Tagged: android

ErgissVAG F16: An F-16 Cockpit-Style Android Car Dashboard with RTL-SDR ADS-B and Airband Receivers

Thank you to Gabriel Diaconu from Iasi, Romania, for writing in and sharing ErgissVAG F16, an Android car dashboard app that shows OBD2 data on a head-up display styled like an F-16 cockpit. Its latest release adds two RTL-SDR pages for car head units and phones, which allow it to receive the AM airband and ADS-B.

The AM airband receiver covers 118-137 MHz with 25 and 8.33 kHz channel spacing and includes active/standby frequencies, scanning with squelch, and a live spectrum. The ADS-B page uses a 1090 MHz decoder written from scratch and shows aircraft on a radar-like display. Gabriel saw several airliners near Iasi sending altitude and speed but no position, consistent with the GNSS interference reported in Gabriel's region, and the app flags these as "GNSS-x" (we've previously posted about mapping GNSS interference through ADS-B data).

Rather than relying on a separate driver app, ErgissVAG F16 talks to the dongle directly through Android's USB Host API using a port of librtlsdr, with no root needed, and rtl_tcp is supported as an option. Gabriel tested it with an RTL-SDR Blog V3 on a powered USB hub, as it drops out on bare OTG. The app is available on Google Play with a free 7-day trial, then a one-time €9.99 Pro unlock.

ErgissVAG F16 Airband Tuner & ADS-B TCAS-Style Traffic Display
ErgissVAG F16 Airband Tuner & ADS-B TCAS-Style Traffic Display

RS41 and M20 Android Decoder: A Standalone Radiosonde Decoder Android App for RTL-SDR

Back in June 2025, we posted about a radiosonde decoder and tracker program for Windows written by Mario Ančić (9A4AM). Mario has now written in again to share a new radiosonde decoder for Android, which works with an RTL-SDR dongle connected via a USB OTG adapter. As far as Mario is aware, it is the first standalone Android app dedicated to radiosonde decoding, as other solutions only offer it as an add-on within a larger SDR program.

The app decodes the common RS1729 radiosonde protocol and supports Vaisala RS41 and Meteomodem M20 sondes, with the type detected automatically, so you only need to enter the frequency and start decoding. As it is designed for radiosonde hunters, it skips PTU (pressure, temperature and humidity) data and focuses on position, altitude, speed, climb rate and heading. A 'Geo App' button passes the sonde's coordinates to your map app as a marker.

The decoder runs via the 'SDR driver' app by Signalware and was tested with our RTL-SDR Blog V3 and V4. The code is open source under the GPL-3.0 licence and available on GitHub, with the APK in the Releases section. Since the app runs as a background service, Android's battery optimization settings may need adjusting for it.

RS41 and M20 Android Decoder Screenshot
RS41 and M20 Android Decoder Screenshot

AI Disclaimer: The project README notes that parts of the code were written with the help of an AI assistant and reviewed by the author.

Backtrail Pro: An Open-Source App for Discontinued goTenna Mesh Radios and Meshtastic

Thank you to Patrick Gartner for writing in and sharing Backtrail Pro, a new iOS and Android app that brings discontinued goTenna Mesh radios back into use and also supports Meshtastic. The goTenna Mesh is a pocket-sized 1 W radio for the 902 - 928 MHz ISM band that pairs with a phone over Bluetooth for mesh texting without cell service.

The company behind goTenna Mesh has since shifted focus to military and public safety customers with its goTenna Pro line. In 2024, the security researchers who disclosed a series of goTenna vulnerabilities noted that goTenna discontinued support for the goTenna v1 and Mesh and exited the civilian market, around the same time CISA published its advisories on the Pro line. The consumer app has since disappeared, and goTenna was acquired by defense autonomy company Forterra in October 2025, leaving many owners with working radios and no app. With no vendor support, it's also unlikely that the Mesh's disclosed vulnerabilities, such as spoofed message injection with an SDR, will ever be patched.

Backtrail Pro talks to the goTenna Mesh through an independent implementation of its Bluetooth protocol, building on earlier community reverse engineering work. It supports group and direct messages, delivery receipts, location sharing, and optional AES-256 encryption. For Meshtastic radios, it lists every node heard and can change basic radio settings. The goTenna Mesh uses FSK rather than LoRa, so the two radio types can't talk to each other directly. However, with one of each connected to the phone, an optional relay can re-send group messages between the goTenna group and the Meshtastic mesh. The app costs US$0.99 on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store with no account or servers, and the code is open-source under GPL-3.0 and available on GitHub.

Backtrail Pro App for GoTenna Mesh Radios
Backtrail Pro App for GoTenna Mesh Radios

AI Disclaimer: The Backtrail commit on GitHub lists Claude as a co-author.

9GRadio: An Android RTL-SDR App for Spectrum Monitoring and Decoding Analog/HAM/Aviation/Marine Radio Traffic

Thank you to Richard (9G5AR) for writing in and sharing with us the release of his open source Android app called 9GRadio. Richard writes that 9GRadio is an app designed for spectrum monitoring/analysis and the decoding of analog/ham/aviation and marine radio traffic.

In terms of demodulation it supports AM, FM, NFM, WFM, WFM Stereo, USB, LSB, CW, CWR, DSB and RAW IQ modes.

For digital decoding, it supports APRS, digital voice modes such as DMR, D-STAR, YSF, dPMR, NXDN, and aircraft, marine, and datalink modes such as ADS-B, AIS, ACARS, RDS, and multilateration.

