Support

SOVIQ keeps everything on your phone, so most questions are about what the screen means.

Which countries have rules built in?

Israel, Cyprus, Romania and the United Arab Emirates have cited rules in the app. Other countries are shown as observed until a rule exists for them.

Why does the app want location access "Always"?

Border crossings happen while the app is closed. With Always access the app records arrivals and departures on its own. With "While Using" only, days are missed and the app shows an amber line explaining the gap. Change it any time in iOS Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › SOVIQ.

Does it drain the battery?

No. The app uses the phone's significant-change and visit monitoring, which wake it only when you move between places. It does not run GPS continuously.

What does "unverified" mean?

The app observed you in that country but cannot yet say whether the day counts under that country's rule, for example a short passage where the country's treatment of transit is not settled. The day is shown, and shown as unverified, rather than counted or dropped silently.

I flew over a country. Why does it ask?

When the evidence looks like an overflight, the app does not decide by itself; it asks whether you landed there or flew over it. Answer once and the day is settled. Countries you only overflew never count and do not appear on the overview.

I only changed planes somewhere.

Open the stay and mark it as passing through. A passage counts zero unless that country's own rule says otherwise; the app shows which.

My phone was off for a day. Is the record broken?

No. A silence is shown as a gap and, where the evidence on both sides is the same country, bridged as presence in that country. Where it is not, the app asks you where you were. Nothing is invented.

How do days left in the year work?

"Days left" are the calendar days after today through 31 December. Today is never a day left, although it may still count once it is over.

Backup and the recovery code

Backup is optional and encrypted on your phone before it goes to your iCloud. The recovery code is shown once; keep it in a password manager. We cannot recover a backup, a key or a code. On a new phone, sign in to the same Apple Account and install SOVIQ. When it first opens it offers to restore the backup it finds: restore before the phone records anything, because a restore is refused once it has. If that happens, delete the app, install it again and restore first. You can also restore from Settings › Backup, with Backup switched on.

How do I delete everything?

Delete the app, then remove its iCloud snapshots in iOS Settings under your Apple Account › iCloud › Manage Account Storage. The backup key stays in your iCloud Keychain: if you install SOVIQ again and switch Backup on, it uses that key again, so keep your recovery code.

Is this tax advice?

No. The app applies published rules and cites them, but residency depends on facts it cannot know. Confirm anything that matters with a qualified adviser.