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Your first mapping trip

This is the field flow for both iPhone and Android. Small labels may move as the apps improve, but the evidence rules will not. A good first trip should feel like a quiet, documented drive—not a contest to put the most packets on the air.

1. Choose the region

Open the app map, confirm the phone's current location is sensible, and make sure you are inside an active FreqMapper region. The map loads the current regional coverage snapshot when it opens.

2. Connect your radio

Use the Radio tab to connect to your Meshtastic radio and wait for it to synchronize. If this is the first time with that radio, enter your enrollment code when prompted. Then complete shared-channel setup if the app asks you to. FreqMapper only uses a free secondary channel slot and will not overwrite a configured channel.

3. Choose a mission and start a trip

Expand WarDrive and choose the mission allowed by your region:

  • Active Patrol (TX + RX) sends paced coverage tests and also maps eligible traffic received by your connected radio.
  • Silent Recon (RX only) maps eligible traffic received on any configured channel the radio can decode without sending coverage-test packets. It leaves the radio's configured wardriving channel unchanged while ignoring it for the trip.

A region may require Silent Recon, in which case Active Patrol is unavailable. Start the trip after choosing. Both missions need a fresh phone GPS location and an enrolled, ready radio. Active Patrol also needs the shared wardriving channel to be ready. Once the trip starts, the controls collapse out of the way. Active Patrol shows a countdown until the next test; Silent Recon has no transmit countdown because it does not send tests.

4. Use paced tests and Signal Burst carefully

In Active Patrol, FreqMapper uses its managed wardriving channel and a conservative interval. Each test is tagged, paired with your phone's location, then placed as a dot in your current app session. When a region permits transmissions, Signal Burst can request one intentional test during either Active Patrol or Silent Recon. It does not start a second timer: manual and automatic tests share the same 15-second minimum cooldown, and a manual burst restarts the automatic countdown.

FreqMapper permits up to three tests in one 100 m coverage cell when each position is at least 10 m from the previous test. It then pauses both automatic tests and Signal Burst until you move into a new cell. Signal Burst still needs a fresh, accurate phone location, a ready enrolled radio, and the shared wardriving channel. A region that requires Silent Recon disables the action completely. Do not substitute ordinary chat messages for a mapping test; they cannot create verified coverage.

5. Let the evidence arrive

Approved MQTT Watchers independently report what they heard. The service matches their receipt to the packet you sent. A successful verification turns the coverage at that same sent-test location into a colored cell; it is not moved to the Watcher's position.

If your phone loses internet during the trip

Keep the wardrive running. The phone can continue asking the connected Meshtastic radio to send paced mapping tests over Bluetooth. Android and iPhone save GPS points, exact radio packet IDs, sent times, and trip-finish records in an encrypted local upload queue. When the phone has usable internet again, the app uploads that queue automatically in its original order. iPhone retries while iOS allows the active wardrive to run in the background and whenever FreqMapper opens or becomes active again.

After an online Active Patrol start, the app saves a short-lived server approval for that radio, region boundary, and shared-channel fingerprint. While that approval remains valid and the connected radio still confirms the same channel, Android and iPhone can start Active Patrol without cell service. Otherwise an offline start remains Silent Recon. First-time setup, enrollment, and initial channel preparation still require internet.

During an outage, an online approved Watcher can report the radio packet immediately. FreqMapper stores that receipt independently and matches it to the exact sender, packet ID, and original send time when the phone uploads later. A router rebroadcast seen by the mapper's own radio is useful diagnostic activity, but it is not substituted for an independent Watcher receipt.

What happens while FreqMapper is offscreen

Opening Results, Trips, or another FreqMapper tab does not stop the wardrive. The active GPS recording, BLE radio capture, scheduled tests, and passive RX sampling continue. They also continue while another app is temporarily in front when Android or iOS permits background execution. Offscreen map/result downloads can pause to conserve battery and network; returning to the map refreshes those displays from the still-running session. Force-quitting FreqMapper or operating-system termination is not guaranteed background operation.

On Android, the driving map follows your position when a wardrive starts. You can pan, rotate, or tilt the map to inspect another area without pausing the trip. Tap Re-center driving map to return to the driving zoom and heading and resume automatic camera follow.

6. Review your result

On your app map, look for your session's test dots and verified cells. Purple Received here markers show eligible packets heard by your driving radio at your phone's location; purple cells can fill gaps but never count as verified coverage. The public map shows privacy-filtered aggregate purple RX cells but keeps individual markers private. Click a verified TX cell to see the Watchers that heard the related tests, with received signal and hop information when supplied. Receipt data is useful evidence, not a guaranteed direct RF path.

7. End the trip

Tap Stop wardrive when you are finished. The Trips tab keeps each completed wardrive, its mission, and the counts that apply to that mission. Closing the app clears the current session's local route/test overlays; the verified public coverage stays on the public map as shared evidence.

Tip

A quiet trip with a handful of well-spaced samples is more valuable than a high-rate stream of repeated packets from the same street. The boring, careful runs are the ones people can trust.

Last updated: 2026-09-08