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Wardriving

Wardriving maps wireless networks and devices to geographic locations using GPS. Drive, walk, or bike around an area while Biscuit scans, and the app plots everything on an interactive map in real time. On Android, the phone can also run an Android wardrive without a Biscuit.

Wardrive Modes

Automatic Android capture

The Android app chooses the capture hardware automatically:

  • Starting while a Biscuit is ready uses the Biscuit for WiFi and Bluetooth scanning. The Android phone records GPS and cell-tower observations into the same session.
  • Starting without a Biscuit uses the Android phone for WiFi, Bluetooth Low Energy, and GSM/CDMA/LTE/WCDMA/5G NR cell information.
  • If a Biscuit disconnects during a wardrive, the phone immediately takes over the WiFi or Bluetooth roles required by the active mode. The same session continues while the app tries to reconnect, then returns to Biscuit scanning when the connection is ready.

Android phone capture is Android-only because iOS does not expose the required WiFi and cellular scanning interfaces. Android asks for Precise Location, Nearby Devices, notifications, and background-location access before starting so automatic takeover is always available. Cell capture is skipped automatically on tablets and other devices without a cellular radio. Phone WiFi observations retain Android’s capability strings, including when the phone takes over a Biscuit session. Takeover follows the session’s selected radio mode.

Android’s WiFi scan throttle can delay fresh results. When it is enabled, the app keeps listening for passive system scans and displays a shortcut to Developer options. Turn off WiFi scan throttling there for WiGLE-like scan speed.

During an Android wardrive, capture runs continuously while the live map and stats bar refresh WiFi, Bluetooth, and cell-tower totals together as new results arrive.

When starting a wardrive session, choose the mode that fits your objective:

  • WiFi Only – Map WiFi access points across 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Records SSID, BSSID, channel, signal strength, encryption type, and GPS coordinates for each network.

  • BT Only – Bluetooth device mapping, including Flock camera detections, in a single session.

  • All – WiFi, Bluetooth, and Flock combined for maximum data collection in one pass. Biscuit capture requires a dual-chip device (Pro or Ultra); Android wardrive uses the phone’s radios instead.

Note: WiFi Only and BT Only work on all Biscuit variants. Biscuit-based All mode requires a dual-chip Biscuit Pro or Ultra. A wardrive started without a Biscuit uses All mode automatically.

Wi-Fi networks keep their channel and security information when they also trigger a Flock detection. The notable detection remains available for alerts, while its network exports as Wi-Fi. Only detections known to come from Bluetooth export as Bluetooth. Older detections whose radio cannot be established remain in Biscuit’s saved results but are left out of WiGLE exports. Update both the companion app and firmware for the corrected capture and export behavior.

Counter-Surveillance Toggle

Counter-Surveillance is no longer a separate mode – it’s a toggle you can add to any wardrive. Tap the shield button next to Start before you begin; a toast confirms Counter Surveillance On or Off. When it’s on, the drive runs as a normal wardrive and watches for devices that appear to follow you across separated locations, running its separately configured baseline cooldown before the session starts and adding a summary card to the finished report. Anything heard during that baseline remains available to Counter Surveillance as starting-point evidence, but its WiFi or Bluetooth identity is left out of the ordinary wardrive map, stats, report, exports, and uploads for the entire session. It works best with the BT Only or All mode, since it needs Bluetooth to spot followers. See the Counter-Surveillance page for full details.

Map Features

On iOS, the bottom dock remains available in portrait during a wardrive, with the stats and controls above it. You can visit Dashboard or other screens while recording, Node setup, and pre-start countdowns continue. Tap Wardrive to return; the map refreshes as the screen opens. Any setup choice still waiting for your confirmation stays pending until you return. Returning from another app keeps the screen you selected. In landscape, the Wardrive screen hides the dock to give the map more room; rotate to portrait to navigate with it.

