22,661
71,378
Safe-driving challenges completed.
728,106
Distraction-free trips made.
Onlia Sense is a mobile app for iOS and Android that rewards you for being a safe driver. Using your phone's GPS and motion sensors, the app assesses your driving and scores you on key factors of safe and defensive driving. By driving safely and completing unique challenges, you can earn rewards like gift cards and cashback on services you're already using. Onlia Sense is for all drivers. You don't need Onlia insurance to use it. If you are an Onlia insurance customer, there is no connection whatsoever to your insurance rate or premium.
There are certain devices that don’t fully support Onlia Sense’s trip detection feature, including:
Setting up the app can be done in just a few steps. Once you download the app:
For the app to accurately detect and record your trips, it needs to access location, and how quickly your location changes. This will trigger the app to begin ‘recording’ your trip details. If you choose to share the location only when running the app, the navigation features will still work – but the trip detection features might not. This could impact your driving scores, and your ability to earn those sweet rewards. You can disable trip detection in the app if you’d like. Simply go to Settings and use the toggle switch for Automatic trip recording. Don’t forget to turn it back on before you begin driving!
Having this information helps us better understand the demographics of our awesome app users.
This allows us to provide rewards that are most relevant to drivers!
Our app is currently only designed for the Canadian market. By confirming your email address and cell phone number, it helps us verify your eligibility for rewards, and even more importantly – that you’re really you! We will always keep your details and trip data secure.
Cashback comes in the form of an Interac e-Transfer sent to your email address.
If you’ve earned Cashback at the end of the month, we’ll send you an email on the second day of the following month with instructions on how to redeem it. (Cashback is delivered via Interac e-Transfer.)
Cashback rewards are currently only available to people who are primary drivers on a car insurance policy with Onlia.
Sign in to your Onlia insurance account and select your car insurance policy. In the Drivers section, under the primary driver, choose View details. Then add your phone number to the Onlia Sense section. The phone number you add must be the same as the one you use for Onlia Sense. After that, we’ll verify your phone number and you’ll be all set to start earning Cashback!
No. Your Onlia Sense trip data and driving score has no connection to your Onlia insurance premium, and will never be used to influence the rate you pay.
To be eligible for Cashback with Onlia insurance, you need to have a car insurance policy that’s been active for at least a month.
To be eligible for Cashback with Onia Roadside Assistance, you must order roadside service using the same phone number associated with your Onlia Sense account.
You can earn Cashback on a single roadside service each month.
Once you become eligible for Cashback, you can earn it in the same month that you purchase roadside assistance.
To get Cashback, you need to end the month with the specified star rating. If you fall short by the end of the month, you won’t be eligible for Cashback. But don’t worry – you can always try again next month!
Go to your Wallet to see all the rewards you've earned.
You can opt in to receive a push notification every time you’ve earned any new badges or rewards. Simply go to Settings and enable Push notifications.
No. The app runs in the background while you use your phone. You don’t need to take any extra steps to get Onlia Sense to work.
Each trip you take is scored out of 100. Your score is based on how well you perform in these 5 categories:
Using these factors, Onlia Sense determines how your driving behaviour decreases, or increases, the likelihood of getting into a collision while on the road. Simply put, the safer you drive, the higher your score is. Acceleration, Braking and Cornering measure how smoothly you drive and steer during your trip. Speed measures how well you stick to road speed limits. Contextual accounts for the risk of driving on a particular road type (urban street, rural road, highway) and being on the road during certain times of day. For example, it’s riskier to drive on a country road at night than it is to drive on a city street in the day. Along with these 5 factors, the app also monitors distracted driving which is defined as how long, and to what degree, your mobile phone is used while driving. Not touching your phone at all is considered a totally distraction-free trip.
They’re just an easy way to group ranges of drive scores. Here’s the breakdown:
Any time you drive at least 0.5 km, the app will count it as a trip. Trip detection is based on changes to your location, speed, and motion. The app is calibrated to recognize patterns that are in line with trips in a car, so walking or running won’t trigger a trip.
With location services and motion/fitness detection enabled, Onlia Sense will automatically detect when you start and finish a trip.
You can enable push notifications and be notified when a trip starts, and when it ends / when the trip score is available. Simply go to Settings, select Push notifications and make sure that trip start and new score available are enabled.
