On Windows

APRS Connect for Windows is the same app as on Android and iPhone, with the same screens, in a window of its own. It suits a computer in the shack that stays on, with a TNC or a radio attached.

It is free to use over APRS-IS, the same as the phone apps. See Free and Pro.

What you need

Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit.
An amateur radio licence, if you want to transmit, as everywhere else. Receive-only needs none.

Installing it

Download the installer from aprsconnect.com/download/windows. The file is named APRS Connect_ and the version, ending in -setup.exe.
Run it. The publisher Windows names is AxelStack, LLC.
Open APRS Connect from the Start menu. The app walks you through the same setup as on a phone: your callsign, an SSID and a symbol.

The setup asks for two things: location, for your beacon and the map, and notifications, for messages that arrive while the window is closed.

What works

Everything that runs over APRS-IS:

Messaging, with delivery states, retries and bulletins.
Services, nets and groups and APRS OTA.
The map, stations and the packet log.
Beaconing.
Backup and restore. Files save to the computer.
All nine languages.

The Windows app connects to the APRS-IS servers itself, so your own server, port and filter work as they do on a phone. Your packets go out under the device identifier APSTKW. See Connect to APRS-IS.

A right-click opens the menus that a long press opens on a phone. On a wide window the app shows a list and what you open from it side by side, as the browser version does.

Radios

Radio channels are part of APRS Connect Pro, as on a phone. The Windows app connects to:

USB TNC. A KISS TNC on a USB serial port. The app lists the ports itself, and reconnects when the TNC is plugged in again. See USB serial TNCs.
Bluetooth TNC. Pair the radio or TNC in Windows Bluetooth settings first. Windows gives a paired device a serial port, and the app connects through it. See Bluetooth KISS TNCs.
Bluetooth LE TNC, and LoRa APRS trackers. The app scans for the device as the phone apps do. See BLE TNCs.
Network TNC. A KISS TNC on your network, such as Direwolf on this computer or another one. See KISS over TCP.

Not in the Windows app: the audio modem and the Tidradio TD-H9. Those need the Android or iPhone app.

It keeps running in the tray

Closing the window does not stop the app. It stays in the system tray, next to the clock, and keeps receiving, beaconing and retrying. A click on the tray icon opens the window again.

To stop it, right-click the tray icon and choose Quit. Your station is then off the air until you open the app again.
Start with Windows is on when the app is installed. The app then opens in the tray when you sign in to Windows, without showing its window. The switch is on the Run in the background screen, which is reached from the Radio screen.
Notifications for messages and alerts, and reminders for an ISS pass or #APRSThursday, arrive while the app is running, with its window open or closed. They do not arrive after Quit.

Your position

A computer usually has no GPS of its own. The app can take its position from:

A GPS receiver on USB, a serial port or Bluetooth. Choose it under GPS receiver on the Radio screen.
A fixed location, which suits a station that stays in one place. You can also right-click a point on the map and choose Set as station position.
Windows location, when neither of those is set. Windows may not know where a desktop computer is.

Updates

The app updates itself. It checks for a new version about a minute after it starts and every six hours after that, and downloads one in the background when there is one. The download is checked against a signature before it is used.

An update never drops a radio link in the middle of a net. A downloaded update is applied at the first of these:

The next time the app starts. The update goes in before the window opens. With Start with Windows on, that is usually the next time you sign in to Windows.
While the window is closed and no radio is connected, for a smaller update that needs no installer. The app reloads itself, which takes a few seconds. An update that needs the installer waits for one of the others.
RESTART TO APPLY NOW, under Updates on the About screen, which says when an update is ready. The app closes or reloads, applies the update and comes back. This takes a few seconds, and the screen says what restarting will interrupt.
Quit from the tray icon. An update that came as an installer is installed as the app closes.

CHECK FOR UPDATES on the same screen checks at once. You do not need to download the installer from the site again.

Pro on Windows

APRS Connect Pro belongs to your account in the Windows app.

If you already have Pro on Android or iPhone, sign in to the same account on the phone and in the Windows app, under Settings → Account. The Windows app has Pro for as long as the account does, a free trial included.
If you do not, choose a plan on the app's Pro screen. The app asks you to create an account or sign in, then opens the payment page on aprsconnect.com in your browser. When the payment is done, go back to the app's window and Pro is on.

A subscription bought on aprsconnect.com covers the Windows app and the browser version, wherever you are signed in to that account. It does not cover the Android or iPhone app, which take Pro only from their own store. See Free and Pro.

With an account come your conversations, pinned stations, blocked list and settings, kept in step with your other devices. If the computer and your phone share a callsign and SSID, only one of them beacons at a time. See Sync between your devices.

Where your data is kept

Your messages, packet log, stations and settings are in a database on this computer, under your Windows account. They are not on our server unless you sign in and sync.

The database is encrypted. Its key is kept by Windows for your Windows account, so the file cannot be read on another computer or by another account. There is no password to remember.
Keep a backup if the data matters to you, or sign in. Reinstalling Windows, or losing the Windows account, loses the key.
Offline map regions, with Pro, are downloaded to the computer, and you can import a map file of your own.

Removing it

Quit the app from the tray, then uninstall APRS Connect from Settings → Apps in Windows.

Last updated 8 October 2026