Radar App Release Notes – Version History & Latest Updates

v2.000 🚀 Production ✔ Latest 1 November 2026

versionCode 55 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

New Features

Glass Look New An optional frosted-glass appearance for the whole app, in both light and dark mode. Dialogs, banners, menus, search bars, buttons, checkboxes and cards become translucent panels with soft rounded corners and a 3D bevel. The Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Network and Web device lists now sit as frosted glass over the page you came from, and their cards keep their colours. The classic Amiga-style scrollbars are rounder and translucent to match, and now appear on every list, settings page, SOS tab and message-history view.
Aircraft and drone "overhead now" alerts New Premium A plane within 1 km pops up a dialog anywhere in the app, showing the same details and tracking links as when you tap it on the map. Aircraft alerts need Premium and Aircraft data switched on, and use only data already on your device. Drones are detected over Bluetooth from their Remote ID broadcast, with no Premium needed. The dialog shows everything the drone reports, including its maker (decoded for DJI, Parrot and Autel), model type, position, height, speed and operator ID. Drone detection also works while the app is closed: you get a notification, and tapping it opens the drone details.
New environment alerts New The Environment Alert dialog now warns about fog and dense fog, thunderstorms, strong winds and gusts, and nearby earthquakes (magnitude 4 or more within 100 km, or magnitude 2.5 or more within 25 km, in the last 24 hours). Every alert is graded Update, Alert or Severe, and the dialog title, icon and colours follow the most serious one. Radiation now uses the same four bands as the weather page: Normal, Elevated, High and Danger.
Wind on the weather forecast New Each forecast card shows the day's top wind speed, colour-coded from green to red. The Today card also shows gusts when they are noticeably stronger. Speeds switch to mph when you use imperial units.
Bunkers, shelters and assembly points layer New Air-raid and fallout shelters, bunkers of any kind and emergency assembly points can be shown on the Map and List views, with their own icons. The layer is on by default and can be switched off in the layers dialog.
Survival layer New One new layer for the things that matter when services fail: drinking water, springs and wells, fuel, EV charging, post offices, defibrillators, fire hydrants, life rings, lifeguard posts, sirens, ranger stations, outdoor huts and shelters, and hazard areas (power plants and substations, wastewater and flood-prone water, and military land). Very dense items such as hydrants and substations appear only when you zoom right in.
Hospitals, pharmacies and police without Premium New Emergency places now come from Radar's own map-data server, so hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, doctors and police stations show on the Map and List views for every user.
Custom map icons for places New Places on the map now use hand-drawn icons instead of generic badges. They cover fuel and charging, banks, supermarkets, bakeries, restaurants, cafés, pubs, shops, hairdressers, libraries, cinemas, museums, hotels, parks, schools, places of worship, community centres, government buildings, toilets, recycling, vending machines, offices, storage, trees and barriers. They also cover transport (airports, helipads, stations, bus stops, ferries, bicycle parking, taxis, car repair), health (dentists, vets, ambulance and fire stations, first-aid kits), communications (masts and towers, telephone exchanges, data centres) and weather stations. Defibrillators keep their heart icon.
Neon icons on the Radar view New The Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Network and Web icons across the top of the Radar view are redrawn as glowing neon, with transparent backgrounds. They also appear in the title of each device list and in the header of each device dialog. In light mode the four counts get a thin dark outline so they stay readable.
Smarter Map search New The search bar now understands decimal coordinates (for example 52.68, -1.83), Plus Codes (full or short) and Ordnance Survey grid references. The search popup has frosted glass styling, and tapping the map while it is open closes it.
Hunt mode redesign New Hunting a Bluetooth device or Wi-Fi access point now opens a dedicated screen with a rotating radar sweep that pulses on every detection, the device name, an estimated distance and a red Cancel button. Radar scans at full speed and keeps the screen on while you hunt, then returns to normal when you stop.
Country flags New A member's country flag appears beside their name in the chat members panel, and on cards in the Web Devices list, whenever their country is known.
Support Radar prompt New After you have declined the Premium trial a few times, an occasional, infrequent dialog invites you to upgrade to Premium or make a donation. It never appears for anyone who has had Premium or used the Donate button.
Choose your startup view New Settings → Appearance has a new Startup view section: open Radar on the Radar view (the default), the Map, the List, or restore whichever main view you were last using. It applies when you launch Radar from your home screen; opening it from a notification or shared link still goes straight to where that points.
Welcome to Premium New Premium When you upgrade, a glass dialog thanks you instead of a brief message, and every Premium layer is switched on for you (including the UK-only layers if you are in the UK). Layers you had already switched off yourself are left alone. You can customise them from the layers icon in the main views.

