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, open Settings, enter the invite key from your region administrator, and apply it. 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. Start a trip

Tap Start wardrive. The app needs a fresh phone GPS location and a ready radio. Once it starts, the wardrive controls collapse out of the way and a countdown bar shows when the next test will be attempted.

4. Send only approved mapping tests

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. 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.

6. Review your result

On your app map, look for your session's test dots and verified cells. On the public map, click a verified 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 and its counts. 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: 2026-08-26