Skip to content

Mobile app settings

Android and iPhone organize Settings around the same jobs even when a control looks slightly different. This page explains what each choice changes, when it takes effect, and what it does not change.

Open the Settings tab in the FreqMapper app. The first screen shows connection status, a small group of quick settings, and links to the detailed sections below.

Quick settings

Setting What it does
Test every Sets the requested interval between automatic Active Patrol tests. The safety minimum is 15 seconds. GPS recording uses separate settings.
Patrol Focus New Ground pauses repeated automatic tests after three tests in one 100 m area. Retest Coverage keeps testing at the selected interval as you move, while still requiring at least 10 m between test positions.
Auto-stop after idle Ends the next wardrive after 30 minutes without at least 10 m of meaningful movement. It does not stop a trip merely because the screen is off.
Map colors Chooses Standard, Accessible, or Monochrome coverage colors. This changes presentation only, not evidence or scores.

Changes that say they apply to the next wardrive do not alter a trip already in progress.

Driving & radio

Wardrive tests

This section repeats the test interval, Patrol Focus, and auto-stop controls with more explanation. These options affect automatic tests in Active Patrol. Silent Recon does not send automatic tests.

Signal Burst is a separate, deliberate one-test action on the map. It shares the same 15-second cooldown and movement rules. A region that requires Silent Recon disables it.

Shared wardriving channel

FreqMapper prepares its managed wardriving channel only after the connected radio is enrolled and its channels finish loading. It uses an empty secondary slot and never overwrites an existing channel.

The app shows whether:

  • a matching FreqMapper channel is already ready;
  • an empty secondary slot is available;
  • the radio must be enrolled first; or
  • no safe channel slot is available.

If no slot is available, decide in the Meshtastic app which unused channel you want to remove. FreqMapper will not make that choice for you.

Radio

Selected radio is the BLE, TCP, or Android USB connection FreqMapper remembers. The fixed transport dock above the main tab bar keeps saved connections in separate lists, so choosing BLE never shows TCP entries and choosing TCP never shows BLE entries; Android USB has its own list too. Forget selected radio removes that saved phone selection; it does not revoke the radio's FreqMapper enrollment or erase the physical radio.

Disconnect a radio before forgetting it. To revoke enrollment, a regional administrator uses Invite keys & radios in Regional Administration.

Map & appearance

Coverage detail

  • Automatic uses 300 m overview cells while zoomed out and switches to 100 m detailed cells when zoomed in.
  • Detailed · 100 m keeps the smaller cells at every zoom level.
  • Overview · 300 m keeps the larger cells at every zoom level.

Choosing a fixed size prevents zooming from replacing the coverage grid and reloading the whole coverage layer. It changes only the map display and does not alter saved tests or coverage evidence.

Driving zoom

  • Remember last used restores the zoom most recently used on the live map.
  • Wide shows more roads and more of the route ahead.
  • Balanced provides the original driving view with nearby streets and surrounding context.
  • Close keeps the vehicle and nearby streets larger on screen.

The selected driving zoom is used when the live map first finds the phone, when a wardrive starts, and when Re-center driving map is tapped. Saved-trip maps have their own camera and do not replace the remembered driving zoom.

Coverage colors

  • Standard uses the original green, yellow, orange, red, and purple colors.
  • Accessible uses blue, yellow, and magenta with stronger separation.
  • Monochrome uses high-contrast grayscale.

Outlines and patterns continue to distinguish weak, degraded, not-heard, pending, and RX states. Color choice never changes the stored result.

App and map appearance

Android also exposes:

  • App appearance for the app's light/dark/system theme;
  • Units for distance labels;
  • Map theme for the live regional map, including Light, Dark, and Satellite; and
  • separate Coverage results, Watchers, and Current region outline layer switches.

Both platforms let you choose the vehicle and color used for your map marker. That marker is local decoration; it is not uploaded as coverage data and does not affect GPS accuracy.

