New Featherweight GPS phone app available for Android and iOS

[Adrian A]

I've tried installing both through test flight and the Apple store. I've tried it on an SE and 8, which both worked well with iFIP.

I was able to repeat the problem when I went back to an older iPhone SE running iOS 17.1. I didn’t try uninstalling yet but I upgraded the iOS to 17.3. That didn’t help. I uninstalled it and re-installed and that didn’t help either. When my developer gets back from vacation in a couple of days this will be the top priority. In the meantime it works fine on my iPhone 13 and Android phones.

 

[Rocket86]

I was able to repeat the problem when I went back to an older iPhone SE running iOS 17.1. I didn’t try uninstalling yet but I upgraded the iOS to 17.3. That didn’t help. I uninstalled it and re-installed and that didn’t help either. When my developer gets back from vacation in a couple of days this will be the top priority. In the meantime it works fine on my iPhone 13 and Android phones.

Thank you, I appreciate it very much.

 

[Adrian A]

Build 272 is now available, which fixes the issue of support for older iPhones, fixes the channel scan feature, and allows the Blue Raven ground test video recording to work in landscape mode.

 

[kjhambrick]

Adrian --

Should we receive a Firebase App Distribution notification for the version 272 update ?

Thanks !

-- kjh

 

[Rocket86]

Build 272 is now available, which fixes the issue of support for older iPhones, fixes the channel scan feature, and allows the Blue Raven ground test video recording to work in landscape mode.

I was able to get the app installed and apparently operational. Thank you for getting to that so quickly. I've been testing on iphone 8 and XR. But....testing in my driveway sometimes it just starts running simulations over and over when it should be waiting for a launch. Other times it will appear to be ready to go, showing satellites and signal strength as iFip did, but if I accidentally touch 'devices' or possibly altimeter, and go back to 'tracker' the display is blank. It shows the fields, but no satelites, no battery condition, or LoRA, nothing, and it doesn't ever come back. In devices it shows the tracker and GS are still connected, but on the tracker screeen there is nothing. Also, the 'connected' text under a device is very hard to see outside.

What is the correct sequence for preparing for a launch? I used to open iFIP, turn on the GS and tracker, and then turn on my electronics, etc, once I see that satelites connecting. With the new UI I sometimes get a message saying the tracker is not present, when it is peresnt and powered on. Most times the tracker screen shows no activity at all, other then the bluetooth icon is white. It rarely looks ready to launch. Also, in the tracker screen sometimes the bluetooth shows RED even though in devices bother show as connected.

Also, if I go to 'edit' a channel or switch to map screen the app crashes.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help.

 

[Adrian A]

I was able to get the app installed and apparently operational. Thank you for getting to that so quickly. I've been testing on iphone 8 and XR. But....testing in my driveway sometimes it just starts running simulations over and over when it should be waiting for a launch.

When it’s downloading recorded data from a previous launch or simulation it can seem like it’s running a new simulation. If the green LED is very active this is what’s going on. When the download is complete it won’t download the same flight again.

Other times it will appear to be ready to go, showing satellites and signal strength as iFip did, but if I accidentally touch 'devices' or possibly altimeter, and go back to 'tracker' the display is blank. It shows the fields, but no satelites, no battery condition, or LoRA, nothing, and it doesn't ever come back. In devices it shows the tracker and GS are still connected, but on the tracker screeen there is nothing.

Try clicking on the tracker you want to watch on the devices screen. It’s possible it’s trying to show you data from a different tracker that isn’t connected.

Also make sure that the ground station and tracker are on the same channel. Edit the GS in the devices screen and select the tracker that you want it connected to.

If you see the GS flashing a red and green LED every second, then the two are communicating with each other.

What is the correct sequence for preparing for a launch? I used to open iFIP, turn on the GS and tracker, and then turn on my electronics, etc, once I see that satelites connecting. With the new UI I sometimes get a message saying the tracker is not present, when it is peresnt and powered on.

That erroneous message is on the to-do list to get fixed.

You should be able to turn them on in any order and they will just work.

Also, if I go to 'edit' a channel or switch to map screen the app crashes.

That hasn’t been happening in my testing, and may be caused by some further compatibility issues with older phones. Tomorrow I’ll try to reproduce this.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help.

I appreciate the feedback. I spend a large part of my time testing these builds and working with my developer to find and fix issues like these. But we can’t test every combination of every feature on every phone model, so I thank you for bringing the issues to my attention.

A more direct way is to email [email protected], which is the address that will get my attention the fastest.

 

[Adrian A]

Adrian --

Should we receive a Firebase App Distribution notification for the version 272 update ?

Thanks !

-- kjh

Thanks for reminding me to make the new build available for Android. I have most recently been testing build 173, which has improvements to the mapping screen and channel scanning.

 

[DeeRoc29]

double post

 

[DeeRoc29]

Well, it took more than a day or two, but a major new app update is available now. Once of the biggest improvements is in the live mapping area. The tracker and GS positions are now plotted live, and each of them can have their lat/lon coordinates copied by clicking on the interest point icon.

The map function works great! My wife enjoyed watching me on the app at home while I went to the grocery store with the tracker in my pocket.

Question, the voice function doesn't seem to work yet. Is it user error on my part, or is that function just not working yet on the android version?

 

[Adrian A]

I just got done testing a new and much improved Android version, 1.09 (build 309). I have pushed it to FireBase and I'm working on updating the version on Google Play.

