Getting started

Aufmasstool is a measurement app for the building trades and runs on iPhone, iPad, Android devices and in the browser. This chapter takes you from the first launch to the first building.

Nothing works without an account

The app can only be used with an account — on the free plan as well, even when you only measure by hand, and even without internet. When you open the app for the first time, you see the “Welcome” panel with two ways forward: “Create a new account” and “I already have an account”.

A fresh installation therefore needs a connection once for registering or signing in. After that the app carries on indefinitely without a connection on phone and tablet; in the browser this is different (see “In the browser”).

The switch for the language sits on the welcome panel and later at the top right of the start page: Deutsch, English, Polski, Español and Français, each under its own name.

At the bottom of the “Welcome” panel, the “Create an account — one time only” assistant, the “Now you need an account” panel and the “Set a new password” page you find “Imprint”, “Privacy policy” and “Terms of use”. They open the page in the browser, even without an account.

The invite code

Whether a new account needs an invite code is decided by the operator. The “Welcome” panel shows it under “Create a new account”:

• “We confirm your email address with a code.” — registration is open. Your own email address is enough; it is confirmed with a code from an email (see “Creating an account”). The field is then called “Invite code (optional)”.
• “You need an invite code for that.” — without a code no account is created.

An invite code is twelve characters long and is shown in three groups (ABCD-EFGH-JKMN). The app tidies up lower case, spaces and hyphens by itself as you type.

With open registration an invite code only brings membership of a team with it. If your own firm has given you one, enter it all the same: it cannot be handed in later — joining is then only possible through the cloud (chapter “Working together”). If you have no code, leave the field empty; a mistyped code is reported, not skipped.

With the code requirement, if you have no code, tap “I do not have an invite code”, enter your name, your email address and, if you wish, a sentence about yourself, and send it to the operator with “Send request”. After that the same sheet shows the button “Check the status” with the answer No answer yet., Declined. or Code received. A code you have received is already in the field under “Create a new account”. If registration has been opened in the meantime, the sheet shows “No code needed” instead.

Use the code straight away. It is handed over only once. If the app is closed before you register, it cannot be fetched again.

Creating an account

Registering and signing in share the form “Create account” with two tabs. The “Register” tab leads to the account in three steps, with open registration as well as with the code requirement; the line under the title counts along (“Step 1 of 3”).

1. Address. Only the field “Email”, then “Send code”. Depending on the setting, the device first solves a short calculation task in the background — a protection against accounts created in bulk. It runs on your own device and is checked by the app's server, with no outside service and no cookie. While it runs, “Checking …” is shown; on an older phone this can take a few seconds, and the form can be closed meanwhile.
2. Code. An email with the subject Your confirmation code for Aufmasstool and a six-digit code goes to the address. Enter it under “Code from the email” and tap “Check code”. The code is valid for 15 minutes; the sentence above the field names the time left. “Send a new code” becomes available after 60 seconds, until then the button counts down; after that only the newest code is valid. After five wrong entries a code is used up, and only a new one helps. “Use a different address” goes back to step 1. If the form is closed after the code has been sent, it carries on at the code entry the next time it is opened, even after the app has been restarted.
3. Account. The address is now fixed (“Confirmed address: …”); add “Your name” (optional), a “Password” of at least ten characters — a whole sentence is expressly welcome — and “Invite code (optional)”; with the code requirement the field is called “Invite code” and must be filled in. Only “Create account” creates the account, on the Free plan. If the code fails at that point, for example because it has expired in the meantime, the form goes back to the code entry by itself.

In both cases there is a tick box above the button that creates the account: you accept the terms of use, acknowledge the privacy policy and confirm that you are at least 18 years old. Both texts can be opened from there. The box is empty every time the form opens, and the account can only be created once it is ticked.

If the email address is already taken, the form switches to the “Sign in” tab.

While an account is being created or a sign-in is running, the form cannot be closed; the only exception is the calculation task in step 1. If the process is interrupted all the same, the app opens the form by itself at the next launch, with the card “We will carry on where you left off”. If the account has already been created, only the password is still missing; otherwise a second attempt is enough.

“Start again” and “Discard the process” give up the process on this device: an account that has already been created remains and can be reached through “Sign in”, and an invite code that has been used up does not become free again. An unfinished process expires by itself after 14 days.

Signing in

On the “Sign in” tab you enter your email address and your password. If a required confirmation of the email address is still outstanding, the form and the profile page offer “Send the email again”.

If the device is still tied to another account, the app points to “Detach the account from this device” on the profile page. If measurements from the previous account are still on the device after that, it asks before signing in: “Take them over” gives them to the new account, “Delete local data” removes them from this device after a second confirmation and signs in with a fresh app, “Cancel” leaves everything as it is.

If the account has used the cloud before, the app switches it back on after signing in — in the browser and on a device without measurements without asking, otherwise after the question “Activate cloud sync again?”. If the plan no longer covers the cloud, uploading is paused (chapter “Working together”).