The map itself also has controls to recenter, change its style, open the legend, refresh coverage, and collapse the control rail. Panning or rotating during a wardrive pauses camera following but does not pause the trip. Use Re-center driving map to follow the vehicle again at the selected driving zoom.

Profile & data

The app works without a website account, but linking is strongly recommended before changing phones or uninstalling.

Use either method:

  1. Tap Sign in and link this app. Sign in on the secure page and approve the link.
  2. On the website profile, open Linked apps & radios, create a short pairing code, then enter it in the app under Website pairing code.

Website sign-in by itself does not link the app. Return to Settings and confirm that it says This app is linked to your profile.

Linking associates server-confirmed radio enrollments and uploaded wardrives with the profile. It does not copy pending uploads, saved Bluetooth selections, or other phone-only preferences to another device.

Log out / unlink this app removes only the relationship with the profile. The radio enrollment and uploaded wardrives remain on FreqMapper and appear again if the app is relinked. Link the app before uninstalling if you want its eligible radio enrollments to be recoverable later.

Offline sessions

If internet or the FreqMapper service is unavailable, pending mapping records are encrypted and saved on the phone. They upload automatically when possible. This section lets you inspect a saved session and request Upload session or Upload all offline sessions.

Turn off Offline Mode before manually uploading. Do not uninstall or erase local data while records are still waiting; pending records exist only on that phone.

Privacy and local data

Erase local trip history removes saved trip summaries and uploads still waiting on that phone. It does not remove coverage that already reached FreqMapper. Finish the active wardrive first.

Chat messages sent or heard through the connected radio stay on the phone for seven days. Message text is not uploaded to FreqMapper.

Delete account or app data

  • If the app is linked, Delete my FreqMapper account opens the website. Deleting the account also removes its sign-in methods, linked devices, and personal data.
  • If the app is not linked, Delete this app's data removes only that installation's personal data.

You may choose Delete now or Delete in 7 days. Delete now cannot be cancelled. The seven-day choice can be cancelled before its deadline, but local trip history and waiting uploads erased when deletion was requested cannot be recovered.

Coverage already contributed remains on the community map without the person's name or account attached. Shared regions, boundaries, Watchers, and regional settings are not deleted. Read Privacy and data for the complete explanation.

Advanced

GPS recording

Android provides three controls:

  • GPS sample spacing avoids recording nearly identical locations;
  • GPS sample interval records after enough time or distance has passed; and
  • GPS accuracy limit rejects lower-confidence fixes.

iPhone exposes Required GPS accuracy. Changes take effect on the next wardrive. These GPS controls govern route sampling; they do not make Active Patrol transmit faster.

Radio cleanup

When Remove FreqMapper channel on disconnect is on, a clean disconnect disables only the temporary secondary channel FreqMapper created. A matching channel that was already present is left alone. After an unexpected Bluetooth drop, the app waits until the next connection to clean up safely.

Connection details

Connection details show whether the app is using the configured FreqMapper service and whether the installation is ready. Development and production are separate services with separate profiles and enrollments.

Offline Mode

Use Offline Mode only after the radio, region, enrollment, and managed channel have been prepared online. It stops server contact and keeps new records encrypted on the phone. A saved required-update rule still applies. Turn Offline Mode off to sync.

Help & about

This section contains:

  • update status and a manual update check;
  • recent app issues and support codes;
  • Report a bug and Request a feature;
  • support-report status;
  • the Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, public feedback link, and app version.

The title and request text of an ordinary bug or feature report may appear in the public FreqMapper Feedback project. Optional reply contact, redacted diagnostics, attachments, and operator notes stay in the private support record. Review attachments and never include channel keys, invite keys, broker passwords, private locations, or message contents.

Android may save an unsent report on the phone when the service is unavailable. Send next retries it; Delete saved removes the local copy. Recent issue entries can be cleared after you have saved any support code you need.

If a setting is missing

A control can be unavailable when the app is offline, a wardrive is running, no radio is ready, the current region forbids transmissions, or the installed build is older. Check Help & about → App updates, then see Troubleshooting.

Last updated: 2026-09-24