Improvements

My Profile redesigned A purple banner, a QR-code badge on your avatar and tidy grouped cards. Email and phone number are now both clearly marked optional.
Weather page easier to read Forecast cards are live frosted glass, text has a dark outline, and the colour scheme is brighter with larger, bolder values. Dates show month first for US users.
Matrix chat The login dialog lets you pick Radar's server or another server with a simple choice, and switching back to Radar's server is one tap. The room browser has scrollbars and a green OK button, the members pull-out tab is now banner green with a 3D double grip, and the public rooms search bar matches the other search bars.
Device dialogs The close button is now at the top right of every device, profile and aircraft dialog. Save is green and Delete is red, and the contact card's refresh icon is green with a yellow edit pencil.
Emergency checklist Items are sorted alphabetically, and in Glass Look the checkboxes are sunken 3D boxes with green ticks.
Gentler Bluetooth reminder The "Bluetooth is off" reminder now waits until you have spent at least a minute on the Radar view.
More dialogs and menus in glass The review request, sticker and GIF panel, full-screen image menu, Environment Alert dialog and QR code page all follow the Glass Look.
Popup menus no longer clash with scrollbars In Glass Look, the chat and chat-list menus sit clear of the scrollbar on the right edge. Long menus now have a title ("Chat options", "Chats options") so their own scrollbar starts below the close X instead of running under it.
Language picker in Message Translation The source and target language lists now have a title ("Select source language" / "Select target language") and a close X, so you can back out without choosing, and the list fills its whole box. The pickers are greyed out while translation is switched off, and Cancel and OK are red and green like every other dialog.
Chat and chat-list menus are wider With the menus now inset from the scrollbar, they are about 1.7 times wider so labels no longer wrap, and the chat-list menu opens in its final position with a correct frosted-glass background.
Setup and permission cards overhauled Every permission card is marked Mandatory or Optional (Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Aware: "Optional; highly recommended"), and the text scales up to fill the card. Back and forward arrows sit beside the picture and appear only when they can be used. The cards, tutorial pages and Terms of Service follow the Glass Look, with 3D red Disagree and green Agree buttons. The Location card explains clearly to choose Precise and All the time. The SMS card now asks plainly whether you want to manage your SMS messages in Radar, with the technical explanation behind a "Why? More info" link. The separate "Setup complete" page is gone: Set Up Your Profile is the last step. All of this text is translated.
Calmer nag dialogs Reminder and Premium dialogs never appear over the setup cards, and wait for the first minute of use.
One bin icon everywhere All delete buttons now use the same red trashcan icon, and the message history pages have the Glass banner and Amiga scrollbars.
Glass scrollbars and new icons on Settings pages The Amiga scrollbar now appears on the About, Premium mode, Support, Privacy Policy, Offline Maps and Debug pages. Settings icons are 15% larger, with new neon Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Web Services icons, and the About page has new heart icons.
More languages covered New text is translated into all supported app languages.

