Updated Android Sidekick App

Note: 16 May 2023. This has now been released to all users

We have released a beta version of the Sidekick for Android, the companion app for our thermal camera. This works almost exactly the same as the previous version of Sidekick, but has an updated look that is consistent with the new iPhone Sidekick app and a couple of features that are new to the Android version of the app.:

1. It automatically prompts you to update the location of the camera if it has changed.
2. It provides links to recently uploaded videos to make it easier to view them.

This is available to our beta testers now and will be released before too long to everyone else. You can apply to be part of the beta program on the app page.

Connecting to the camera

In order to connect your phone to the camera you need to set up a hot-spot called bushnet and then turn your camera on. The camera will connect to this. We tried to make it so your phone could connect to a WiFi network set up by the camera, but found that this would not work reliably if you had mobile data, or another known WiFi network in range.

This way of connecting is the same as it has been since the Sidekick app was first released.

Prompt to update location

After a camera is connected the app checks to see if the cameras location has changed. If it has, then it will prompt you to update the location. This is useful because it is really easy to forget to do this and then take videos with the wrong GPS tags.

View recordings after upload

After you have downloaded the recordings from the camera to the phone, then uploaded them to the Cacophony Cloud, you can quickly view these by clicking on the arrow beside the recordings. This will show you a list of the recordings. Clicking on any of them will let you view the recordings on the Cacophony portal. Note if these have just been uploaded then they may still be being processed

Coming next

Next we will prompt you to take a photo and give your location a name when you update the location of the camera. At the moment you have to remember to take a photo and upload it later. Most people don't bother, but it is really useful having those photos and location names, especially if you're reviewing the video and you weren't the one who set up the camera. FYI This video shows you how to upload photos now.