Forgotten password

“Forgotten your password?” below the sign-in form opens “Reset password”. “Send link” requests the link for the address in the Email field, so it has to be entered first.

The link opens the page “Set a new password” in the browser — also on a computer without the app. Enter the new password twice there (at least ten characters), tap “Save password” and then sign in to the app with the new password. If the link has expired or has already been used, request a new one in the app.

If no email arrives, look in the spam folder first, then ask support (chapter “Troubleshooting”).

The account state

The profile page and Settings show one of three states:

“Now you need an account”

This panel appears after “Detach the account from this device” and after “Delete account” when the measurements stay on the device. It is not a dead end: “Create account”, “Sign in”, “Create backup” and “Export data” remain reachable, and while the code requirement applies so does “I do not have an invite code” — and no measurement is touched.

If you used the app before the sign-in requirement, you first see the “Create an account — one time only” assistant with the sentence “Your data stays.” For 30 days it can be dismissed until the next launch each time (“Later — carry on measuring now”); after that the panel appears.

“Agree once, then carry on”

If an existing account has no consent to the terms of use and privacy policy on record — for example an account the operator created — the app asks for it once after signing in. The panel offers the same tick box as when registering and “Agree”. Agreeing needs an internet connection; until then “Share backup”, “Sign out” and “Delete account” are available. Your measurements stay as they are.

The profile page

Everything to do with your own account is on the “Profile” page — reached through the person icon at the top right of the start page or the “Profile” card at the very top of Settings. There you will find:

• Name, email address, IDs, date created, plan and account state. “Edit” changes the name; for an account on the server it applies to the account, and changing it needs a connection. Other devices show the new name only after their next sign-in. Without a connection the old name stays, and the app says so.
• “Sign in” or “Sign out”. After signing out the measurements stay on the device; plan, team and cloud are available again only after the next sign-in.
• “Detach the account from this device” — when another account is to use the device. The measurements stay in full; the app then requires a sign-in.
• under “Sign-in and security” “Change password”, “Change email address” and two-factor sign-in (chapter “Settings”).
• the “Team” card with members, roles and invites (chapter “Working together”).
• under “Plan” the current plan and “View plans” (chapter “Plans”), and in the app also “Restore purchases”.
• “Export data” — all measurements as open files together with an overview. This works always: on every plan, without signing in and also on the panel “Now you need an account”.
• “Delete account” — final. The dialog asks whether the measurements stay on this device (“Yes” is preselected). Owners of a team with further members first choose a successor; as a safeguard you type DELETE.

“Sign out”, “Detach the account from this device” and “Delete account” only appear when an account on the server is linked. Signing out is not deleting: only “Delete account” removes the account on the server.

What “Delete account” tells you as well:

• A subscription from the App Store or Google Play does not end with the account. It keeps running and being billed until you cancel it in the store. The dialog says so for every plan except Free; on iPhone, iPad and Android, “Manage subscription” opens the store’s subscription management. In the browser you only see the note.
• With “No” to the local data, the app deletes the measurements on the device together with photos, videos and audio recordings, as well as the images and 3D room scans from camera measuring, the company details (letterhead, bank details, logo), the notices about changes in the team and any saved access to a WebDAV server. Anything you exported or shared before is not deleted. Appearance and language stay.
• The app’s backups stay on the device, including the one created immediately before the deletion. They contain the whole database except your sign-in, including the measurements with 3D room scans, quotations and invoices, your company details and the name and email address of the account; photos only as a preview image at most, videos and audio recordings only with their title and note.
• The app’s cache can also keep copies of files you exported, shared or imported, including a backup with photos, until the system clears it. All of this disappears from the device at the latest when you delete the app. A backup of the whole iPhone or iPad made earlier, for example in iCloud, can still contain the state from back then.
• In the browser the app creates no backup — so before deleting there with “No”, download a copy under “Backup”.
• Invoices and quotations stay stored as an extract without your name: for eight years from the end of the calendar year in which they were issued.

In the browser

• The data is kept in the browser’s storage. As soon as an account has been signed in on the computer once, the app stores buildings and measurements there, and after the page is reloaded they are back. In a private window nothing is kept; the start page then warns with “Not stored permanently”. Limits and ways out are in the chapter “Troubleshooting”.
• The sign-in survives a reload as a rule; in some private windows you have to sign in again afterwards.
• Before the first sign-in on a computer the app stores nothing yet; what was set until then, such as the language, is gone after a reload.

The first building

After signing in, the start page with the list “Buildings” is shown. “+ New building” opens the dialog of the same name; only the “Project name” is required, and “Create building” creates it. How things carry on is in the chapter “Projects and structure”.

This manual in the app

Settings › Help › “User manual” opens this manual in the browser in the language set in the app; that needs an internet connection. Settings open through the gear icon at the top right of the start page.