FAQ - Flyskyhy Soaring App

How can I purchase the Waypoints, Airspaces and XC extensions?

You can find the extensions under the "Settings" tab: the right-most tab. The first three entries there give access to the extensions. When clicked, a screen with description of the extension opens up, with in the top-right a button with the price on it. Click that button to start the purchasing process.
Note that after purchasing the Airspaces extension, it can take a couple of minutes until they are downloaded and appear on the map; possibly longer with a slow internet connection.

I try to buy the extensions, but it says "Blocked"?

The most likely cause that the extensions are blocked, is because you have disabled in-app purchases on your phone. For older iOS versions, you can enable them again in the Apple Settings app, under General→Restrictions. You only need to enable them temporarily during the purchase. For newer iOS versions, see Apple's instructions for how to enable in-app purchases.

I bought the XC extension, but do not see the side view or thermal centring instrument anywhere

You can place the new instruments from the XC extension anywhere you like on your screen pages yourself. A description for how to edit the screens you can find here. When enabled in the settings, the app will switch to the page with the thermal centring tool automatically when entering a thermal.

Is it not possible to change page in landscape mode?

The portrait and landscape layouts are independent of each other. By default, there are two pages in portrait mode, but only one in landscape. You can easily change the complete layout of the screen, including adding pages, by pressing and holding anywhere on the screen. See the instruments description for details.

Does it support the iPhone pressure sensor?

Yes it does. First of all, it enables a more stable altitude display. The pressure information is synced with the GPS altitude before flight, to get a baseline. Then during flight, the altitude is only derived from the pressure sensor, as required by many competitions. See more details here.

The vario is also derived from the pressure information, but that was more difficult. The pressure sensor in the iPhone is extremely slow: it reports only one sample every 1.3 seconds, and it lags about 3 seconds behind the actually movement of the phone. As a consequence, I had to base the vario support in Flyskyhy mostly on the accelerometer data, using the pressure only as a reference. The result is a decent vario, although it cannot compare to the reliability of a Bluetooth vario.

Is there an Android version of the app?

So far, only an iPhone version is available. Porting the app to Android would be a major undertaking both in time and costs. This is both because of the differences in operating system between iOS and Android, and because of the larger variety in hardware models running Android. Therefore, I have no plans right now to release Flyskyhy on Android.

Does it run on iPad (mini)?

The app is developed for iPhone, and does not have iPad-native support yet. That means it will likely run on iPad, but in "iPhone compatibility" mode, just like any other iPhone app. The iPad will simulate an iPhone and show its screen shown at a large scale. In order for Flyskyhy to work, the iPad needs to have GPS capabilities, therefore it needs to be a Cellular model. No guarantees can be given that it will work.
There are plans to develop an iPad-native version of Flyskyhy, but no promises can be give for when that will be.

How do I load waypoints?

You can add waypoints manually, both on the waypoints map screen, and on the waypoints editing screen. But Flyskyhy also supports loading waypoint files in various formats. If the waypoints file is available on a web site, simply open the link in Safari on the iPhone, and it will ask whether you want to open the file in Flyskyhy.
If you have the waypoints file on your computer, you can e-mail it to yourself, and then open the attachment in the email app on the iPhone.
Or you can use iTunes to transfer the file to Flyskyhy. Drag the file to the screen in iTunes where the Flyskyhy flight log files are visible. Make sure Flyskyhy is already running when you do that.

When is a flight log started/stopped?

Before your flight, press the Start button. This indicates to the app your desire to start a flight, and will put the app into Flight Mode. The app will check a number of things, will fix the screen orientation into place, enable vario tones, and ensure continued operation in the background even if you switch off the screen or close the app. It does not start the log.
The log does not record the period before you take off. It starts when you move faster than 3 m/s (11 km/h, 6.7 mph) for more than approximately 10 seconds, and will include the 20 seconds before that as well.
During flight the Start/Stop button will show the flight duration in hours:minutes.

To stop recording a flight, press the Stop button. If you accidentally press the Stop button while you are still moving, you will get a warning.
If you have enabled automatic flight end, then the log is automatically stopped after your landing.

My flight was not logged. What is going on?

In order for Flyskyhy to function normally, and flights to be logged, it needs to have access to location information. That sounds easy enough, but a number of settings in the Settings app need to be set correctly for that:

Location Services needs to be enabled, both in general and specifically for Flyskyhy. They can be switched on under Privacy→Location Services.
Background refresh must be enabled, both in general and for Flyskyhy. You can find that under General→Background App Refresh.
Airplane Mode must be switched off, otherwise the GPS does not work either. You can switch Airplane Mode on/off on the control panel that appears when you swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen.

Does it generate vario tones?

Flyskyhy has a variety of different vario tones to choose from. But note that these are mostly intended to be used with external varios (see below). Vario tones are only useful if they help you find thermals. Traditional variometers achieve a high degree of accuracy by using a pressure sensor. The iPhone (before version 6) did not contain a pressure sensor, and therefore lift and sink information needs to be derived from the altitude obtained from the GPS. This information is not sensitive and responsive enough for the purpose of finding thermals. Therefore, although the vario tones work with only the GPS data as well, without an external vario with pressure sensor they will likely be only confusing, not helpful.