Bug Fixes

Permissions not re-requested after a reinstall Fix If a reinstall or upgrade restored your settings but not your permissions, Radar now re-opens the permissions cards when Location is missing instead of only showing reminder dialogs.
Premium-required dialog explanation Fix The dialog shown when a free account tries a web-only contact or call now shows its explanation text.
Matrix Rooms after a fresh install Fix The Matrix Rooms page now signs in again automatically and retries if the server rejects a stale login, instead of showing "not logged in" and no rooms.
Premium page and nags Fix After tapping Upgrade, a "Processing" dialog shows until the purchase completes and Restore Purchase is hidden for a minute. Upgrade reminders no longer appear on the Premium page, and the "Start free trial" button reliably opens it.
Cancelling and resubscribing to Premium Fix Cancelling is done in Google Play and only stops auto-renewal, so Premium stays active until the period you have already paid for ends. Radar now says so: when you return, a "Subscription cancelled" dialog appears, the banner turns amber, the days left read "Cancelled — access ends in N days", and the Cancel button is replaced by Resubscribe, which opens Google Play where you can turn renewal back on. If you leave Play, a notification lets you tap straight back to the Premium page. When the paid period ends, Premium switches off, the premium layers stop loading and disappear from the Map, Radar and List views, and your layer choices are kept in case you resubscribe. Turning Premium on with the debug override no longer hides the real upgrade and cancel buttons.
Delete icons too large on the Debug page Fix The trashcan icons on the Debug page are scaled back down to normal size.
Setup cards on small screens Fix The tutorial pictures no longer show a purple background in Glass Look when they shrink on short screens, and harmless "Unauthorised" toasts after a fresh install are gone.
Map view no longer freezes when switching to it Fix Fixed a hang of up to 30 seconds when opening the Map view.
Hospitals and pharmacies missing from the map Fix These icons no longer disappear when you zoom in close, and they now load reliably.
Wi-Fi hunt mode had no ping Fix Wi-Fi hunting now pings when the device is detected, and Bluetooth hunting pings reliably after the app restarts.
Dialogs reappearing when you change theme Fix Switching between light and dark no longer shows the environment alert and nag dialogs a second time.
Square corners and double borders on dialogs Fix Device dialogs no longer show a square outer box behind their rounded corners, and 3D glass buttons no longer show a glitch in the bottom-left corner.
Plus Code and grid-reference accuracy Fix Corrected two calculation errors that placed Plus Code and Ordnance Survey results in the wrong spot.
Alert (CAP) feed chats were empty Fix Opening a CAP feed chat now shows its messages, and pull-to-refresh no longer spins forever. Message text that arrives as HTML (for example MeteoAlarm) is shown formatted, and the message entry bar is hidden because these feeds are read-only.
Unsubscribe and delete on alert feeds Fix Choosing "Unsubscribe and delete" on a CAP feed now removes the chat from your list, and it stays removed after the feed list refreshes from the server.
Import SMS asks for permission Fix Choosing "Import SMS" from the chat-list menu without SMS access now offers to make Radar your default SMS app and imports your messages once you accept, instead of just showing "SMS permission required".
Smaller fixes Fix The SOS Hospitals tab now shows its scrollbar, the aircraft dialog shows the correct sighting time, and on first run the Save button on the profile page is no longer hidden behind the keyboard.

v1.800 🚀 Production 26 October 2026

versionCode 49 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

Improvements

Improved UK crime layer Crime levels now load from files stored on your device, so the layer appears faster and works with a weak connection. The map shows a smooth heat-map instead of hard squares, areas with no recorded crime are shaded faintly green, and the detail slider can now show finer resolution. UK crime data must be enabled in Settings → Web Services.
Settings improvements New options under Web Services let you choose whether to see alerts for special aircraft squawks and for vessels in distress. Both are off by default and only appear when the matching aircraft or vessel data option is on. The layout of these options is also tighter.
Analytics improvements Anonymous usage analytics now record how the Terms of Service and emergency alert pop-ups are used, so we can improve them. Analytics can still be switched off in Settings → Privacy.
More languages covered All new text is translated into every supported app language.

Bug Fixes

"Allow simplification to Yesterday" now remembers your choice Fix The Appearance setting no longer resets itself and is now on by default.

v1.70 🚀 Production 25 October 2026

versionCode 48 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

New Features

Optional anonymous usage analytics New Radar now uses Firebase Analytics to learn which features are used, where new users get stuck during setup, and whether maps, ads and Premium screens load or fail. Only coarse event names are sent: never message content, contacts, precise location or nearby device identities. It is on by default and can be switched off at any time in Settings → Privacy → Analytics.

Improvements

Privacy policy rewritten and expanded The privacy policy, both on the website and inside the app, now covers analytics, crash reporting, Wi-Fi crowdsourcing, identity backup, Premium purchase verification, calls and every Android permission. It explains which permissions are required (Location and Nearby devices) and which are optional (SMS and Contacts), and how to re-request them from Settings → Security.
Clearer identity and data controls The policy now describes the Reset Device Identity and Delete My Data buttons, including that neither can be undone. Support and data requests are made through the in-app Contact Support form rather than by email.
Analytics and Delete My Data on the Privacy page The analytics switch lives at the bottom of the Privacy page, with the Delete My Data button beneath it.
Policy text translated The updated privacy text is translated into all supported app languages.

v1.640 🚀 Production 23 October 2026

versionCode 46 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

Bug Fixes

Clear prompt when device Location is switched off Fix On some devices, notably Google Pixel phones, Radar could hold location permission while the system-wide Location switch was off, so GPS silently returned nothing. Radar now detects this specific case and offers a shortcut to the system Location settings.
Premium upgrade connection more reliable Fix The Google Play billing connection is now retried and re-established when needed, so the "Billing service is not yet connected" message is much less likely to appear.
Weather forecast empty and error states Fix The weather page now explains when no forecast is available instead of showing a blank screen.
Pinch-zoom no longer triggers accidental taps Fix Zooming the radar view with two fingers no longer selects a peer when the fingers are lifted.
Emergency country default Fix The Emergency page now defaults to, and remembers, your country.