Bugs fixed:
-Corrected tracker recorded data download
-Tracker altitudes now in altitude above ground (AGL)
-Improved maps view
-Improved voice telemetry
-More reliable connection and automatic download when using multiple devices
-Improved response to power failure during Blue Raven over-the-air (OTA) update
New features:
-Define a geofence for the pad area and prep area to provide better status of other rockets in the channel list (in work)
-Initial Lost Rocket interface (in work)
Known issues:
-Voice telemetry lags somewhat during descent
-Some altitude offset (~100 feet) between ground station estimate and tracker estimate. Does not affect recorded data

 

[Adrian A]

I'm going to do regression testing for iOS build 309 later this afternoon. It has only minor updates over the current iOS build 300.

 

[kjhambrick]

@Adrian A --

Do these updates affect firmware of either Av-Bay component or do they only update the Android / IOS Phone apps ?

Thanks !

-- kjh

 

[Adrian A]

Just the phone app. But if anyone has outdated firmware for the Blue Raven, there are improvements in the OTA process.

 

[jgarbus]

I loaded the Android app as soon as the email was out thismorning. I loaded some older flights and it did fix the mapping issue that was driving me bonkers.

No flights yet but will be flying in 2 weeks

 

[JackC]

Adrian, I can’t seem to get the new software to work. The screen is showing I’m more than 800,000 feet away from the tracker when it’s right next to me. I’m using Apple iOS on an IPhone 13se. Everything worked on the old software until recently. The arrow indicator is now way off. Also the cross talk between the receiver and tracker never stopped. Thanks.

Jack

 

[Adrian A]

Does your tracker have a GPS lock? It may need to be outside.

 

[JackC]

Does your tracker have a GPS lock? It may need to be outside.

Hi Adrian,

I did have the unit outside. I'm not sure it has the GPS lock, though.

 

[JackC]

Hi Adrian,

I did have the unit outside. I'm not sure it has the GPS lock, though.

I have two trackers, 4055 and 4056. I had the same problem with both. 4055 has both the green and red lights. 4056 only has a red light.

 

[JackC]

I have two trackers, 4055 and 4056. I had the same problem with both. 4055 has both the green and red lights. 4056 only has a red light.

I think it’s working. Do I need to update the firmware? How do I do that?

 

[Adrian A]

I think it’s working. Do I need to update the firmware? How do I do that?

Glad it’s working. You don’t need to update the firmware.

 

[JackC]

Glad it’s working. You don’t need to update the firmware.

Thanks!

 

[JackC]

Thanks!

Do you have instructions for the new UI? I don’t think the old instructions are that helpful with this new version. Thanks

 

[Adrian A]

Do you have instructions for the new UI? I don’t think the old instructions are that helpful with this new version. Thanks

Not yet. About the closest thing to that is the diagram on the Featherweight GPS product page.

 

[JackC]

Not yet. About the closest thing to that is the diagram on the Featherweight GPS product page.

Okay. Got it! Thanks!

Jack

 

[rocketgeek101]

Anyone experiencing serious lag and overheating with the new app on their iPhone? I have a launch coming up next weekend and thought I’d test out the new app with my Featherweight GPS tracker for the first time tonight. The moment I paired my tracking system with the app, the app became extremely laggy (previously up until that point it was very fluid and responsive) and my phone started getting warm and draining battery quickly. Quitting and restarting the app (I tried many times) does not solve the problem. Nor does turning the tracker off and on again (but if I leave it off all goes back to normal). I’m running the app v1.0.9 (316) on an iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 17.4.1. iFIP continues to work fine for me without issue.

 

[rocketgeek101]

Anyone experiencing serious lag and overheating with the new app on their iPhone? I have a launch coming up next weekend and thought I’d test out the new app with my Featherweight GPS tracker for the first time tonight. The moment I paired my tracking system with the app, the app became extremely laggy (previously up until that point it was very fluid and responsive) and my phone started getting warm and draining battery quickly. Quitting and restarting the app (I tried many times) does not solve the problem. Nor does turning the tracker off and on again (but if I leave it off all goes back to normal). I’m running the app v1.0.9 (316) on an iPhone 15 Pro with iOS 17.4.1. iFIP continues to work fine for me without issue.

Hmm interestingly, I just tried the new app on my older iPhone XS this morning (also running the latest iOS 17.4.1) and doesn't seem to have the same issues as I was experiencing with my 15 Pro. So maybe the cause is some runaway process limited to newer iPhones?

Edit: I deleted and reinstalled the app on my 15 Pro and now it seems to be working correctly... will update again if problems resurface.

 

[Aeva]

@Adrian A does featherweight UI have a logging feature built into the app? Sometimes app devs have a "download debug log" option so you can send a detailed report to the developers when you encounter issues that are more obscured, like what rocketgeek101 found. That being said, it sounds like there was something in the cache that hogged the memory when the app was loaded or some race condition with the resources; probably the former... but I'm guessing in the dark.

 

[Adrian A]

There is debug information about crashes that is automatically available to my developer. The app is working well for me and I think for the vast majority of users, but for the few that are having problems it may be some combination of phone model, OS version, or other installed apps that are causing incompatibilities that we are actively working on tracking down and fixing.

 

[Aeva]

There is debug information about crashes that is automatically available to my developer. The app is working well for me and I think for the vast majority of users, but for the few that are having problems it may be some combination of phone model, OS version, or other installed apps that are causing incompatibilities that we are actively working on tracking down and fixing.

You and your developer quietly receiving debugging info lol. Good to know tho!

 

[DaHabes]

Adrian, I just exported the flight data some of my flights. The date-time-stamp of the summary has the date and time of the flight, but the date-time-stamp of the detail tracker data has the date and time of the export. That is really confusing. I want to modify the filenames to add the rocket name, and pairing them up is a bit of a pain (I exported several flights at the same time, so the summary filenames are so similar I can't tell them apart). Is there a reason for the difference? I would think both file should have the launch date and time. Files attached.