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Using the mobile app

FreqMapper uses the same six main areas on Android and iPhone. Android calls one tab Activity while iPhone calls the matching summary Results; the job is the same. Small layout details differ, but a person moving between platforms should recognize the same workflow.

Tab Use it for
Map Choose a wardrive mission, start or stop a trip, follow your location, request a Signal Burst, inspect coverage, and view private session markers.
Chat Send and receive short Meshtastic messages on an allowed radio channel.
Activity / Results Check the current trip's GPS, upload, TX, RX, Watcher-match, and verification progress.
Trips Review wardrives saved on this phone, reopen mapped spots, inspect signal history, and share selected coverage.
Radio Find, connect, enroll, verify, recover, or disconnect a Meshtastic radio and control Offline Mode.
Settings Change trip behavior, map appearance, profile/data choices, advanced options, updates, and support.

Changing tabs does not stop an active wardrive. Force-quitting the app or an operating-system termination is different and is not guaranteed background operation.

Map

The Map tab is the main driving screen.

Before a trip

  1. Confirm the displayed region matches your location.
  2. Check that the phone has a fresh GPS fix and the radio is ready.
  3. Expand WarDrive.
  4. Choose Active Patrol for paced TX plus RX mapping or Silent Recon for RX-only mapping.
  5. Start the wardrive only after you are parked or a passenger is operating the phone.

A region can require Silent Recon. Active Patrol also requires the managed FreqMapper channel to be ready.

During a trip

The app shows its current position, route, TX markers, RX markers, and coverage returned by FreqMapper. Opening another tab does not pause GPS, BLE reception, automatic tests, or uploads.

A wardrive also stays running when the phone crosses a regional boundary. Before every automatic test or Signal Burst, FreqMapper checks the current GPS region. Active Patrol continues automatically in another region that allows it. In a Silent Recon-only region, outside all active regions, or whenever transmission permission cannot be confirmed, coverage-test transmissions pause while GPS and receive mapping continue as Silent Recon. Active Patrol resumes automatically after the phone returns to an eligible region; the mapper does not need to stop and restart the trip.

Offline Active Patrol follows the same fail-closed rule using signed approvals. While online, the app refreshes short-lived approvals for the current region and nearby allow-both regions so a connection loss at a regional boundary can hand off safely. Each approval remains limited to its own boundary, the matching radio and managed channel, and its expiration time. If the destination approval was not downloaded before connectivity disappeared, the running wardrive continues receive-only until authority can be confirmed.

  • Signal Burst requests one intentional mapping test when regional policy permits it. It uses the same cooldown and movement safeguards as automatic tests.
  • Zoom in / Zoom out changes the map scale without changing the active region.
  • Re-center driving map returns to your current position at your selected driving zoom and resumes camera following after you pan, rotate, or tilt.
  • Choose map marker changes the vehicle and color used for your GPS position.
  • Map style changes the background map between light, dark, and satellite views.
  • Legend and controls explains markers and coverage.
  • Refresh coverage requests the latest results.
  • The collapse button hides the control rail. iPhone and Android use the same control order and grouped right-side layout; on short landscape screens the rail scrolls so every action remains available.

Blue TX markers with a white ring are requests sent to the radio. Green TX markers have an independent Watcher receipt. Red TX markers completed without one in the 90-second matching window. Purple RX markers show where the driving radio heard eligible traffic; they do not identify the sender's location or become verified TX coverage.

Tap a marker for time, signal, packet, and evidence details. RX details can compare the driving radio's copy with up to three approved Watchers while keeping the two signal readings separate.

Chat

Chat is for short Meshtastic messages useful during community work and troubleshooting. Select one of the configured, manually messageable radio channels before sending.

FreqMapper's managed wardriving channel is reserved for controlled mapping tests and is not available for ordinary Chat. A message can show local delivery, relay, failure, and emoji-tapback information reported by the connected radio.

Chat history stays on that phone for seven days. FreqMapper does not upload the message text or chat delivery state to its service. A privacy-filtered RX sample may record that a text packet was heard during a wardrive, but never its contents.

