Clayton Fire District

IamResponding Setup Guide

Everything you need to get set up on IaR. Follow the steps below and check them off as you go.

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1

Download & Log In

Download IamResponding from the App Store (iPhone) or Google Play (Android).

Search "IamResponding" — it's the app with the red and white siren icon.

Log in with your credentials.

Agency: CLAYTON (all caps)
Username & Password: Sent to your email by IamResponding. All three fields are case-sensitive.

Can't find your login? Contact any of the people listed at the bottom of this page for a reset.

⚠️ If you transferred or cloned your phone from an old device, delete the IaR app completely and reinstall it fresh. Cloned installs cause notification problems that are hard to track down.

2

Allow Permissions

After logging in, the app will ask for permissions. These are required for alerts and location tracking to work.

Allow Notifications when prompted.

Without this, you won't receive any dispatch alerts. Period.

Allow Location Access.

Select "While Using the App" — this is IaR's recommended setting. Combined with Background App Refresh (next section), this gives IaR what it needs.

Select "Allow all the time" or "While using the app" at minimum. Go to App Info → Permissions and enable all permissions for IaR.

Enable Background App Refresh for IaR.

Go to your iPhone's Settings → IamResponding and make sure Background App Refresh is turned on. Without this, alerts may not come through when the app is in the background.

Make sure Cellular Data is on for IaR.

Go to Settings → IamResponding and confirm Cellular Data is enabled. Otherwise, the app only works on Wi-Fi.

Exempt IaR from Battery Optimization.

Go to Settings → Battery → IamResponding and set it to Unrestricted (or "Don't optimize"). Without this, Android may silently kill the app in the background and you'll miss alerts.

Check your volume levels.

Android has four separate volume controls: System, Ringtone, Notification, and Media. Make sure all four are turned up or you may not hear alerts.

□ The battery optimization step is the #1 cause of missed alerts on Android. If you skip it, the app will eventually stop notifying you in the background. Do this one.

3

Configure Your Settings

After permissions, you'll land on the settings screen. This is where you'll set up your profile and preferences.

Tap User Profile & Credentials at the top of the settings screen.

Tap Membership Information.

Set your Default Response.

This is the response that gets used when you quick-respond from a notification or tap the car icon on the map. If you don't set this, your response will show as "Not Selected."

Set your Max Response Time.

This is your typical ETA to the station (in minutes). It shows next to your name on the responding screen so officers know roughly when to expect you.

Go back to the main settings screen. Set your preferred ringtone and notification preferences.

Pick a tone that's loud and distinctive. IaR's built-in tones tend to be more reliable than custom downloads.

Tap Done in the upper-right to save everything.

□ Tip: If you want alerts to break through Silent Mode and Do Not Disturb, find the "Sound on silent/vibrate mode" toggle in your IaR notification settings and enable it. On iPhone, this activates Apple's Critical Alerts. On Android, it reroutes alert audio through Media Volume.

⚠️ Android + Bluetooth heads up: If "Sound on silent/vibrate mode" is enabled and your phone is connected to your vehicle's Bluetooth, alerts may play through your car speakers instead of your phone. If you don't hear alerts in your vehicle, check this.

4

How Responding Works

When a call comes in, you'll get a push notification. Here's how to respond and what happens when you do.

Understand the two ways to respond.

Quick Response: From the notification or the car icon on the map — uses your Default Response automatically.

Respond Now button: Opens the full list of response options so you can pick one (e.g., To Station, To Scene, Delayed, Not Responding).

Always respond — even if you're not going.

When you respond, your location appears on the map. Officers and dispatch can see who's coming, who's closest, and whether they need to call for mutual aid. Tapping "Not Responding" is still valuable information. If nobody responds, that tells leadership something too.

Know the three dashboard screens.

Swipe left and right in the app to move between:

Now Responding — who's heading to the call
On Duty — who's currently scheduled on duty
Apparatus Status — current status of trucks and equipment

□ Mutual aid visibility: One of the biggest advantages of IaR is that we can see responders from our mutual aid departments in real time, and they can see ours. This helps everyone make better decisions on the fireground.