Improvements

Weather refreshes only when you need it The forecast is fetched when you open the app or the weather page, at most once an hour, with a refresh spinner and pull-down to refresh. Background auto-refresh has been removed, saving battery and data.
Fewer server configuration requests Server configuration is loaded once per session; returning to the app now only checks Google Play for updates.
Single app language setting One language setting now controls the app, with a restart prompt when it changes. Tutorial cards are fully translated.

v1.630 🚀 Production 22 October 2026

versionCode 45 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

Bug Fixes

GPS not working on Google Pixel phones Fix Further fixes for devices where the app was granted location permission but Location was turned off in the system settings. Radar no longer waits indefinitely for a position in this state.

v1.620 🚀 Production 21 October 2026

versionCode 44 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

Bug Fixes

Location problems on Google Pixel phones Fix Improved diagnosis and handling of missing GPS fixes where the app had location permission but the device's Location setting was off.

v1.610 🚀 Production 19 October 2026

versionCode 43 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

Bug Fixes

Automatic Matrix account setup and login restored Fix Fixed release-build optimisation removing code needed for Matrix login. Radar now automatically sets up its Matrix account and starts room syncing after registration, reuses saved sessions, and retries temporary startup failures. The rooms page refreshes when login completes, without requiring a manual login.
Matrix provisioning reports the real result Fix "Provision Account" now waits for both account setup and a working login before reporting success. Login and provisioning failures show a short, friendly message, with technical details reserved for debug mode and logs.
First-install data downloads restored Fix Fixed a release-build issue that prevented background download workers from starting, leaving country borders, UK postcodes and eligible phonebook datasets missing. Missing downloads are rechecked when the app resumes and when location becomes available.
Phonebook setup no longer waits for another restart Fix Enabling Premium or Experimental features immediately rechecks download eligibility. Newly eligible datasets join the queue without restarting active transfers, and phonebook indexing begins as each download completes. Eligible work requests priority scheduling where Android supports it; existing UK, feature and unmetered-network requirements still apply.
Safer profile photo loading Fix Selected profile photos are copied into private app storage so they no longer depend on temporary photo-picker access. Missing or inaccessible saved photos now show a default icon instead of crashing profile or device screens.
Compass shutdown crash fixed Fix Fixed a threading race between compass updates and location-service shutdown that could crash the app while heading history was being cleared. Existing compass smoothing is preserved.
Wi-Fi Aware startup respects missing permissions Fix Background discovery now waits for the required permissions before starting Wi-Fi Aware, remains retryable once permissions are granted, and avoids duplicate readiness-receiver registration.
Clearer handling of unavailable Play Store updates Fix When Google Play cannot provide in-app updates for an installation, Radar no longer repeatedly retries automatic checks or incorrectly reports that the app is up to date. Manual checks can retry, with a Play Store listing fallback.

Improvements

Wider default peer discovery range The default discovery range is now 200 km instead of 100 km. Existing saved range settings are unchanged; this does not extend Bluetooth or Wi-Fi radio range.
Consistent Premium styling The Web Services "Go Premium" button now uses the Premium page's gold styling and crown icon. A matching crown also appears beside the Radar Premium settings heading.
Stronger release-build safeguards Added checks of optimised release code and packaged APK/AAB files to catch stripped Matrix data models and background-worker constructors before release, helping prevent a repeat of the first-install failures.

v1.600 🚀 Production 16 October 2026

versionCode 42 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

New Features

See who is in a Matrix room New A compact member list now slides out from the right-hand edge of the chat. Tap or swipe the handle to show or hide it. Members are sorted alphabetically by display name (falling back to username), with Radar members listed first and highlighted in blue. Your own account and people who have left are excluded.
Start a Matrix direct message New Tap a non-Radar member in a room's member list and confirm "Start a chat" to open a one-to-one Matrix conversation in the usual chat screen. Radar reuses an existing joined DM where possible, including one started in another Matrix client, or creates a private room and invites the person. They need to accept the invitation before chatting. Matrix chats in Radar are not yet end-to-end encrypted; the confirmation dialog makes this clear.

Improvements

Member lists that work in large rooms Members are loaded on demand, cached and updated as people join or leave. Rooms with more than 100 members offer a search across display names and Matrix IDs rather than showing thousands of rows at once. The initial view prioritises Radar members, or recent participants when there are too many Radar members to list.
Radar profiles from the room member list Tap a Radar member to open their contact card and request an updated profile in the background. The list uses known profile names or friendly pseudonyms instead of default "Radar <uuid>" names.
Updated free-version ad timing Ads are now eligible after each five minutes of foreground use, once you have been idle for at least five seconds. Existing protections still prevent interruptions during calls, in the Emergency Hub, or while a keyboard or dialog is open. Premium and ad-free users remain ad-free.

