What it does
Remote ID is a publicly broadcast identifier that drones operating in the United States and the European Union are legally required to transmit. DroneSpotterAR receives those broadcasts directly on your device and shows you what's flying nearby.
Detect Remote ID drones
ASTM F3411-22a / FAA Part 89 / EASA U-Space. Any drone broadcasting Remote ID within Bluetooth 5 range appears in seconds.
See them through your camera
AR View pins each drone's serial, altitude, distance, speed, heading, and operator location onto the live camera feed.
Alerts that get your attention
Urgent beep, sustained haptic, and an optional iOS notification when a drone shows up while the app is in the background.
Fixed range rings
Four concentric rings at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 km centered on your location — the entire range of typical Remote ID broadcasts.
Capture what you see
Save AR screenshots and screen recordings directly to your photo library with a single tap.
Private by design
Nothing leaves your device. No account, no analytics, no third-party SDKs, no advertising. Just you and the public broadcasts.
How it works
Allow Location, Bluetooth, and (optionally) Notifications
On first launch DroneSpotterAR asks for the permissions it needs to detect drones near you and alert you in the background.
Open the Remote ID tab and tap Start
DroneSpotterAR begins scanning Bluetooth 5 broadcasts for the Open Drone ID service (UUID 0xFFFA). Detected drones appear on the map and in the list, sorted by distance.
Tap AR View to point your camera
Each Remote ID drone is rendered as a floating tag overlaid on the live camera feed, with off-screen edge arrows, a heading tape, a horizon indicator, and a mini-map radar.
Get notified when something flies by
Enable Background Notifications on the Alerts tab to receive a local iOS notification when a new drone is detected while DroneSpotterAR is in the background.
Privacy
Nothing leaves your device.
No accounts. No analytics. No third-party SDKs. No advertising. The only network call is an anonymous fetch of an Apple Maps authorization token, which contains nothing about you.
Read the full Privacy Policy →Requires
- · iPhone running iOS 15.0 or later
- · Bluetooth 5 (iPhone XS or later)
- · Rear camera and gyroscope (for AR view)
- · Location enabled (for range rings + AR distances)
Questions? We're here.
FAQ, troubleshooting, and contact information.