You have installed the app, completed your account and topped up credit. Your first parking action is then a matter of seconds. Still, it pays to do the first one deliberately, because the two things that most often go wrong, the wrong plate and the wrong zone, are prevented with one extra glance.
Step by step
- Park your car and open the app on the Map tab.
- Tap the zone you are in and compare the code on the card with the sign next to your car.
- Check the vehicle on that same card; tap it to pick another plate through Vehicle.
- Tap Start action to open the screen Parking zone and look at the Rates there.
- Tap Set end time and choose how long you are staying under Until what time do you want to park?.
- Tap Start. Your parking action is now running.
- Back at your car: tap Stop action, or open the action under Activities and tap Stop.
When you stop, the app asks Stop activity to confirm. The cost is then deducted from your credit and you see straight away what the parking action cost.
Why you set an end time
An end time is required for every parking action, whatever way you pay, and it can be at most 24 hours ahead. You pick one within the range the app offers; outside it, the app reports that the preset end datetime is out of the allowed range. Where the municipality enforces a strict maximum parking duration you see End time is fixed and the time is set for you.
Your action stops by itself at that time, and you are notified. If you stay longer after all, use Extend. See Setting an end time in advance.
While your parking action runs
By default you get a push message every hour saying your action is still running, and fifteen minutes before your end time a push message that it is about to finish. You set both times yourself under Profile › Notifications, at Active parking action and Parking ends soon; that is also where you add the last warning by email if you want it.
On an iPhone your action also appears as a Live Activity on the lock screen and in the Dynamic Island: a running timer, the time the action stops and the zone code, with the buttons Stop and Extend below them. Those buttons open the app on your parking action, so you can stop from the lock screen without hunting for it.
What it costs
You pay the municipality's parking rate plus a € 0.29 service fee per parking action. The municipality also sets the unit you are charged in; where that unit applies all day, it appears under that day's rates as "*You pay per 15 minutes". Stop before your end time and the price is recalculated, with the difference staying on your credit. More in What does parking with SimplePark cost.
If something is off
If you cannot start an action, the app tells you why. Too little balance shows Insufficient balance, together with the minimum you need for the first minutes in that zone; an unfinished account shows Finish setting up your account with the button Finish setup. Why can I not start a session here? lists every cause with its solution.