Closed beta

Join the SondeFox beta

SondeFox is in active development, and we're inviting a small group of radiosonde chasers to help us validate it in the field. The beta is closed and invite-based: request a slot by email, and we'll send you a build when one opens.

What the beta is

The main job of this beta is field validation: taking a decoder chain that already works on real hardware and proving it across many phones, cables, antennas, launch sites, and weather. That means the most valuable testers are people who can actually put an SDR in the air path of a sonde.

What works today, what needs validation

The short version is below; the full per-type breakdown lives in decoder support.

Known beta gap: the Spectrum screen's tap-to-tune is designed but not wired up yet. Tapping a peak does not retune the radio; type the frequency into the Tune field and tap Go instead.

What we ask of testers

After each chase (or attempted chase), a short "fly report" by email is the most useful thing you can send. The things we most want to hear:

How to join

1. Email [email protected]

   Include your device model, Android version, which SDR you own (Airspy or RTL-SDR, and which model), and your country/region plus a rough distance to your nearest launch site; it helps us match testers to active sites.

2. Receive an APK and changelog

   When a slot opens we reply with a signed beta APK and release notes. Sideload it; Android will ask you to allow installs from your mail or files app.

3. Update as new builds ship

   For now, updates arrive as fresh APKs by email: install over the previous build, settings carry over. No store, no auto-update; the changelog tells you what to re-test.

Privacy in the beta

SondeFox does not automatically upload crash logs; sending a field-debug bundle is an explicit action. There are no SondeFox analytics or accounts. Network traffic goes to map providers, the SondeHub API, and, only if you use the opt-in developer capture tools (off by default), the private debug server at debug.sondefox.com. Reading a saved flight's history and fetching landing predictions are read-only, but not automatic by default: predictions require their setting plus a running local chase with eligible radiosonde targets, and enabling Saved Flights Auto-update lets Android make network-constrained exact-history requests in the background about every 15 minutes. SondeHub Live is currently available only in the separately installed SondeFox Test debug build. Production v0.14.0 does not expose the Network Live source or authorize its REST/MQTT runtime. In the debug preview, after its disclosure and network choice, broad 2D views make one bounded snapshot request, while closer 2D views send the viewed map centre and radius and open exact-sonde subscriptions. Native 3D discovery currently fails closed rather than estimating a ground viewport. The debug preview is not restored or run in the background and does not itself upload telemetry. Telemetry upload is opt-in and publishes only cleared types (RS41 and DFM17 today). The user-controlled paths that can send your own GPS position as application data are telemetry upload through uploader_position, the station and chase-car toggles, a manually confirmed recovery report when it uses the phone's current GPS fix, and the developer capture tools. A recovery report also sends coordinates including altitude, callsign or reporter name, recovered/not-found status, notes, a SondeFox recovery-software identifier, and a planned-status flag. Google Maps SDK data handling and the full picture are in Legal & privacy.