In the Trips tab, select a trip to see the details of how and where your score was affected. You’ll see a list and a map of where driving events occurred during your trip. Click on the map to zoom in and see more details about each area!
Here are some pro tips: Speed: Stay within the speed limit. Travelling 15 km/h over the speed limit in a residential neighbourhood has a larger impact on your score than traveling 15 km/h over the limit on a 400-series highway. Braking: Look ahead so you can anticipate the need to slow down, and apply your brakes smoothly. Cornering: Slow down before turning to improve your score, and avoid making sharp “U-turns” where possible. Acceleration: Smooth and constant acceleration is key! Contextual: Avoid driving between midnight and 5 am. Where possible, choose highway routes with high visibility, avoid routes with many intersections and riskier urban environments.
Last but not least, don't use your phone!
Distracted driving is logged by detecting any movement to the phone. The app senses that the phone is being used; for communication (like talking or texting), but also for browsing (like in a drive-thru or when your car is idling). This is done by detecting movement of the phone. Anything that makes the phone move while you are driving will count as a ‘distraction’. This might even mean hitting a big pothole. We understand that this can be frustrating, but unfortunately the app can’t predict every type of situation. Any one time distracted driving occurrence doesn’t make a big difference in your driving score. When driving with Onlia Sense, we suggest keeping your phone in a car phone holder or in a secure place to get the most accurate trip assessment.
No. The goal of Onlia Sense is to help people drive safer and reward them for doing so; we'll never penalize you for making mistakes.
Yes. If the app detects a trip where you were a passenger (either in a car or public transit), you’ll have the option to mark the trip as a passenger. You’ll be free to do this for up to 24 hours after the trip has ended. It won’t affect your drive score.
To mark a trip as a passenger, go to Trip details and select the button at the bottom of the screen to set the trip as a passenger.
Note that we keep the right to check trip deletion.
There are a few reasons this could happen.
Trip start detection may sometimes take some time to detect if the GPS signal is weak or the driver starts a trip slowly. As a result, the actual travel distance and duration may not match the mapped route.
Additionally, some trips are reconstructed based on whether the start location is within 1 km of a previously taken trip end location. For example, when you pulled over for a minute to drop off a friend. In a scenario like this, the app will attempt to reconstruct the route to show where the trip actually started rather than when you started driving again.
If you notice anything that seems off, please let us know!
Here are some pro-tips that will help ensure more accurate trip recording:
Still not working? Shoot us an email and we’ll work it out together.
Even if you weren’t using your phone, but it moved around while you were driving (say in the cup holder, or slid around on a seat, or even because of a big pothole), it’s possible the app may detect a ‘distraction.’ Make sure your phone is in a stable position in your car, like in phone holder/mount. This should help.
Your phone needs a little bit of time to recognize that the trip has indeed ended, and you’re not … sitting at a red light or stuck in traffic, or whatever (you know how unpredictable the roads can get!).
Want to be sure that the app has stopped recording? Enable push notifications and you’ll be notified when a trip starts and when it ends.
Go to Settings, select Push notifications and make sure trip start and new score available are enabled.
Your phone needs a little bit of time to recognize that the trip has indeed ended, and you’re not sitting at a red light or stuck in traffic. Want to be sure that the app has stopped recording? Enable push notifications and you’ll be notified when a trip starts and when it ends. Go to Settings, select Push notifications and make sure trip start and new score available are enabled.
There are two types of cell phone distractions: phone movement and using your phone via Bluetooth or wireless connection.
If Onlia Sense™ detects phone movement – like if your phone gets knocked around while driving – it could be logged as a distraction; that’s why we suggest keeping your phone in a secure place, like on a mount when you’re behind the wheel.
If your phone is connected via Bluetooth or wireless connection and you make a hands-free call, that can also be logged as a distraction. While you may not be driving with one hand and have the phone to your ear with the other, hands-free usage still distracts drivers from giving their undivided attention to the road.
Our tip? Queue up your favourite playlists before you take off, and let those messages wait until you reach your destination. It’s always better to be safe than sorry!
Due to the nature of the app, it will always consume slightly more battery than apps that don’t use GPS. If you’re taking a longer trip, it might be a good idea to plug your phone into a charger before you hit the road, or charge it while you're driving.
