A technician’s day is won or lost at the van door. They need the address and the job details before they knock. A field service mobile app puts all of that on the phone in their pocket and sends their progress back to the office as it happens.
This guide covers what a technician app should do and how technicians run their whole day in BaseCloud with My day.
What a technician app should do
A technician app has two jobs. It tells the technician what to do next, and it tells the office what the technician just did.
Take an HVAC technician in Dallas with five calls on a July Tuesday. Every gap in the app becomes a phone call to the office for an address or a gate code. A good app covers these basics:
- Today’s jobs in order, with the next one easy to spot
- One-tap status updates that reach the dispatcher straight away
- Directions, plus a call or text button for the customer
- The job notes and the customer’s history
- Checklists that make sure the important steps happen
- Photos and notes saved to the customer’s record
- A signature and payment collected on site
- A quick way to flag trouble to the office
How field service platforms approach the technician app
ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro, FieldEdge and similar platforms each offer a technician app from the app stores, tied to their own dispatch and invoicing. They are capable tools built for trade businesses. Some sell app seats by plan, so check how many technicians each plan covers before you compare prices.
The bigger question for an owner is what sits around the app. Calls, texts, email, quotes and follow-up all feed the job, and every separate tool is another login and another place for a detail to go missing.
BaseCloud runs dispatch, technicians, quotes, invoices, calls and follow-up in one system. The technician’s phone shows the same client record the office sees, with every call and text on it.
My day: the technician app inside BaseCloud
My day is the technician’s side of Dispatch. The technician opens BaseCloud in their phone’s browser and taps Dispatch, and it opens on My day. A new hire is working within minutes of getting a login.
Today’s jobs show in start order, with the next job large at the top. A strip shows tomorrow’s first job so the technician knows where the next day starts, and arrows step through the days.
One big button moves each job along
Each job has one big button that shows the next step:
- On my way
- Arrived
- Done
When a job stalls for a part, the technician taps Waiting for parts, then Resume when it arrives. Each tap updates the dispatcher’s board instantly and records the time.
Each step can also fire one of your automations. A common one texts the customer the moment the technician taps On my way: “Hi, this is Cool Air. Your technician is on the way.” The office sets it up once and every job gets it.
Everything for the job on one screen
Open a job and the technician has what they need before knocking:
- Navigate opens Google Maps directions from where they are standing
- Call or Text reaches the customer in one tap
- The job notes and your shop’s own job details, such as a gate code
- The customer’s previous visits, newest first, with who went and what they noted
A plumber arriving at a repeat customer in Phoenix sees that the last visit flagged a sticky shutoff valve. They walk in already knowing the house.
Checklists with Required steps
Each job type can carry a checklist of up to 30 steps, such as Photos taken and Filter changed. Mark a step Required and it is ticked before the job is marked Done, wherever Done is set: My day, the board, the client or an automation.
BaseCloud names any Required step still open, so a pest control technician closes every job with the treatment photos the office needs for the report.
Finish the job and get paid on site
Under Finish on site, the technician wraps up before leaving the driveway:
- Add a note to the customer’s record
- Upload photos and files from the phone, iPhone and iPad included, in every browser
- Build a quote or invoice from the price book with the customer already chosen
- Get a signature on the phone with e-signature
- Take payment through the invoice’s payment link, or record cash or check
An HVAC technician who finds a failing capacitor quotes the replacement from the price book and collects payment before leaving the kitchen. The invoice is on the client record when the office opens it.
Flags tell the dispatcher when plans change
Under Tell your dispatcher, the technician raises a flag with a short note:
- Running late
- Need help
- Needs a return visit, which creates a linked follow-up job waiting on the board
The dispatcher’s Needs your attention rail shows each flag with the technician’s note. It stays there until the dispatcher clears it or the job is done.
Ask an AI app “What’s my day?”
Technicians with a connected AI app run their day by asking. “What’s my day?” brings back their jobs, and “Tell dispatch I’m running 20 minutes late” raises the flag for them.
It suits a technician halfway under a sink with wet hands. The AI follows the same rules as My day.
Set up your technicians in one click
In Settings, Teams, choose Create from preset, then Technician. The preset shows each technician their own jobs and the clients of those jobs, and opens BaseCloud on My day. It also switches on the price book, quotes, invoices and payments.
Technicians open the client of their job from the day before to 3 days after, and you can set that window from 0 to 14 days each way in Settings, Dispatch. Every other client stays private, which matters when your customer list is the business.
Follow the setup guide to put My day on your technicians’ phones this week, or book a demo to see it running on a live board.
