Windows 10 and Windows 11

APRS Connect for Windows

The same app as on Android and iPhone, in a window of its own. It suits a computer in the shack that stays on, with a TNC or a radio attached. Messaging, the APRS services, nets, the map and the packet log work over APRS-IS, and the app connects to a radio through a USB, Bluetooth or network TNC.

Download for Windows How to install it

Version 1.13.7, 8.4 MB. For Windows 10 and Windows 11, 64-bit.

Free to install and use over APRS-IS. APRS Connect Pro adds radios, offline maps and more: $3.99/month or $29.99/year, after a 7-day free trial.

Also on Android and iPhone.

APRS Connect on Windows: the list of conversations, one conversation open with each message marked Delivered, and the page of the station it is with, including its track on a map — Messages on a wide window: your conversations, the one you opened, and the station it is with. Select a picture to see it larger.

What the Windows app does

Everything over APRS-IS

Messaging with delivery states and retries, the APRS services, nets and groups, APRS OTA, the map, stations, the packet log, beaconing and backup, as on a phone. The app connects to the APRS-IS servers itself, so your own server, port and filter work.

USB, Bluetooth and network TNCs

A KISS TNC on a USB serial port, a Bluetooth TNC paired in Windows, a Bluetooth LE TNC or a LoRa APRS tracker, or a KISS TNC on your network such as Direwolf. Radio channels are part of APRS Connect Pro.

It keeps running in the tray

Closing the window does not stop the app. It stays in the system tray, still receiving, beaconing and notifying, until you choose Quit there. It starts with Windows, in the tray, unless you turn that off.

A list beside what it opens

On a wide window the app shows a list and the screen you open from it side by side: your conversations beside the one you are reading, the stations beside the one you picked. A right-click opens the menus that a long press opens on a phone.

It updates itself

The app checks for a new version, downloads it in the background, and applies it the next time it starts. An update never drops a radio link in the middle of a net.

A position for a computer

A computer usually has no GPS of its own. The app takes its position from a GPS receiver on USB, a serial port or Bluetooth, from a fixed location you set, or from Windows.

The Windows guide covers each of these in full, and Features lists everything the Windows app has.

The map and the packet log

The map in the Windows app: stations between Boulder and Denver with their callsigns, and the tracks of the ones that are moving — The map, with the track of each station that is moving.

The packet log in the Windows app with one packet open beside it: the raw frame, each decoded field, and the path it took — The packet log beside one packet, decoded field by field.

The stations and callsigns in these pictures are made up.

Installing it

Download the installer. The file is named APRS Connect_1.13.7_x64-setup.exe.
Edge may say the file is not commonly downloaded. That is because the app is new. Open the menu beside the download, choose Keep, then Keep anyway.
Run the installer. 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.

You do not need to download the installer again for a new version. The app updates itself.

Pro on Windows

APRS Connect Pro adds the radio channels, offline map regions and more. Choose a plan on the app's Pro screen, and the app opens the payment page on aprsconnect.com in your browser. Free and Pro lists what is free and what Pro adds.

Get it

Download for Windows The Windows guide

Version 1.13.7, 8.4 MB. For Windows 10 and Windows 11, 64-bit.

On Android and iPhone

APRS Connect is on Google Play for Android and on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. It also runs in a web browser, with nothing to install.

Open in your browser