RF Sentinel 2.28.0

RF Sentinel 2.28.0

New: Sentinel Link - phones that share

• Link RF Sentinel phones near each other over Bluetooth: each one shows the same devices on its list, radar and map, whichever phone heard them first, including what any phone's ESP32 board, USB WiFi adapter or RTL-SDR picks up.
• A device another phone heard is marked VIA with that phone's name, its alerts say "via NAME", and the new Sentinels filter chip shows only those.
• To link: Settings > Sentinel Link > Open Sentinel Link. Tap Link up a Sentinel on one phone and Join a Sentinel on the other, check that both show the same 6-digit code, and tap Confirm on both. Linked phones then share while they scan, and find each other again by themselves.
• Encrypted (key agreed through the 6-digit code), no internet. The phones' Bluetooth adverts only carry a changing tag that means nothing without the group's key.

New: Sentinel Link over Meshtastic (not yet tested on real hardware)

• Phones too far apart for Bluetooth can share through Meshtastic LoRa nodes (official firmware, e.g. Heltec V3, T-Beam, XIAO ESP32S3 + Wio-SX1262), one paired with each phone.
• In Sentinel Link > Meshtastic node: turn on Use a Meshtastic node and pick yours (PIN on the node's screen, or 123456). RF Sentinel adds a private RFSentinel channel to the node, keyed from your group, so only your group reads it.
• LoRa is slow: each packet carries the phone's position once and a few devices, watchlist matches first, then flagged devices, then everything else. One packet a minute by default (15 s to 5 min).
• This part follows Meshtastic's phone API and passes its tests, but hasn't been tried with a real node yet. Reports are welcome.

New: snapshots

• Menu > Save snapshot keeps the device list exactly as shown. Look at it again later in History > Snapshots (beside the recorded traces), on the map, or export it.

Driving

• Record a trace in the car (Settings > Auto-start): a GPS trace from the moment the phone connects to your car until you leave, saved by itself.

Lists and watchlist

• Watchlist prefix rules: a slider picks the prefix length, from 24 to 44 bits.
• WiFi devices can leave the list after only 5 s when scan throttling is off, and devices heard only by external hardware have their own list time.
• RTL-SDR and HackRF transmissions show on the radar too.
• Location is off warning: Android gives apps no Bluetooth or WiFi results while Location is off, so the main screen now says so and opens the setting when tapped.

Fixes

• The flagged chip no longer changes size when it turns red.
• The Bluetooth scan restarts when it doesn't resume by itself after the screen comes on.

Which file?

• RFSentinel-v2.28.0-release.apk: the normal build (about 50 MB).
• RFSentinel-v2.28.0-foss.apk: free software only (about 28 MB).

Either file replaces the other, and your history and settings are kept. Detection only: RF Sentinel never transmits to the devices it detects; Sentinel Link sends encrypted messages to your own linked phones and Meshtastic node, only when you set it up.