Troubleshooting

The buoy does not appear in the scan

1. Check the buoy is switched on and within a few metres.
2. Check Bluetooth is on. If it is off, the scan screen offers a Turn on Bluetooth button.
3. Check the permission was granted — see Permissions. Without it the scan finds nothing at all, with no other symptom.
4. Press Scan again.

The scan looks for the service the buoy advertises rather than its name, so a buoy whose name has not arrived yet still appears — as DrifterBuoy until the name catches up.

It connects, then drops

The app returns to the Scan screen by itself and you can reconnect straight away. Range and a wet antenna are the usual causes: Bluetooth is not fond of water between the two ends.

Anything already downloaded stays browsable while you are disconnected, so the map still works for days you have opened before.

“Command failed — connection problem?”

The Start or Stop command did not reach the buoy.

1. Check you are still connected.
2. Check the state banner. Start and Stop are only accepted in certain states — Start in Ready and Result ready, Stop during the countdown and while measuring.
3. Try again.

See the state banner for what each state means.

The file list is empty or will not open

If a measurement is running, the SD card belongs to the logger and file access is blocked until it finishes. The app says so explicitly. Stop the measurement or wait for it to end, then press Refresh.

Otherwise the buoy genuinely has no saved measurements — remember that the list shows at most 60 entries, so older files are on the card but not in the list.

The map is blank or the tiles are grey

Map tiles need internet the first time you look at an area. Connect to a network once while over that area — or before you leave the shore — and the tiles are cached for offline use afterwards.

The map shows fewer measurements than I took

This is almost always the time window rather than missing data. The map shows one window at a time.

1. Step through the day’s windows with ‹ and › on the TIME WINDOW card.
2. Widen Split windows at a gap of so more readings group together.
3. Check the date in the top bar is the day you meant.

See Time windows.

The estimated field will not turn on

Read the message under the switch:

• Needs 3 good measurements — no field — this window has fewer than three sound, positioned readings.
• Measurements are in a line — no field — the readings lie along a straight line, which says nothing about the water to either side of it. Drop the buoy off the line and the field appears.

Both are refusals by design rather than failures. See When it refuses.

A direction looks 180° wrong

Check whether you are reading a number or an arrow:

• Numbers follow the buoy’s direction-mode setting, and the label beside them says which convention is in force.
• Arrows always point downstream, whatever the setting.

See how the app words directions.

The app warns that the buoy speaks a newer protocol

The buoy’s firmware is ahead of the app. Update the app from the Downloads page, and do not rely on readings shown past that warning.

Buoys on firmware 1.6.0 speak protocol version 2, which app 1.3.2 and older do not understand. If no newer app is on the Downloads page yet, download measurements from the buoy’s web interface in the meantime.

The app will not install

The build is signed with a test key, which puts three conditions on it:

1. The device must be Android 8.0 or newer.
2. Any previous copy signed differently must be uninstalled first.
3. Install unknown apps must be allowed for whichever app you open the file with.

The Downloads page covers this in full.

Still stuck?

Contact support. The app version is on the Live screen under the device ID, and the buoy’s firmware version is in the DEVICE block — both are useful to include.