5

Make Alerts Break Through Silent Mode

This is optional but strongly recommended. Without it, you won't hear alerts when your phone is on silent or Do Not Disturb.

In the IaR app, enable "Sound on silent/vibrate mode" in your notification settings.

Then go to your iPhone's Settings → Notifications → IamResponding and turn on Critical Alerts.

This toggle only appears after you enable the setting in the IaR app first. Critical Alerts are an Apple feature that lets IaR bypass Silent mode and Do Not Disturb.

In the IaR app, enable "Sound on silent/vibrate mode" in your notification settings.

On Android, this reroutes alert audio to your Media Volume channel so it plays even when the phone is silenced. Make sure your media volume is turned up.

⚠️ If your phone is connected to Bluetooth (especially in your vehicle), media audio may play through the connected speaker. If you're not hearing alerts while driving, this could be why.

□ IaR has its own Do Not Disturb setting separate from your iPhone's. If you turn on IaR's DND (in Menu → My Settings → DND), it will silence alerts even if Critical Alerts are enabled. Only use IaR's DND when you truly don't want to be alerted.

6

Troubleshooting

❌ I'm not getting dispatch alerts.

Most common cause: your web profile doesn't have dispatch notifications enabled. Log into iamresponding.com, go to your profile, find "Dispatch Information," and make sure "Send me these dispatches" is checked. App settings alone don't enable dispatch alerts — this web step is also required.

Also check: Did you allow notifications on your phone? Is IaR exempted from battery optimization (Android)? Is Background App Refresh on (iPhone)?

❌ My response shows as "Not Selected."

This means you used a quick response method (notification shortcut or map car icon) but don't have a Default Response set. Go to Settings → User Profile & Credentials → Membership Information and set your Default Response. If you always manually pick a response from the list, you won't see this issue — it only affects the quick-respond shortcuts.

❌ I can't log in.

All three login fields (Agency, Username, Password) are case-sensitive. The agency is CLAYTON in all caps. If your password isn't working, contact one of the admins listed below for a reset rather than guessing — lockouts are annoying for everyone.

❌ My location isn't showing on the map.

Your location only appears after you respond to a call. Make sure location permissions are enabled, the app isn't fully closed (minimized is fine, closed is not), and battery saver isn't throttling IaR. On iPhone, if you share an Apple ID across multiple devices, Apple only tracks one as the primary — this can cause issues.

❌ Alerts are inconsistent — sometimes I hear them, sometimes I don't.

Android: Almost always a battery optimization issue. Go to Settings → Battery → IamResponding → Unrestricted.

iPhone: Make sure Background App Refresh and Cellular Data are both enabled for IaR in your phone's Settings.

Both: If you recently switched phones by cloning or transferring, delete the app and reinstall it fresh. Cloned installs create stale device registrations that mess with notification delivery.

□ The nuclear option — full reset.

If nothing else works, here's IaR's official troubleshooting reset: Update your phone's OS and the IaR app → check your web profile settings at iamresponding.com → delete all agencies in the app → clear cache/data (Android) or delete the app (iPhone) → restart your phone → reinstall the app → enable ALL permissions → log in fresh → save the default settings on the Agency Settings screen without changing anything → tap Done → test with a real or test dispatch.

7

Important Reminders

□ Do not abandon your pager. Push notifications depend on your phone, your network, and a bunch of things outside anyone's control. Your pager is still your primary alerting device. IaR is supplemental.

□ Keep the app updated. IaR pushes updates regularly. An outdated app can cause notification issues and missing features. Turn on auto-updates or check periodically.

□ Mutual aid works both ways. When you respond in IaR, mutual aid departments in our zone can see that you're coming. When they respond to our calls, we can see them too. The more people who use it consistently, the more useful it is for everyone.

Need help?

Reach out to any of the following for login resets, setup help, or troubleshooting:

Ethan Patchen Jake Angus Curtis Harvey Chris Garceau Josh Reome

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