Bug Fixes

Message vibration respects Silent and Do Not Disturb Fix Incoming Matrix and normal chat messages no longer force a vibration when Silent mode or a Do Not Disturb / Sleep filter is active. Vibration remains available in Normal and Vibrate modes.
No long loading wait for an empty Matrix DM Fix A new one-to-one chat no longer spends about a minute retrying an empty message history as though it were a public room still syncing. A successful empty history response now finishes loading straight away.
Additional protection against WebRTC native crashes Fix Hardened connection teardown and late callbacks in internet peer-to-peer messaging and voice/video calls. A crash-loop safeguard can temporarily disable the optional internet P2P messaging path after a suspected native crash, leaving other delivery channels available.
Safer permission results during startup Fix Permission-result callbacks now wait until the app's services are ready, addressing a possible crash when Android recreates the activity while a permission dialog is open.
Translation setup failures no longer crash the chat Fix Invalid or unsupported language selections and failures while creating the on-device translator are now handled with the existing translation-failed message instead of crashing the app.

v1.500 🚀 Production 15 October 2026

versionCode 41 · Minimum Android 8 (API 26)

New Features

Matrix room directory browser New Pick a Matrix server (matrix.org by default) and browse its public rooms in a scrolling list with a "Load more rooms…" button and server-side search, instead of typing a room address by hand. You still connect through Radar's own homeserver, so you are never sent to an overloaded public one.

Improvements

Joined Matrix rooms appear in your chat list A room you join is now added to your Chats list straight away, and recent history is loaded so the chat is no longer empty on first open.
Clearer Premium upgrade prompt The Premium upgrade dialog now lists more of the Premium data layers and features.
Cleaner member sorting and dialog buttons The Sort Members control is now a compact A–Z / 1–2–3 icon like the device lists, and the dialog buttons match the rest of the app.

v1.400 🚀 Production 14 October 2026

versionCode 40

New Features

Radar view layers dialog New The eight Radar-view toggles that lived in Settings → Appearance have moved into a layers dialog styled like the Map layers dialog, with a "Toggle All" option. Ships/boats can now also be shown on the Radar view.
Premium layers are visible, but locked Premium Premium layers are no longer hidden from free users. They appear greyed out with a yellow padlock, and tapping one opens the Premium upgrade dialog. "No ads" is now listed first in the Premium Mode settings.

Improvements

UK-only layers hidden outside the UK UK-specific options are hidden from both layer dialogs when the detected country isn't the UK, and the UK-only static data is only downloaded for users in the UK. Country borders are fetched first as part of the startup sequence.
No repeated Contacts permission prompts The Contacts page no longer asks for permission every time it opens. If you grant it later, Contacts start working straight away.
Radar layers list spacing Fix Uneven spacing at the top of the Radar layers list is fixed, and there is a small gap between the layers and refresh buttons.

v1.300 🚀 Production 13 October 2026

versionCode 39

New Features

"Scan my code" QR connect, now as a link New The QR code screen has an animated "SCAN – MY – CODE" headline. QR codes now contain a radar-chat.app link, so someone without Radar who scans it with their camera is taken to the website, while older Radar QR codes can still be scanned.
Country availability check After location access is granted, Radar checks which country you are in using a country-borders file downloaded to the device (no location is sent to a server for this). Radar isn't available in a small number of sanctioned countries. Once a check has passed it isn't repeated, so travelling doesn't interrupt the app.

Bug Fixes

Notification taps open the chat Fix Tapping a new-message notification now opens that chat instead of staying on the home screen.
App not responding when sending winks or messages Critical Fixed hangs (ANRs) when sending a wink or a chat message, and when a message arrives in an open chat. Several voice/video-call native crashes were also addressed.
Contacts page empty without Contacts permission Fix Radar peers are now shown even if Android Contacts access hasn't been granted, with a one-line note explaining the missing access.

Improvements

Fewer interruptions The "Bluetooth is off" prompt, the Premium upgrade prompt and ads now wait until you've been idle for a few seconds and aren't on a setup or profile screen.
Static data downloads A common download manager now fetches the postcode, phonebook and country-borders files, with automatic silent retry.

v1.201 – v1.202 🚀 Production 12 – 13 October 2026

versionCode 37 – 38

Bug Fixes

Google Map showing blank Fix The map could appear blank (only the Google logo and zoom buttons) because of a key restriction. This is resolved and the map loads normally again.
Premium dialog layout Fix Consistent line spacing for the "No more ads" bullet in the Premium upgrade dialog.

