DroneScout: Drone Detector

Turn your phone into a drone radar. DroneScout detects drones flying near you that broadcast Remote ID — also known as OpenDroneID or DRI — over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and shows them live on a map with position, altitude, speed, serial number and, when the drone broadcasts it, the pilot's location.

WHAT IS REMOTE ID?

Remote ID is a digital licence plate for drones. The aircraft broadcasts who and where it is, directly over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. In the United States (FAA Remote ID) it is mandatory for most drones above 250 g. In the European Union (EASA) and the United Kingdom (CAA) the trigger is a drone's class label rather than a flat weight — EU C1 or higher, UK UK1 or higher — so some drones under 250 g broadcast it too. Japan sets a lower threshold still, 100 g, with comparable rules in Singapore and China. Anyone with a suitable receiver can read those broadcasts — that is exactly what this app does.

DroneScout implements the open OpenDroneID standards ASTM F3411 and ASD-STAN EN 4709-002, across Bluetooth Legacy, Bluetooth Long Range S8, Wi-Fi Beacon and Wi-Fi NaN. It also receives China's own national Remote ID standard, GB 46750-2025, which almost no other receiver app supports.

WHO IT IS FOR

• Anyone wondering which drones are flying near their home

• Professional pilots who must stay clear of other drones and manned aircraft — separation is a regulatory duty, not a nicety

• Security teams watching festivals, venues and sites for drone activity

• Manufacturers, integrators and DIY builders checking their own Remote ID

FREE

• Live detection and tracking of nearby Remote ID / OpenDroneID drones

• Live map showing drone position, pilot location, altitude, height, speed and direction

• Serial number, operator ID, UAS type and operation description

• Brand identification of the detected drone

• Export a flight track to GPX, or raw received messages to CSV

SILVER

• Push notification the moment a new drone is detected nearby

• Flight history — past detections are stored on your phone and stay searchable

• Model identification: over 300 brands and over 400 drone models recognised

• Detailed drone info tab

• No banner

GOLD — everything in Silver, plus

• Multiple map providers and layers: normal, satellite and terrain

• Offline maps (MBTiles) for areas with no mobile coverage

• Label drones with your own names, so you recognise repeat visitors

• Assign drones to groups

• Write notes per drone

PLATINUM — everything in Gold, plus

• Push detections to your own server, to CalTopo, or to the Drone Radar network, so drone data feeds the situational awareness tools you already use

• ADS-B: see nearby manned aircraft alongside drones, through a local GDL 90 receiver, with network ADS-B as fallback

HONEST ABOUT RANGE AND HARDWARE

Remote ID was designed on the assumption that an ordinary smartphone could receive it. Reality is messier. Most major brands — DJI, Skydio, Parrot — broadcast over Wi-Fi Beacon, and Android throttles Wi-Fi scanning to about twice a minute unless you switch off Wi-Fi scan throttling in Developer Options. Bluetooth Long Range S8 fares no better: an optional Bluetooth 5 feature, so some phones lack the radio, and many that claim support fail to receive it.

Our affordable optional DroneScout Bridge receiver sidesteps the whole problem and does exactly what its name says: it listens on Bluetooth Legacy, Bluetooth Long Range S8, Wi-Fi Beacon and Wi-Fi NaN on 2.4 GHz, and on 5 GHz too on the higher Bridge models — including drones that broadcast Remote ID only on 5 GHz, such as Skydio — then rebroadcasts everything as plain Bluetooth Legacy — the one transport every phone and tablet receives reliably. A bridge between what drones send and what phones can actually receive, for Android and iPhone alike, out to 2 km. The app works fully without any accessory.

PRIVACY

Detections stay on your phone. Nothing is uploaded anywhere unless you switch on a server integration yourself.