Scouting Mode

Scouting Mode lets you observe trap activity without ever closing the door — useful for confirming the right animals are visiting before you commit to a real capture.

How it differs from Armed mode

	Armed	Scouting
Detects animals	Yes	Yes (same logic as Armed)
Closes the door	Yes — on first verified detection	Never — observation only
Sends pre-capture alerts	Yes (if enabled)	Yes
Captures images	Yes — at zone entry and at trigger	Yes — on detection, then ~every 5 s for the first minute, then ~every 15 s while the animal stays in zone
After the animal leaves	N/A (door closes; trap captured)	The same alert type won't fire again for 5 minutes, even if the animal leaves, 30 seconds pass with no detection, or a different animal arrives. Photos keep flowing on every detection. Door does not move

Door behavior in Scouting: the door never closes, opens, or moves on its own — regardless of how many animals come and go. The only things that move the door are direct commands you send: Open and Close. (Switching to Arm doesn't move the door immediately; it just allows a future automatic close on a verified detection.) Whatever the animal does, the trap stays in Scouting with the door open until you change it.

Activating Scouting Mode (walkthrough)

Open / Close / Arm are on the trap card. Scout lives one tap away inside that card's Controls popup.

1. Sign in to the OcuTrap app at app.ocutrap.com (or the mobile app). You'll land on your trap list.

2. Find the trap you want to scout. Each card shows its status, battery %, and a green dot if online.

3. Confirm the status reads Open / Unarmed. If the door is closed, tap Open on the trap card first and wait for the status to update.

4. Tap Controls on the trap card. A popup opens with a top row of icons: GPS, Data, Buzzer, Reboot, Hibernation, Scout.

5. Tap Scout (rightmost, eye icon). The trap runs an obstruction check — if anything is in the capture zone, scouting is refused so you can clear it and retry.

6. Once the check passes, the card status flips to Scouting and the popup icon flips to Stop Scout (eye with slash).

Tip: If Scout seems unresponsive, the door usually isn't fully open, the trap is offline, or Last heard at the bottom of the popup is stale. Wait for the next check-in or re-open the door.

What you'll see while scouting

• One Scout Alert when an animal first enters the pre-capture zone (if enabled).

• One Scout Trigger when an animal reaches the trigger distance. The trap takes a photo, but the door does not close.

• Periodic photos while the animal stays in zone — about every 5 seconds for the first minute (entry burst), then about every 15 seconds for as long as the animal sticks around. This is effectively as fast as the trap can send photos over cellular, and the timing is built into the firmware — it isn't a setting in the app.

• Alert throttling — Each alert type (Scout Alert and Scout Trigger) can fire only once every 5 minutes across the trap. That 5-minute quiet window continues even if the animal leaves, the area is clear for 30 seconds, or another animal arrives. Photos are not throttled: every detection still produces imagery on the scouting cadence (~5 s for the first minute, ~15 s after), so you see what's happening even during the alert quiet window. The door does not move, and the trap stays in Scouting Mode the whole time.

Exiting Scouting Mode

1. Stop Scout in the Controls popup — returns the trap to Unarmed, door still open.

2. Close on the trap card — closes the door and returns to Unarmed in one step.

When Scouting Mode isn't what you want

• Capturing a confirmed animal — tap Arm on the trap card.

• A one-off photo — open Controls and tap Request Image (doesn't change trap state).

• Testing the door mechanism — use Open / Close on the trap card.

What if I switch to Armed and the trap actually captures?

The door stays locked until you manually open it — no auto-release on a timer or based on the animal's behavior. See After a Capture for the full guarantee, the Open vs Unarm distinction, and FAQs.

Troubleshooting

• "Refused with an obstruction error" — clear the capture zone, then retry.

• "Refused with a door-not-open error" — tap Open on the trap card, wait for the status to read Open, then retry Scout.

• Repeated alerts from the same animal — should not happen within 5 minutes. Each alert type can fire only once every 5 minutes, even if the animal leaves, the area clears for 30 seconds, or a different animal arrives. If you see new Scout Alerts more often than that, please report it.