If an enrollment notice appears, Chat remains available. Open Radio takes you directly to the enrollment flow. Never use ordinary Chat messages as a substitute for a mapping test.

Activity or Results

Use this tab to answer “is the trip actually working?” without interpreting the map.

During a wardrive it can show:

  • mission and region;
  • GPS points saved or sent;
  • mapping-test requests and tests accepted by FreqMapper;
  • items waiting in the offline upload queue;
  • private RX samples;
  • RX samples matched by two or more Watchers or a cross-region Watcher;
  • tested map areas; and
  • verified and not-heard TX results.

Android's Activity view also includes recent radio tests, GPS updates, connection messages, and support-useful event details from that phone. iPhone's Results view emphasizes current, most recent, and since-launch totals. These are operational summaries, not a public leaderboard.

Trips

Trips contains wardrives saved locally on the phone. A running trip appears as in progress; finished trips show their mission, region, time, and applicable totals.

Use View live map for the active trip or View on map for a completed trip's private mapped spots. The trip map can show its saved route, TX tests, verified TX cells, and private RX cells. Use Signal timeline to compare TX and RX signal readings over the trip and inspect a specific point.

Use Share trip to create a public link for one completed, uploaded trip. Sharing requires this app to be linked to a FreqMapper profile; if it is not linked, the app offers the secure linking flow first. The link is created only after you choose Share and opens a trip-only public map with Watcher-verified TX cells, privacy-filtered aggregate RX cells, and a safe summary. It does not publish the route, exact TX or RX samples, sender identity, radio identity, packet details, or profile identity. Manage or revoke active links in the website profile under Wardrive sessions.

Local history and server data are not the same thing. Settings → Profile & data → Erase local trip history removes phone-only history and uploads still waiting on that phone. It does not remove coverage already uploaded. The website profile's Wardrive sessions section shows uploaded account-linked history.

Radio

The Radio tab owns the radio connection and enrollment workflow. A transport dock stays immediately above the main bottom navigation, so BLE/TCP/USB can be changed without scrolling back to the top. It keeps transport-specific choices separate: BLE shows only nearby and saved Bluetooth radios, TCP shows only network-radio entry and saved TCP radios, and Android also provides USB for attached USB serial radios. iPhone supports BLE and TCP; USB is Android-only. Disconnect before changing transport. Less-frequent enrolled-radio history starts collapsed so current connection and recovery actions remain easier to reach.

  1. Choose BLE, TCP, or Android USB.
  2. Allow the connection permission Android or iPhone requests, then choose a radio. For Android USB, use a USB data cable and approve the device-access prompt.
  3. Choose one radio and wait for identity and channel synchronization.
  4. If required, enter a current region invite key.
  5. Let FreqMapper check regional radio settings and prepare the managed channel.

The readiness card distinguishes disconnected, connecting, connected, enrollment-required, previously enrolled, and ready-to-drive states. If official regional LoRa settings differ, FreqMapper explains the mismatch but does not reconfigure the radio; make the change in Meshtastic and reconnect.

Go Offline stops FreqMapper server contact after the installation and radio have been prepared online. New wardrive data stays encrypted on the phone. Go Online resumes checks and uploads. Pending data can also be managed under Settings → Profile & data.

Only one phone or app should own the radio connection. Close Meshtastic and disconnect other phones or USB clients if synchronization does not finish. See Troubleshooting for stale Android pairing and recovery steps.

Settings

The Settings home shows current service, radio, and managed-channel status before the controls. A problem that needs attention links to its recent issue entry and support code.

Use Mobile app settings for the complete reference to:

  • Quick settings;
  • Driving & radio;
  • Map & appearance;
  • Profile & data;
  • Advanced; and
  • Help & about.

A normal first-use path

For a new installation, use the tabs in this order:

  1. Radio: connect and enroll the radio.
  2. Settings: link the app to your profile and review defaults.
  3. Map: select a mission and start the trip.
  4. Activity / Results: confirm records and evidence are moving.
  5. Trips: review the finished trip.
  6. Settings → Help & about: report a problem with redacted diagnostics if something did not work.

Last updated: 2026-10-04