Beacon Tools Network

When Local Flight connects to the internet.

Your Local Flight host runs the board on your own device. An internet connection is used only for the aviation data and optional features you choose. The Beacon Tools shared service can make setup easier, power mobile Standalone, and keep an explicitly paired phone connected while you are away.

Your LAN stays local Shared service is optional Updates are deliberately spaced out
30-second answer

Local first, with clear online choices.

At home

The desktop app, LAN screens, Companion phones, and LED matrix displays talk to your own Local Flight host first.

For flight data

Your host connects to the aviation providers you configured, or asks the Beacon Tools shared service for a recently prepared airport board.

Away from home

Remote Companion can carry encrypted messages between a paired phone and an online host. The service cannot read those messages.

You choose

Use your own provider keys, VATSIM-only mode, the shared service, or mobile Standalone. Reports leave your device only when you send them or enable automatic diagnostics.

Ways to connect

Pick the path that fits your setup.

Local and Companion

The native app and browser board are served by your Windows, macOS, Linux, or Raspberry Pi host. Companion connects over your trusted Wi-Fi or LAN, so the normal phone-to-host path does not pass through Beacon Tools.

Shared airport data

Choose the Community Relay during setup when you do not want to manage aviation provider keys. It reuses recent airport results and spaces requests out fairly instead of asking the provider again for every screen.

Remote Companion

After you pair on LAN and explicitly allow remote access, encrypted messages can pass through the shared service when the phone cannot reach the host directly. The host must stay online. The encryption secret stays on the paired devices, not on the service.

Mobile Standalone

The phone asks the shared service directly, so no desktop, Linux server, or Raspberry Pi needs to be online. Standalone keeps its movement history on the phone and uses more conservative board and radar updates.

Update spacing

Why a board may not change immediately.

The shared service protects limited aviation data allowances by reusing a known board and waiting before it refreshes again. Community Relay schedules update no more often than every 30 minutes. Mobile Standalone boards use a three-hour schedule, and its visible radar asks for an update no more often than every five minutes.

If an aviation provider has a temporary problem, Local Flight may keep showing the last known board instead of clearing the screen. Check the freshness time shown in the app before relying on what you see.

Connection help

Start with the path you are using.

  1. Companion on Wi-Fi: keep the phone and host on the same trusted network, confirm Local Flight is running, and scan the pairing code shown in Settings.
  2. Remote Companion: leave the host online and connected to the shared service. If remote access was removed, return to the same LAN and pair again.
  3. Standalone: check the phone's internet connection and try again after a few minutes. A recent board may stay visible while a data provider is unavailable.
  4. Still stuck: use Support and tell us the mode, airport, approximate time, and whether the phone and host were online. Only include diagnostics or logs if you choose to.

Technical address for firewall allow-lists: https://relay.beacontools.cc. You do not need to open an incoming router port for the shared service or Remote Companion.

Not for professional or safety-critical aviation use

Relay responses and cached board data are informational display aids only. They may be delayed, incomplete, cached, wrong, unavailable, or intentionally stale. Do not use them for navigation, dispatch, operational control, flight planning, professional aviation work, or safety decisions.