Improvements

More of the app is translated Remaining hard-coded labels in the details dialogs (Source, Address, Status, Severity and so on) now use translatable strings, and translations are generated for all supported languages.

v1.200 🚀 Production 11 October 2026

versionCode 35 – 36

New Features

Radar is now free to install, supported by ads New The free version shows an occasional full-screen ad served by Google AdMob at natural breaks (never in the Emergency Hub, and never on first use). Radar Premium removes ads. Existing purchasers are ad-free, and ads are shown only where you've given consent.
Ad consent choice Privacy In the UK/EEA you are asked for consent, and you can decline.

v1.100 🚀 Production 4 October 2026

versionCode 34

New Features

Combined Contacts list New Radar peers and your Android contacts appear together in a single list, with consistent details dialogs for devices and map points of interest.

Privacy & Security

Contacts permission compliance Contacts access is explained and requested only when it's needed, following Google Play policy feedback.

v1.004 – v1.007 🚀 Production 26 September – 4 October 2026

versionCode 29 – 33

New Features

UK phonebook, postcodes and people data New Large UK datasets are downloaded once to the device with resumable downloads, so searching works quickly and offline.
Emergency place dialog A dedicated dialog for emergency-place details.
Review prompt A polite, infrequent request to rate Radar on Google Play.

v1.003 🚀 Production 24 September 2026

versionCode 28

Improvements

Stability and diagnostics Further crash and race-condition fixes, and improved analytics for purchases.

v1.002 🚀 Production 14 – 16 September 2026

versionCode 27

Bug Fixes

Voice/video call crash guard Fix Radar now detects and avoids a native WebRTC fault so a call problem no longer takes the whole app down. Optional debug-log capture helps diagnose issues.

v1.001 🚀 Production 10 September 2026

versionCode 26

Bug Fixes

Call engine upgraded; startup crash fixed Critical The WebRTC calling library was upgraded (M125 → M144) and rebuilt for 16 KB memory pages, fixing a crash on launch on some devices.

v1.000 🚀 Production 8 September 2026

versionCode 25

New Features

Version 1.0 New Radar reaches 1.0, including the pollution data layer, crime data tiles and postcode labels on the map.

v0.999 🧪 Closed Alpha 2 – 5 September 2026

versionCode 23 – 24

New Features

Language flags and sorted language picker The language picker shows flags and is sorted alphabetically.
Automatic light/dark theme by ambient light Radar can switch between light and dark themes based on the light sensor.

Bug Fixes

Stale nearby peers Fix Heartbeats now refresh Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Aware peers' "last seen" time, so active peers no longer disappear from the list.

August 2026 🧪 Closed Alpha August 2026

Several builds between v0.9.8 and v0.999 (versionCodes 12 – 22), condensed

New Features

Wildfires, weather warnings and forecasts New NASA FIRMS wildfire hotspots, official weather and environment warnings with detail pages, and a weather forecast page.
Identity survives reinstall New Your Radar identity can be restored after reinstalling the app, using Android's credential and backup services.

July 2026 🧪 Closed Alpha July 2026

Several builds after v0.9.8 (versionCodes 12 – 22), condensed

New Features

Webcams, floods, ships and warnings on the map New Webcam viewer and more map data layers, now stored on the device for faster loading.
Default SMS/MMS app New Radar can act as your default messaging app, including picture messages.
Radar Premium Premium The Premium subscription and upgrade prompts are introduced.
Torch tools New Distress strobe, light panel and compass.
QR connect and Wi-Fi access point contribution New Connect to a nearby person by scanning their QR code, and optionally contribute Wi-Fi access points.

Improvements

Battery use Background work is coalesced to reduce battery drain.

v0.9.8 🧪 Closed Alpha 29 June 2026

versionCode 11 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

New Features

Server-independent peer discovery (distributed hash table) New Radar can now resolve a contact's current address (UUID → ip:port) without relying on the central server, using a Kademlia distributed hash table built on top of the existing peer network. Each device publishes a small, cryptographically signed location record that other peers hold and serve, so direct connections can still be established even when the web service is unreachable. Lookups race the DHT against the server and take whichever answers first.
Offline "nearby peers" via a geographic overlay (GeoDHT) New The "who's near me?" feature now keeps working when the server is down. Each device publishes a signed presence record (location, address) across a ladder of quadtree map cells covering ~100 m up to a 500 km ceiling. When the authoritative server can't be reached, Radar walks this geographic overlay, gathers nearby candidates, ranks them by true great-circle distance, and returns the closest peers. The server stays authoritative when it's available — the GeoDHT is a fallback that's kept warm in the background.
Winks — a one-tap "😉" nudge New You can now send a lightweight wink to a Radar peer straight from their contact card, without going through the chat-request handshake. When a wink arrives from someone you don't yet have a chat with, a dialog shows their profile (photo, age, gender) with four choices: Start chat, Wink back, Block, or Dismiss. Winks are delivered only over the Radar network (never SMS) and are end-to-end encrypted whenever a peer key is available.

