FAQ

Short answers to the questions we hear most, each linking to the full guide. If yours is not here, ask on the support page.

Do I need a licence to use APRS Connect?

Only to transmit. Everything that goes on the air — messages, beacons, service commands — is signed with your callsign, and transmitting without an amateur radio licence is illegal in essentially every country. Listening is different: you can run the app receive-only over APRS-IS with no licence at all, which also lets you watch how APRS works before you are licensed. See Getting started.

Do I need a radio?

No. APRS runs over RF and over the internet backbone (APRS-IS), and the app speaks both — you can start internet-only over your phone's own connection and add a radio later, or run any combination of connections at once. A radio does need something between it and the phone: a KISS TNC, or the app's built-in AFSK audio modem over an audio cable. Start at Connect to APRS-IS or Connect a radio.

Which radios and TNCs work with it?

Any KISS TNC, over four kinds of link: Bluetooth Classic (a paired TNC — a Mobilinkd, or a TH-D75's built-in TNC), Bluetooth LE (a Mobilinkd TNC4 in LE mode, or a B.B. Link), USB serial with an OTG cable, and KISS over TCP for Direwolf or any network TNC. No TNC at all? The AFSK audio modem turns the phone itself into one, over an audio cable to any radio. Connect a radio helps you pick.

Why does the app never ask for my APRS-IS passcode?

Because the passcode is derived from your callsign — the app computes it, so you never type one. With transmit off, the app does something stricter: it logs in read-only and refuses to send, rather than letting the server silently discard your traffic. Details in Connect to APRS-IS.

Why am I not hearing anything?

Start at the Radio screen (under More): it distinguishes intent from reality, so a switched-on connection that is not actually working says so, in words, with the reason. Next suspects: your APRS-IS filter may be too narrow, the shared view filter's age window may be hiding what you have heard, and Android's battery optimisation can stop background reception — the app reads that state from the system and shows it honestly, with a shortcut to fix it. See Connect to APRS-IS and Background & battery.

Why did my message say "Digipeated" but not "Delivered"?

They are different proofs. Digipeated means the app heard its own packet come back through a repeater — proof your message was radiated, not proof anyone received it. Delivered means the recipient's station acknowledged it. A message can be repeated perfectly and still never reach a station that is off the air; the app retries on its own, and all six delivery states are explained in Messaging.

Does it work offline?

Yes — the app is local-first. Everything lives in a database on the phone, so your messages, packet history, and station list are fully usable with no connection. The map caches every tile you view — capped at a size you choose, up to 10 GB — and redraws with no connection; there is no whole-area download ahead of a trip yet. See Map.

Is there an iPhone version?

Not yet — APRS Connect is on Google Play for Android, with iOS to follow. Leave your email in the notify form on the homepage and we will tell you when there is one, or ask on the support page.

How do I stop transmitting my exact position?

Turn on position ambiguity — per beacon, five levels from exact down to a roughly 70-mile cell. The digits are genuinely removed before the packet is built, and reduced precision is flagged in the beacon summary so it cannot stay on by accident. Answering ?APRSP position queries is separate, opt-in, and off by default. See Beaconing.

How do I get my data out?

Three ways. A JSON backup exports your settings, conversations (with delivery and read state), and blocked list — see Backup & restore. The packet log exports exactly what is on screen, filters applied, or the entire log as a capture file, one packet per line with timestamps — see Packet log. And any station's track can be exported as GPX or KML from its page — see Stations.

Can I use a radio and APRS-IS at the same time?

Yes — any combination of connections at once, with RF and internet shown as two separate status indicators. Every station carries a provenance badge saying whether it was heard over RF, via the internet, or both, and each beacon chooses its own routing — everywhere, or only the channels you name. See Connect a radio and Beaconing.

Last updated 31 August 2026