ArduDeck Mobile is HERE.
Closed testing is open on both platforms now, and I am looking for pilots to break it.
What it is
A map-first ground station meant for the field rather than the desk. The map fills the screen and the instruments sit on top of it, placed where you want them instead of in a fixed sidebar. Split view puts the map on one side and a video feed on the other. Video mode gives you the full HUD over the feed.
The FPV image in the clip is not a real camera. It is streamed from a flight simulator I have not talked about publicly yet, which is also being built here. More on that another time.
What is in this build
- Connect over UDP, TCP or USB serial
- Telemetry instruments you arrange yourself
- Split view, and full video view with the HUD
- Arm and disarm with a two step confirm, take off, land here, return to home, and the flight mode picker
- Compass, accelerometer, level and gyro calibration. The compass run draws a live 3D coverage sphere built from the same 80 section grid ArduPilot uses internally, so you can see exactly which directions the vehicle still has not been shown instead of watching a bar creep along
- Spectator mode, which locks the layout and every command, so you can hand the phone to someone who wants to watch
- Synthetic terrain view
- Voice callouts and alerts
What is not in it
There is no mission editor on the phone. That is deliberate for now. It is a flying and monitoring tool, and I would rather do a small number of things properly than mirror a desktop app onto a 6 inch screen.
Known rough edges
The side menu scrolls with visible lag on some Android phones. I have not found the cause yet, so if it happens to you, tell me which phone.
ArduPilot only. Landscape only. Both are on purpose.
Joining the test
iOS: Join the Ardudeck GCS beta - TestFlight - Apple
Install TestFlight first, then open the link. Nothing else needed.
Android: send me your Google account email in a private message and I will add you.
I know asking for an address is friction, and I would rather not. It is Google’s rule, not mine: a new developer account has to run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 continuous days before it is allowed to open the app up to everyone. A closed track only installs for accounts on the list, so there is no anonymous link to hand out yet. Once that period is done, Android becomes a plain link like the iOS one.
It has to be the Google account your phone actually uses for the Play Store. A different address means the opt-in link looks empty and the app never appears.
What I want back
Anything that behaves differently to what you expected, especially around arming, mode changes and the calibration flow. Also tell me which instruments you kept on the map and which ones you dragged off. That decides what gets built next.