Privacy & Security

Signed records with trust-on-first-use verification Every record stored in either DHT is signed with the publisher's Ed25519 key and verified (signature, freshness, and pinned-key/TOFU checks) before it's accepted, so forged or replayed location claims are rejected. The overlays only ever share data you already consent to share as part of using Radar.
All discovery data stored in the encrypted database DHT records, geographic presence, and the routing table are persisted in Radar's encrypted (SQLCipher) database, so the network resumes warm after a restart instead of starting cold — while remaining protected at rest.

Improvements

Built-in self-tests in the connectivity check The "Test Service Connectivity" diagnostic now runs end-to-end self-tests for both discovery overlays (store + lookup round-trips, including a real loopback test), reporting a clear pass/fail summary alongside the existing connectivity results.
Shared overlay, not a second network The geographic discovery layer reuses the same peer network, routing table, and transport as the address-resolution DHT rather than standing up a separate one — maximising reach and keeping background overhead low.

v0.9.7 🧪 Closed Alpha 26 June 2026

versionCode 10 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

New Features

Heatwave & extreme-heat alerts New Added a heatwave warning feed sourced from national meteorological alert data. Active heat-health warnings now appear on the radar map and in the emergency feeds list so you're notified before conditions become dangerous.

Improvements

Expanded emergency alert feed coverage Additional regional alert data sources wired into the unified feeds list, with more consistent severity labelling across feed types.
Map alert marker refresh Alert markers now refresh more reliably when new warnings are published, reducing the chance of stale entries lingering on the map.

Privacy & Permissions

Two permissions removed at Google's request We removed the full-screen intent and activity recognition (activity monitoring) permissions following a request from Google. The app no longer requests either permission.

v0.9.6 🧪 Closed Alpha 17 June 2026

versionCode 8 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

New Features

UK power-outage alerts New Live power-cut and outage information from UK network operators is now available in the alerts feed and on the radar map, helping you spot disruptions in your area during emergencies.

Bug Fixes

Invisible scrollbar fixed Fix On certain screens the custom scrollbar could collapse to zero height, making it invisible and impossible to drag. It now sizes correctly so long lists and chats can be scrolled as expected.

v0.9.5 🧪 Closed Alpha 10 June 2026

versionCode 7 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

Improvements

Web service usage caps Added configurable daily and monthly usage caps for outbound web-service calls, protecting against unexpected data usage and helping stay within third-party quota limits.
Refined BLE beacon format The Bluetooth LE location beacon now uses a tightened 24-byte bit-packed structure, improving the reliability of peer decoding while staying within the BLE advertising size limit.
Consistent in-app dialogs Unified the styling of confirmation and input dialogs across the app for a more consistent look and feel.

Bug Fixes

Wi-Fi Aware start-up reliability Fix Resolved a start-up ordering issue where a Wi-Fi Aware session could fail to bootstrap because a required dependency was not yet ready, occasionally preventing peer connections on launch.

v0.9.4 🧪 Closed Alpha 27 May 2026

versionCode 6 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

Improvements

Lower battery use while broadcasting BLE advertising now uses a balanced broadcast interval, meaningfully reducing radio duty cycle (and battery drain) during long background sessions while keeping peer discovery fast.
More reliable message delivery Improved channel selection and retry handling so messages fall back between transports more smoothly when a peer becomes unreachable.

Bug Fixes

General stability fixes A round of crash and stability fixes across background services and the map view.

v0.9.3 🧪 Closed Alpha 17 May 2026

versionCode 4 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

Improvements

Peer discovery responsiveness Nearby peers and BLE devices now appear on the radar map a little faster after the app comes to the foreground.
Map rendering performance Smoother panning and zooming with large numbers of markers on screen.

Bug Fixes

Notification reliability fixes Fix Addressed cases where new-message notifications could be delayed or missed while the app ran in the background.

v0.9.2 🧪 Closed Alpha 7 May 2026

versionCode 3 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

Improvements

Chat list and contact handling Minor refinements to how chats and contacts are sorted and displayed.

