Good app, depending upon your hardware and use. It didn't work for me as there is no option to use a serial TNC over USB. To those of you complaining about a password: the developer does not issue the passwords. There are automatically generated from your callsign. Do a simple web search for 'APRS password' and enter your callsign.
Please continue to actually maintain this app or just open it for free to the community. I tried this on 2 phones and had the same problems. It starts with a warning that this is not optimized for the newest version of Android and crashes when you try and use the mapping feature. I have had to uninstall and reinstall this app several times to get it to continue to work with the AFSK connection to the radio. It will hear incoming data but not decode. Others have posted on this issue also.
I have enjoyed using this app immensely. However, as of today (11/12/19), all it does is crash immediately whenever you try to open it. I assume this is either a problem with Android 10 or Google Maps, as the developer has mentioned on the APRSDroid Twitter account. Lack of updating could also be an issue, but I've never had a problem otherwise since February, 2018 when I purchased this.
Awesome app. Lets you do APRS with something as lowly as an inexpensive Chinese HT. Regarding getting a passcode: I used the documented option of importing my LOTW certificate. I was up and running within 5 minutes of paying for the app. Again, awesome app. I am going to have some fun with this! Update: And I got my APRS-IS passcode within 24 hours. Great app. Definitely worth the $5.
Ignore my initial review, below. I hadn't used APRSdroid for long time and the app needed a total reset of the settings, cache and app cleared. Settings re-entered manually. All good now. "Android 12, OneUI 4.1, S10+. APRSdroid keeps crashing when Start Tracking is attempted. TCP config via APRS-IS. It used to work flawlessly in the past (last time I checked, one or two years ago)."
All of you people with passcode problems: just google "aprs passcode generator". There are several online. All you need is a callsign. This app works fantastically with the Mobilinkd TNC2 over Bluetooth! It shows maps and (nearly) raw packet traffic. It even sends AFSK audio through your speaker or headphone jack. Completely flexible. The only way it could be improved would be to have an option to eliminate GPS entirely and just use it for AX.25 packet (other than APRS)...and to add gating capability.
Needs an update. Used to work great. Got a slightly updated phone (Google Pixel XL) and now APRSdroid crashes a lot. I was able to send out a beacon and a message 1 time. Now it seems to be in continual crash mode. Startup warns that this software is for an earlier version of Android and may not work. Last update 2018. Great App, but time for an update fix.
was great until Android 10 Now you cannot update your location running in the background, just in the foreground. There is no longer a choice in android location share settings for all the time only when app is active. Has been great for years but now it is not usable for me, I am a truck driver and I use many apps on the phone and tablet and use AprsDroid in the background. Now I have to go and see if I can find something else without having to tie up a radio. Please fix this !
By and large, an awesome app. Great map, I like that the log sorts incoming beacons by distance. Five suggested improvements: 1) allow users to set the beacon distance to miles instead of KM; 2) Android Auto integration; 3) more sorting options for messages; 4) add unread count to messages icon; 5) center map on a user's current location.
The app is great, have used it many times over many years for messaging, tracking stations and receiving object positions OTA. However the "send position" doesn't seem to do so immediately. I would strongly recommend that this be changed to do so as it is crucial for hardware testing and can make it very frustrating if you have to wait for the beacon timer to fire in order to send a packet. Thank you!
