Phone Compatibility with Carv

October 1, 2022

4 min read

iPhone

Carv is compatible with any iPhone that has a minimum of iOS 15 installed, though we recommend using the most up-to-date version of iOS.

Android

Carv requires a minimum of Android 8.0 to run, and your phone must support Bluetooth 4.2. It is also recommended that you use a phone which has a barometer in order for Carv to function most effectively. Some Android devices need to have Battery Whitelist or App locking enabled when using Carv. These include some Huawei, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Samsung and Xiaomi models.

Read more about specific Android devices we have tested here.

Other devices

Carv requires GPS service and a barometer is also strongly recommended. Other devices which have these features should also be able to run Carv, but we do not guarantee compatibility with any devices other than those specified explicitly.

Whichever device you are using, ensure that you give the app permission to use location and that Bluetooth is switched on while using Carv.

Android Compatibility Testing


We have now tested over 50 of the most popular Android devices to assess their compatibility with Carv.

When testing the following Android models, no problems were detected:

  • Google - Pixel 4a, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel XL
  • Huawei - P9, P30
  • LG - G7 ThinQ
  • Motorola - G6, G 5G Plus, G5
  • Nokia - 7.2, 8
  • One Plus - Nord, 6
  • Samsung - Galaxy Note S8, S8, Galaxy S9, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S6, Galaxy A10s, Galaxy A70, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy A21s
  • Sony - Xperia XZ Premium, Sony Xperia XZ2, Sony Xperia XZ
  • Xiaomi - Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi Note 8 Pro, MI A2 lite

If your model is not on this list or the lists below, it does not mean that it is not compatible. In testing, we have chosen a range of phones to try and give us a good indication of which variances work well and which have problems. If your phone is a previous generation of one of the phones listed above, we would not anticipate any issues using Carv with your phone.

To read more about Android data transmission please click here.

Battery Whitelist & App Locking

The following models require battery whitelist settings to be enabled and, where possible, app locking in order for Carv to function effectively:

  • Huawei P20 Pro - Battery Whitelist
  • OnePlus 5T - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Oppo A9 - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Oppo AX7 - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Oppo Find X2 Lite - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Oppo Reno Z - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Realme X2 Pro - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 10 - Battery Whitelist
  • Xiaomi Poco F1 - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Xiaomi Mi 9 - Battery Whitelist & App lock
  • Xiaomi Mi 8 - Battery Whitelist & App lock

For more information on Battery Whitelist and App Locking please see this support article.

Bluetooth issues

We transmit data from your Carv trackers to your phone 20 times per second over Bluetooth. The following devices have been shown to be unable to meet this demand, and therefore we do not recommend using Carv with these models:

  • Samsung A12 and other similarly priced Samsung phones
  • Huawei P30 lite
  • Nokia 1 Plus
  • Honor 8X

To read more about Android data transmission please click here.

Snapdragon 865 Bluetooth issues

During our testing programme of 2020/2021, we encountered a strange bug on a brand new flagship phone, the OnePlus 8T. This bug seemed to happen at random, causing the Carv app to stop detecting turns whilst skiing. It was, and still is, one of the larger headaches of the season for us.

The bug wouldn’t happen consistently and there was no pattern to explain its occurrence. This meant that reproducing the bug was very difficult.

Over time, we noticed a trend: the worst-affected devices all have the new (as of 2020/2021) SnapDragon 865 SoC (System on a Chip). These include:

  • Samsung’s S20 range
  • OnePlus’ 8 range
  • LG’s V60 ThinQ
  • Sony’s Xperia 1 & 5 (mk.2)
  • Xiaomi’s Mi 10 range.

To read more about what this issue is please see our full article on Snapdragon 865 issues here.

The following phone models also exhibit this corruption bug very frequently and as such we have had to mark them as 'incompatible':

  • Moto G8 range phones
  • Moto G30
  • Motorola Defy
  • Motorola E30
  • Motorola Motor G Play
  • Samsung Galaxy A5
  • LG V20

Contact us

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