Precise exit with vehicle

What the feature does

In the background, iOS often reports leaving a location late, sometimes only after several hundred meters. Precise exit with vehicle (GeoHook Premium) uses getting into your car as the start signal: when a selected car connects while you are inside a location’s area, GeoHook turns on precise location for at most five minutes. The exit is then usually detected a few dozen meters past the boundary, and exit actions run immediately.

Precise location ends as soon as the exit is detected, the car disconnects again, or the five minutes are up. Connecting the car does not run the exit action by itself; only the detected exit does.

Why GeoHook Premium is required

The start signal for precise exit is your iPhone connecting to your car. GeoHook recognizes your car through CarPlay or the Bluetooth hands-free system, and that vehicle detection is part of GeoHook Premium. Without Premium, GeoHook doesn’t know you just got in, so it cannot start precise location in time. The free app and the Tesla & iBeacon plan don’t include CarPlay and hands-free detection.

No extra hardware is needed: any car with CarPlay or a hands-free system works, including a Tesla through its hands-free system.

What the shortcut is for

iOS does not launch an app when the iPhone connects to CarPlay or a Bluetooth hands-free system. If GeoHook is not running at that moment, it never notices the connection. A Shortcuts automation can: on connect it runs GeoHook’s “Vehicle connected” action and thereby gives GeoHook background running time.

That is all the automation does. It does not decide whether the precise exit starts. Once woken, GeoHook checks by itself which car is connected, whether you are inside a location’s area, and whether that car is selected for the location.

Car in automation	Car selected for location	Result
Yes	Yes	Precise exit starts when you get in
Yes	No	GeoHook is woken but ignores the car; normal exit
No	Yes	Only works if GeoHook happens to be running; otherwise normal exit
No	No	Normal exit

1. Add the car in GeoHook

1. Sit in the car, start it and wait until the iPhone is connected to CarPlay or the hands-free system.
2. In GeoHook, open Settings → Vehicles → Add vehicle and choose detection via CarPlay/hands-free.
3. Pick the connection shown and save the vehicle.

If you use CarPlay in the car, add the vehicle while CarPlay is active. Especially with wired CarPlay, GeoHook may otherwise not recognize the car later.

2. Select the car for the location

1. Open the location (e.g. “Home”). It needs a geo area.
2. Under Precision monitoring, tap Precise exit with vehicle.
3. Check every car you drive off in from this location and save the location.

3. Create the Shortcuts automation

The automation can only be created in the Shortcuts app. iOS does not let apps set up automations themselves. In GeoHook, the “Open Shortcuts app” button in the vehicle selection takes you there.

Bluetooth hands-free

1. Shortcuts app → Automation tab → New Automation (or +).
2. Choose Bluetooth.
3. Under Device, select every car you use with GeoHook and enable Is Connected. One automation can include several cars; alternatively create one automation per car.
4. Choose Run Immediately and turn off Notify When Run.
5. Tap Next, choose New Blank Automation and add GeoHook’s “Vehicle connected” action (search “GeoHook”).
6. Done.

CarPlay

1. Shortcuts app → Automation → New Automation.
2. Choose CarPlay and enable Connects.
3. Choose Run Immediately, turn off Notify When Run.
4. Add GeoHook’s “Vehicle connected” action.

The CarPlay automation applies to every CarPlay car. Which car counts is still decided by the selection in GeoHook (step 2).

4. Check it

• In GeoHook, the vehicle selection shows under Last signal when the automation last woke GeoHook. If nothing new appears after you get in, the automation is not running.
• The Status screen shows the state (e.g. “Active until …”) and the time of the last shortcut.
• If the precision-start notification is enabled for the location, GeoHook announces when precise location starts.

If it does not work

• No “Last signal”: Is the automation enabled? Is “Run Immediately” selected? For Bluetooth, is the right car selected as device?
• Signal arrives but no precise location: Is the car selected for the location? Were you inside the location’s area when you got in? Is GeoHook Premium active?
• “Connection already used”: Each connection starts at most one attempt. A connection that began outside (e.g. on arrival) does not count as a departure.
• Precise location ends without an exit: The car disconnected (e.g. engine turned off again) or the five minutes ran out before you left the area.
• Another car triggers nothing: It is missing from the automation or from the location’s selection. Both sides must match for every car.

For more background on delayed exits, see Optimizing exit behavior.