Richard also notes that 9GRadio includes a full multilateration stack for locating transmitters, which works with 2+ networked 9GRadio receivers. Interestingly, the multilateration stack is noted to be protocol-agnostic, meaning it should work not only with ADS-B, but also with any mode that provides a digital identity for a transmission, such as AIS, ACARS, RDS, and digital voice modes.

The app is not available on the Google Play Store, but the APK is available for sideloading on the project's GitHub Releases page, along with the open source code.

9GRadio GIF of various screens
9GRadio GIF of various screens

VibeSDR Now Available on the Apple App Store + Running on an Apple Watch

Back in June, we posted about VibeSDR, an AI vibecoded free and open-source mobile SDR client for rtl_tcp and UberSDR/KiwiSDR/OpenWebRX servers developed for iOS and Android. Recently, Stuart Carr (Stuey3D) wrote in again to let us know that VibeSDR is now available on the Apple App Store for £2.99 and is soon to be available on the Android Play Store too.

In terms of updates, Stuart also notes that he's now developed VibeServer, which provides a more network-efficient way to share RTL-SDRs remotely via an Android phone. VibeServer compresses the data and transfers it at 120KB/s instead of the full 4.8MB/s required by rtl_tcp. 

Stuart has also developed an Apple Watch Buddy app version of VibeSDR which runs directly on an Apple Watch, allowing you to view and listen to the spectrum on your wrist. The watch version is still in beta, but Stuart notes that you can join the free beta on TestFlight.

As before, the latest open source code can be found on the VibeSDR GitHub https://github.com/stuey3d/vibesdr.

Finally, Stuart has provided us with 20 free promo codes to give away for the Apple App Store version of VibeSDR. To win a promo code, simply comment on this post (making sure to enter an email in the email field), reply to the X post, or comment on the Facebook Post (note that for Facebook you must montior your comment for a reply as Facebook does not allow private messages). 

Update: All promo codes have now been allocated, thanks!

AI-Disclaimer: This software was vibecoded with Claude.

VibeSDR Running on an Apple Watch
VibeSDR Running on an Apple Watch
Introducing VibeSDR Jr: A full SDR Client on your wrist.

VibeSDR: A Mobile-First iOS and Android Receiver App for Remote SDR Servers and RTL-SDRs

Thank you to Stuart Carr (Stuey3D) for submitting news about his new software release, VibeSDR, a free and open-source mobile SDR client he has developed for iOS and Android. VibeSDR is designed to be touch-first rather than a desktop interface shrunk down to phone size. It is a fully native client for UberSDR, OpenWebRX/OpenWebRX+, and KiwiSDR with its own GPU-rendered waterfall and spectrum. It also supports local RTL-SDR dongles via RTL-TCP on both platforms and over USB on Android with no extra driver install required.

VibeSDR comes with a long list of features. The app has on-device decoders for RTTY, WEFAX, NAVTEX, SSTV, Morse, and FT8/FT4, plus access to server-supplied decoders, Leaflet-based HFDL and digital spot maps, FM stereo with RDS, a local bookmarks engine with daily EiBi schedule downloads, and full background audio. It also has band-aware blind tuning, where using lockscreen, headphone, or in-car media controls to tune across a band boundary automatically switches to the correct demodulator and step rate for that band and ITU region. The app also has Android Auto support with browsable bookmark and band plan lists and steering wheel tuning, and on iOS, it offers Siri voice commands to work around the current lack of full CarPlay approval.

Stuart is upfront and mentions that VibeSDR was AI vibecoded with Claude, hence the "vibe" part of the name. He notes that while he did not write code himself, he designed, extensively tested, and reported bugs over weeks of late nights. The app is not available on any app store at the moment, but he notes that the app will always be free and open source, with full source, APKs and IPAs available on the VibeSDR GitHub Releases page. He also plans to eventually list it on the App Store and Play Store for a fee of around £3 to cover store and development costs.

AI-Disclaimer: This software was vibecoded with Claude.

VibeSDR Screenshots
VibeSDR Screenshots

Dump1090 For Android Updated to V2

Thank you to Christian from ebcTech for writing in and sharing with us that their Dump1090 app for Android has recently been completely redesigned. We first posted about this app back in 2021. The developer notes that the V2 redesign is faster and has an improved UI.

The app allowes users to use an RTL-SDR dongle connected to an Android device to receive ADS-B signals from aircraft and plot their locations on a map. When selecting an aircraft, the app also shows the aircraft's live flight data and a picture of the aircraft.

Screenshots of the new UI
Screenshots of the new UI
RTL-SDR ADS-B Dump1090 Android

Spectrum SDR Android App Ported to iOS

Thank you to James Mainwaring of Knowle Consultants for submitting news about the release of an iOS port of his previously Android-only "Spectrum SDR" app for RTL-SDR. Knowle Consultants have previously released a range of RTL-SDR Android apps for FM, Airband, Ham FM and ADS-B reception. James writes:

As most people will be aware, it is not currently possible to connect an RTL-SDR dongle directly to an Apple mobile device. So the app is designed to be used with an instance of rtl_tcp running on a Mac, PC or maybe a raspberry pi.

It is also possible to install the app directly on an Apple Silicon Mac, so that is one with an M1, M2, ... etc. In that situation obviously rtl_tcp can be hosted on the same Mac too if needed.

Anyone needing help with this app or any of our existing Android SDR apps should contact [email protected]
 
For comparison, the Android version is available here:
 
Spectrum SDR iOS App Released