Does it support bluetooth varios?

Flyskyhy supports SensBox, FlyNet, GoFly iPico, XCTracer, BlueFlyVario, and SkyDrop bluetooth varios. You can select whether Flyskyhy or the bluetooth device should generate the vario tones (or both, if you like). Flyskyhy has a selection of different tones to choose from, besides the standard tone. You can also choose whether to use the GPS data from the vario (if supported), or from the iPhone. If you know of another vario which works with Apple devices, then let me know, and I will add support for it. See more details here.

I have already bought the extensions for my iPhone. Do I have to buy them again when installing Flyskyhy on my iPad/new iPhone?

You do not have to buy them again, simply tap on 'Restore Extensions' under the Settings. Make sure you are logged in with the same Apple ID as you used to purchase the app.

What is the battery life when flying with the app?

It is very hard to say anything definitive about the battery life. Besides type of usage, iPhone model, and battery capacity, it depends on the outside temperature, and the quality and age of the batteries. But here are some indications from my own experience (no guarantees can be drawn from this information):

with no external battery, an iPhone 4S will last about 2 hours.
with a 2350mAh external battery, an iPhone 4S will last about 4 hours (I have a clip-on battery with velcro on the back side; very handy)
with a 8800mAh external battery, the iPhone 4S will last at least 7 hours

All these are with both the internal iPhone battery and the external battery fully loaded at start, and with the screen on all the time.

How do I transfer flights to and from my computer?

You can transfer flight logs to your computer through iTunes.

connect your phone with your computer and start iTunes
select the phone icon in the top left
select the File Sharing menu entry on the left (or the Apps entry in older iTunes versions)
you will see Flyskyhy in the list of Apps under File Sharing. Select it. You may need to scroll down.
now you can drag any .igc file from the list on the right to a folder window.
you can also drag any .igc file from your computer into the list, and it will automatically be added to the logbook in Flyskyhy.

Of course, you can also email individual files to yourself directly from the app to transfer them.

The latest MacOS operation system (Catalina) does not have iTunes anymore. In that case, you can backup your logs through the Finder:

connect your phone with your computer through a USB cable and open Finder.
under Locations on the left, select your phone.
select the tab Files at the top.
now click the little triangle next to Flyskyhy to show the logs.
drag and drop, or copy/paste any logs to and from other Finder windows.

You can also use the Files app on the phone itself to transfer Flyskyhy logs.

How can I add my own landing / launch site?

The landing and launch sites in Flyskyhy come from paraglidingearth.com. If you add the site there, then Flyskyhy will eventually pick it up. Because this is partly a manual process, it can take up to a couple of weeks before it is visible in the app. If you want to speed up the process, then let me know on the support page after you have added the sites.

Upload to my Leonardo server returns an “Invalid User account” error

When upload of your flight log to a Leonardo server fails because of an “Incorrect user name or password” or “Invalid User account” error, then first re-check whether your username and password are actually filled in correctly. If so, then the problem could be due to confusion over the use of http: or https: for the server. Flyskyhy will always try to use https:, but some Leonardo servers return a user account error message for that. In that case, use the following method to explicity specify http: for the server:

Instead of “Upload to «your server name»” use “Other Leonardo server”.
Make sure that you choose the same server name as you had already.
Fill in the submit URL of the server, including an explicit “http://” at the start. The submit URL is usually the internet address of the server, followed by “/flight_submit.php”, but check with the server administrators if it doesn't work. For example, use the following URL for the XC Australia Leonardo server: “http://xcaustralia.org/flight_submit.php”.

Once you have uploaded at least one flight successfully, the “Upload to «your server name»” in the default list should be replaced with the new URL, and you can use it as normal again.

The screen keeps switching pages / goes black

This is likely due to a side-effect of the hands-free function. The hands-free function makes it really easy to switch pages during flight: simply hold your (gloved) hand shortly over the top of the phone. However, there are a number of restrictions due to the way Apple has built this. If you hold your hand there too long, then the screen goes black, and it does not work at all in landscape mode. Also, when you use a phone holder that covers the top of the phone, then that will also trigger the function, and the screen keeps changing or goes black. You can switch the function on/off in Settings→Other→Touch-free control.

The app crashed!

Stability of the app is a high priority goal. You should be able to rely on the app to keep functioning correctly in all circumstances. Unfortunately, it can occasionally happen that the app crashes. In that case, it is highly appreciated if you send the crash log to us, so that we have a chance of locating the fault and fixing it. You can locate crash logs as follows:

In the Settings app of your device, navigate to Privacy→Analytics→Analytics Data.
Scroll through this list to find the events whose names start with Flyskyhy. The list is alphabetical.
Tap the Flyskyhy event that has the date and time of your crash.
Tap the share icon at the top right.
Email it to support@flyskyhy.com, add as much information about the circumstances as you can.

If there is no crash log for the date and time of the crash, then the app most likely ran out of memory. Make sure enough free memory is available on the phone before your flight.

Will it support feature 'X' in the future?

Please let me know what feature you would like on the support page, and I will consider adding it.