Select the My Account tab in the app and select your name. You can make changes to your details here.
Use the Settings tab to change navigation routing and push notification settings.
Make sure that both location services and fitness and motion are enabled and set to always on. You can find this in your general phone settings.
The leaderboard is a monthly ranking of Onlia Sense drivers.
Your points are calculated like this:
Average Drivescore x 100 + badge points + bonus points = Total leaderboard points.
Your Drivescore can be found on your app dashboard.
Badge points will depend on the number of badges you’ve earned this month, and the level you’ve achieved.
There are always safe driving challenges you can complete to earn badges and points. The more you drive safely, the more you can bump up your Drivescore and earn more points.
You can rank up on the leaderboard by collecting leaderboard points. Overall, you collect points by consistently driving safely, and levelling up your unlocked badges.
We’ll release the final results for each month on the 2nd of the following month.
We take your privacy very seriously. In our Privacy notice and Conditions of use, we specify that we do not share any personal information with parties outside of Onlia Sense, whether it’s advertisers, analytics-service providers, or our partners in road safety.
We may, however, share anonymous aggregate data – like driver behaviour and profiles – with these parties as a way to help us improve Onlia Sense and provide meaningful content and features. We hold ourselves to high standards in how we handle all the data we gather, and ensure any personal information you provide adheres to privacy and anti-spam legislation.
You can learn more about how your data is used and protected in our Privacy notice and Conditions of use.
Onlia follows the latest mobile security standards to keep your data encrypted between your device and our servers. All communication between your device and our services are encrypted using TLS v1.2.
We keep your data private, and do not share it with any third parties without your explicit consent. You can see the full scope of how your data is used and protected in our Privacy Notice.
No problem, we’d love to hear from you! Send us an email.
We encourage any and all feedback you have about your experience with Onlia Sense – it’s your ideas that will help us improve the experience for drivers.
For tech issues or bug reporting, please include a brief description of what you experienced, along with the type of device you have. We appreciate your support!
We can help if you've been locked out, need a tire change, jump start, fuel delivery, or a tow, or have been locked out. Learn more here.
We provide roadside assistance 24/7 every day of the year. During severe weather conditions or other situations where service demands are higher, you may experience longer wait times than usual. In extreme weather conditions, we may be forced to delay service until it's safe to dispatch our service providers.
No, Onlia Roadside Assistance operates in Canada only. If you’re in the US and need roadside help, call a local roadside assistance provider or local law enforcement.
We provide roadside assistance to all standard passenger vehicles, to a maximum weight of 8,000 lbs / 3,000 kg.
Sorry, we’re not currently providing roadside services to motorcycles.
Onlia Roadside Assistance provides non-emergency services. If you’re in a collision with another vehicle or have an emergency, call 911. If you need a tow following a collision with another vehicle, contact your insurance provider.
We do not provide snow removal services. If your vehicle needs servicing in snowy conditions, please make sure there’s a clear path for us to reach you. We won’t be able to provide service if it’s impossible/unsafe to drive to you.
If you have the Onlia Sense app, you can use it to access Onlia Roadside Assistance.
You can pay using your credit card: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Once you order your service and a service professional is dispatched to you, you’ll be connected with a customer service agent who will ask you for payment information.
If you need additional services (e.g. your vehicle ends up needing a tow), you can call us back for payment.
In most cases we’ll be able to use your phone’s GPS to get your location, meaning our service professionals will know exactly where to find you. But GPS doesn’t always work perfectly, especially if you’ve got a poor signal or are in a rural area. You have the option to mark your location manually in these situations.
With Privacy Mode turned off, we can use your phone’s GPS to pinpoint your location. This allows our service professionals to get to you faster.
You can turn off Privacy Mode through your phone’s settings menu.
Once we’ve dispatched a service professional to you, we’ll let you know their name and estimated time of arrival. Wait time is typically 10 to 45 minutes. We can also send you this info in a text message – just ask!
Yes. If your service professional is delayed, we’ll call or text you to let you know, and provide a new ETA.
For our service professional’s safety (they’ll be driving, after all), we’d prefer you contact us at 1-888-456-6542 with any questions or updates you have. We’ll pass along any relevant information.
Please call us at 1-888-456-6542 and let us know. We’ll do our best to make things right.