Frequently Asked Questions

Can’t find the emails from Kobla?

Remember that you must use the same emailadress that you access on your phone. Open the email client on the phone and not on the PC.

Also check that you have entered the correct email.

And maybe check the trash can in the e-mail program…?

You do not need a manual code if you scan the QR code your company or city has received, and downloaded the app via that.

If you have downloaded the app without a QR code, you need a manual code that is specific to your municipality, campaign or company.

If your municipality is not among the options, it is because the municipality has not purchased access to the Kobla app for its residents (yet).

We are continuously working to get new municipalities to activate the Kobla app for their municipality.

The reason why Kobla offers the app through municipalities or companies is because we do not want advertising in the app, nor do we collect and sell behavioral data. We want to maintain a high degree of integrity in the advice the app offers, and strong data privacy for our users.

The vast majority of journeys are registered. But unfortunately, once in a while a journey is not registered automatically.

Check the following:

Have you installed the latest version of Kobla?

Wifi must be on and the app should be on in the background.

Location services must be set to “always allow”. To check this, go to:
Settings, and swipe down until you find the Kobla app. At the top it says: Give Kobla access to… Select “location” and press the button “Always”.

Is power saving switched on? A common reason why a journey has not been recorded is that power saving is switched on. It often happens on Android phones as that OS tries to use as little battery as possible. This function leads to many apps working poorly.

To turn off power saving:
-Go to Settings > Battery > Battery > Power saving mode should be off.
-See also: Settings > Apps > Connect > Battery > Optimize battery use > Connect (turn off)

When the phone is in battery saving mode, the phone can close apps that are in the background. In addition, the GPS that finds your position may give poorer accuracy. In order for Kobla to function optimally, we therefore recommend that battery saving is switched off for Kobla.

Kobla does have the opportunity for registering a trip if it has not been registered automatically. At the starting page in the app, touch the arrow on the absolute bottom of the screen. A “drawer” will popup which has the option to register a trip manually.

Kobla registers your mode of travel automatically. Mostly, it chooses correctly, but sometimes it can choose the wrong one.

During the first week you use Kobla, it is a good idea to look over and edit the journeys a couple of times if necessary, so that everything is correct.

Kobla is a learning app, and will get more and more accurate every time if you take the time to teach it your habits. We are continuously working to improve this feature!

If the app registers errors, you can then change this manually in the app as follows:

Tap on the “Change” word on the map display of the journey you want to change transport mode for.

You now get a number of different travel options that you can choose from. Swipe to the correct one, tap it. Now tap Save on the map display of the trip.

If you have used several means of transport, the journey will be split up in separate segments. It is possible to change each segment of the journey, by moving the green and red dots marking the start- and stop point of each leg of your trip.

This video shows how to switch between different transport modes.

The app uses GPS and motion sensors to define journeys and travel methods. When using apps that use GPS, there will always be somewhat higher power consumption than when using apps that do not use GPS. Some Android phones have “battery optimization” turned on for all apps by default. This means that all apps with GPS and motion sensors will be somewhat limited in performance when they are in the background. We therefore recommend that this be switched off for the Kobla app.

On average, the app should use 3-5% power of the phone’s total consumption.

Earn points by traveling green, during rush hour, in rainy and cold weather. The longer the distance, the more points you get.

You can also earn points in other ways in the app. This depends a bit on how the app is set up for your region. Based on your travel pattern, you will be given challenges that give you extra points. This could be, for example, leaving the car for two days, or cycling for a day in the rain.

You can also get extra points if you share the app with others.

The bonus is determined by a number of factors such as weather, wind, temperature, time of day the journey is made, etc. This can occasionally have unexpected results: e.g. the weather bonus is determined based on the weather when your journey started.

Simply explained: The more environmentally friendly your trip is, the more points you get. The worse the weather, the more points you get. Do you travel in green in the rush? It also gives extra points.

More detailed:

All journeys are rewarded, but walking and cycling give the most points. Taking the bus, train or carpool gives almost the same amount of points.
Small points: If you drive a car, you only get a few points (Read more under “Bonus points for using the car”.
Running and other types of training trips are also rewarded, but not so much. This is because Kobla focuses on everyday travel.
You get extra bonus points if you travel green if the weather is bad. Temperature is a separate factor, the colder the more points. If there is a headwind on your trip, you also get extra points, a tailwind does not give an extra bonus. We check the weather when your trip starts, so if you are surprised by a real downpour along the way, it doesn’t give you extra points.
If you travel green during rush hour (07:00 – 09:00 and 15:00 – 17:00) you also get extra points.
Uphills do not give extra points (yet 😉 ).

You will also earn some points for driving, but far fewer than if you choose green modes of travel.

For motorists, Kobla is still useful for measuring costs, CO2 emissions and obtaining other information about car use. You then get a good overview of travel habits and can then choose to look for other solutions.

It should therefore be an incentive to have the app – and can influence the user by providing statistics to make better choices.

A registered journey can be deleted and it will then be completely removed from the phone. Press Edit then Delete on the trip you want to remove.

Please note that when you delete a trip you will also lose the points for that trip.
To turn off registration for the rest of the day, see the question “Can I turn off automatic registration”

The short answer is: No!

Kobla only stores route data on your phone and this is not shared. Location data is not even sent to the cloud for processing or analysis in order to determine which transport mode has been used. This work is done in the app on your phone.

What is shared and placed in the cloud is data that is needed for the competitions to function, and aggregated data that cannot be linked to location, such as journey distance and means of transport.

For the app to work optimally, it is important that “battery optimization for Kobla” is turned OFF. Battery optimization closes apps that run in the background and then Kobla will not be able to register trips.

For more info see: https://dontkillmyapp.com

Location services and location sharing must be enabled for the app to work. The app switches off in energy saving mode, precisely because the phone limits battery usage for the GPS receiver.

You can turn off registration for the rest of the day by pressing the ^ button in the middle of the bottom of the screen. You can switch off registration for the rest of the day by selecting “Do not register for the rest of the day” or switch off “Automatic registration” if you want to switch off registration for a longer period.

Registration of an ongoing journey can be turned off on the journey screen by pressing Cancel.

No, your daily routine is probably busy, so Kobla does its thing all by itself.

Kobla registers the trip without you having to do anything. The app detects when you start to move and then starts recording your journey.

At the end of the journey, it will take a few minutes before the app stops recording. This is in case you take a break or switch from, for example, walking to taking the bus. Do not press cancel trip, as you will lose the trip.

Being able to stop a trip logging without losing the travel data, is under development!

Actually no, only the first time you use the app.

To enter one or more cars:

Tap the Person icon in the bottom right corner. Press “Cars” and add a car by entering it’s registration number. You can also add a picture of it.

Change car after/before a journey:

When you are on the home page of the app, swipe to the right to find your recent journeys. Press Change on the map display of the trip you want to correct.

Among Cars you will be able to swipe between all the cars you have entered, and select the correct one.

Kobla uses a fixed cost of NOK 4.5 per kilometre. This then includes costs such as fuel, loss of value, road tax, annual maintenance etc.

If this is not correct for your car, you can adjust this under My Profile / Cars. Then press Change on the car you want to adjust costs for.

No, Kobla uses very little data.

Yes, when you register your car with registration number, it will be found in the vehicle register and measured based on that as well as the individual car.

Everyone can choose carpooling: both passengers and drivers. It is statistically best if everyone registers.