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Forager uses the phone’s barometer to notice when a tech goes up or down a floor. To turn that into an actual floor (“you’re on Floor 3”), the app needs two things from you: a floor number on every floor, and a few floor settings on each building. Until these are set, the app can only say how many floors a tech has moved, not which floor they’re on.
This setup is done once per building, in the Android app. It takes about a minute for a typical building.

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Set a floor number

  1. Open Locations and select the building.
  2. On the Floors list, tap ⋮ next to a floor and choose Floor number.
  3. Enter the floor’s number and tap Save.
Number floors the way people in the building talk about them:
Each floor must be exactly one more than the floor beneath it. The app counts floors by these numbers, so a gap (for example 1, 2, 4) makes it report the wrong floor after a tech uses the stairs or elevator.
To remove a floor number, open the same dialog, clear the field and tap Save.

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Set building floor settings

  1. Open Locations.
  2. Tap ⋮ next to the building and choose Floor settings.
  3. Fill in the two fields and tap Save.
Typical floor-to-floor heights:
Getting the height right matters most for elevator rides that skip several floors at once. If techs report the app landing a floor off after long elevator rides, the height is usually the cause.
Leave Entry floor number blank if the building has entrances on more than one floor (for example a hillside building, or a parking-garage bridge onto Floor 3). A wrong entry floor is worse than none.

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How the app works out the floor

Once floors are numbered, the app combines several clues. Stronger clues win over weaker ones: Every confirmation is also saved as training data to improve floor accuracy over time.

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Limitations

  • The phone needs a barometer. Most flagship Android phones and all iPhones have one. Many budget phones don’t; those phones fall back to room matching alone for floors.
  • Tracking pauses when the app isn’t on screen. Many phones stop sending barometer readings when the screen is off. When the tech comes back, the app treats the floor as unconfirmed until the next confirmation.
  • Weather doesn’t throw it off. Air pressure drifts with the weather by several floors’ worth over a day; the app ignores slow drift and only counts quick changes, like stairs and elevators.