door, and the outcome becomes a proposed knock:

• "no answer", "nobody home" → Not Home
• "gate locked", "dog", "no access", "couldn't knock" → Failed Knock
• "has solar", "already has panels" → Not Interested, with the note "already has solar"
• "renter", "rents" → Renter
• "not interested" → Not Interested
• "come back", "follow up", "call back" → Follow-up
• "interested", "wants a quote" → Lead
• "never knock", "no soliciting" → Never Knock

If you say a number with no outcome, you get the door but no proposed knock. If you've turned onto another street, say the street too: "310 Oak, not home."

Saying the number also helps the app place the door. It normally matches what you said to the last address the GPS logged. When you name a house number, the app can find that house nearby, but only when exactly one house matches. Anything it can't place waits for you in review (see Reviewing your AutoKnock day).

#Walk at a steady pace

The app logs your location every 20 seconds. If you pass several houses in that time, some won't get their own row, and saying the number fills the gap. If the day header shows a min without a fix tile, your phone couldn't log where you were for that many minutes.

#Keep the screen on

Keep SolarKnock open with the screen on. Android can pause a page that's in the background or has its screen off, and that stops the walk log and the recording together.

• The status line reads Screen stays on when the app is keeping your screen awake.
• If it reads Keep the screen on — it may sleep, lengthen your phone's screen timeout.
• After a gap you'll see a line such as Screen was off for 12 min — no audio was saved. Tap Start recording to record again.

Hold the phone, or carry it in a holder, so the screen stays on and nothing covers the microphone. A closed pocket muffles the conversation and makes it easy to turn the screen off by accident.

#Logging by hand is fine

You can still log a knock, create a lead, book an appointment, run an estimate or attach a bill photo the usual way while AutoKnock runs, from the Map or from the At this door card. Those records are saved right away.

The door then shows a marker such as by hand 2:14 PM in the Addresses panel. When the recording is processed, the app won't propose a second knock, lead or appointment for it. If the audio caught something extra, such as notes or the monthly bill, Quick Review offers to add it to your knock. Nothing changes until you approve it.

A note saved with the Note button on the At this door card goes out with the rest of that door when you submit.