Bug Fixes

Early post-launch stability fixes Fix A first batch of fixes following the closed-alpha launch, covering crashes reported during onboarding and initial sync.

v0.9.1 🧪 Closed Alpha 27 April 2026

versionCode 2 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28)

Bug Fixes

Message delivery stuck at PENDING (hourglass) fixed Critical SSL hostname verification was failing for the prekey bundle server — outbound messages could not be encrypted for new contacts and remained pending indefinitely. All delivery channels now apply the correct hostname verifier.
POI map data returning 404 errors fixed Critical Points of interest (radar map overlays) were returning HTTP 404 because the HTTP Host header was not being set correctly for the Oracle ORDS backend. Radar, WiFi device, and prekey server clients now all send the correct header.
Oracle ORDS hostname discovered dynamically at runtime The server's canonical hostname is now resolved via live DNS CNAME lookup on startup rather than being hardcoded, so the app automatically adapts if Oracle migrates the endpoint.
Periodic "FAILED to save chats!" warnings eliminated Newly-created in-memory chats (not yet written to the database) were blocking the 5-minute auto-save. The save logic now correctly identifies brand-new chats and includes them in the save pass.
SQLCipher memory-lock error flood silenced The encrypted database was logging hundreds of memory-lock errors per session. The cipher memory security setting is now applied before key derivation (the correct phase), eliminating the errors entirely. The database remains fully encrypted.

New Features

Delete for Everyone New You can now delete a message you sent from both your device and the recipient's device simultaneously. A confirmation dialog offers "Delete for me only" or "Delete for everyone". For Matrix chats, a standard redaction event is used.
Premium upgrade entry in Settings New Premium A new "Upgrade (Go Premium!)" row appears in Settings between Support and About for non-premium users, launching the Google Play subscription purchase flow directly.
Premium gating on new chat creation New Premium Starting a chat with a brand-new contact now requires a premium subscription. The Start Chat button is visible but greyed with a crown badge for Basic users — tapping it shows the upgrade prompt. Existing chats and incoming messages are unaffected.
Mesh relay delivers via BLE as well as Wi-Fi Aware New The store-and-forward mesh engine now uses Bluetooth LE GATT as a relay transport when Wi-Fi Aware is not available. Stored relay messages are also automatically forwarded to the web relay server when internet connectivity is restored.

Improvements

LAN channel now detects Ethernet as well as Wi-Fi Devices connected via a wired Ethernet adapter are now correctly recognised as LAN-capable, enabling direct LAN message delivery without requiring a Wi-Fi connection.
Matrix: pin/unpin messages now persist and sync correctly Pinning or unpinning a message in a Matrix room now sends the pinned events state event to the server and correctly handles incoming pin events from other room members.
Matrix: read receipts and typing indicators wired up Read receipts and typing notifications are now sent to and received from Matrix rooms via the sync filter.
Reaction delivery sent to all chat participants Previously, emoji reactions were only addressed to the original message sender. They are now delivered to every member of the chat.
Play Store compatibility: feature-delivery library updated Resolved a Google Play upload rejection caused by an outdated transitive dependency that lacked required Android 14 broadcast receiver declarations. Updated to the latest version.

v0.9 🔧 Internal Testing 24 April 2026

versionCode 1 · Minimum Android 9 (API 28) · First public build

Initial Release

Peer-to-peer encrypted direct and group messaging Double-ratchet sealed-sender encryption over BLE, Wi-Fi Aware, LAN, and internet relay. Messages auto-deleted from the relay server after 7 days or on confirmed receipt.
Offline mesh networking with store-and-forward relay Messages hop up to 5 devices to reach their destination without internet access, using TTL and loop-prevention to avoid cycles.
Live radar map with nearby peer discovery Shows contacts, BLE devices, Wi-Fi Aware peers, aircraft (OpenSky), earthquakes, and points of interest on an interactive map.
Matrix federated chat integration Connect to any Matrix homeserver. Send and receive messages, reactions, and read receipts in Matrix rooms alongside Radar peers.
SMS & MMS integration Send and receive standard SMS and MMS alongside Radar-encrypted messages from a unified inbox. SMS content never leaves the device.
Emergency SOS broadcast Sends an SOS alert with GPS coordinates to all reachable peers simultaneously across all available channels.
Premium subscription tier Premium Monthly subscription unlocking premium features including new-contact chat initiation and future advanced capabilities.

Release Notes

🔭 On the Roadmap