The wardriving map provides a live view of your session as it progresses:

  • Real-time position tracking – Your current location is shown on the map as you move
  • Clustered markers – Nearby devices are grouped into clusters that expand as you zoom in, keeping the map readable even with thousands of results. Large cluster counts on the Android map are shown rounded (for example, 523 displays as “500”); tap the cluster to see the exact device list
  • Color-coded markers – Pins and clusters are colored by what’s inside them so you can read the map at a glance:
    • Green – both WiFi and Bluetooth devices are present
    • Blue – Bluetooth devices only
    • Purple – WiFi networks only
    • Orange – cell towers only

    Notable devices keep their own teardrop pins on the map and aren’t mixed into these clusters: purple for Flock cameras, teal for Meta smart glasses, and orange for Axon devices.

  • Heatmap visualization – Toggle a heatmap overlay to see network density across the area
  • Tap for details – Tap any marker or cluster to view device details including name, MAC address, signal strength, channel, and encryption
  • Live statistics – A stats bar shows running totals for access points, BLE devices, cell towers, notable devices, unique devices, and session duration
  • Background counts – The iOS Live Activity and Android ongoing notification show unique discoveries within the current wardrive. Repeated samples of the same network or device do not increase these counts.
  • Floating discovery counts on iOS – With floating counts enabled, new unique WiFi and Bluetooth discoveries appear as pop-up numbers. Returning from the background resumes these numbers from the current totals; stopping does not display a backlog of earlier discoveries.
  • Collapsible side panels – Nodes and Counter Surveillance use the existing Node area of the map. Each panel collapses independently into a translucent Nodes or CS side button, keeping GPS and battery information unobstructed. The CS panel summarizes current evidence and opens the tracking-candidate list.
  • Notable devices – Flock cameras, Meta smart glasses, and Axon devices are bundled into a single Notable count (the eye icon). Tap it to see everything detected, grouped by type – and tap any entry to zoom the map straight to where it was found. Tapping a teardrop pin on the map shows just the detections at that spot. The first time you open Notable results or tap a Flock pin, the app explains the detection methods and why an OUI-only result is suspected rather than confirmed

WDG Wars territories

If you play WDG Wars, the live wardrive map can paint the game’s territory grid over your map. Each 2 km square held by a gang is tinted in that gang’s colour, with a slightly darker border between squares, so you can see whose turf you’re driving through. Your track, markers, stats, and controls always stay on top of the tint.

  • Turning it on – The first time you open the wardrive map with a WDG Wars API key saved, Biscuit asks whether to show territories. You can change your mind any time under Settings > Wardrive APIs > WDG Wars, where you’ll find Show territories on map, Territory entry toasts, and a Tint opacity slider. Both switches are off until you turn them on, and they’re only available while WDG Wars is enabled with a key saved.
  • Entering a territory – When you cross into a square held by a different gang, a short notice such as Entering NECF territory appears at the top of the map in that gang’s colour. Crossing into unclaimed ground is silent, and driving between two squares held by the same gang doesn’t repeat the notice.
  • Who holds this spot? – Tap an empty part of the map to see a small card with the gang’s name and colour swatch. Unclaimed squares show Unclaimed territory. Tap again or wait a few seconds and the card goes away. Tapping a marker still opens the device details as before.
  • Light on data – Biscuit only checks WDG Wars again once you’ve driven a few squares away from where territories were last loaded, never while the area around you is still current. Territories appear only on the live wardrive map, not in saved session views or reports.
  • The WDG Wars button – The game button is available while WDG Wars is enabled and configured, even when its overlay is hidden. Tap it to select WDG Wars and display its current cached territories; tap the selected game again to open its panel. The panel shows “Data as of”, the next refresh time, and matching Scan, Clear, and Overlay controls. Turning the overlay off keeps the button and cached data available. If you use another game overlay, its button sits below WDG Wars: selecting it replaces the displayed game without moving the map. Switching games cancels an unfinished scan while preserving the areas it already loaded.
  • Scan area – Tap Scan area in the WDG Wars card and the card closes, turning the map into a scan view: a crosshair marks the map centre and a dashed box shows the area that will be scanned, with a small bar along the bottom of the map. The bar’s Scan size slider steps through seven sizes, from a single square of roughly 7 km up to about 100 km across (the default is about 33 km) – the box resizes as you slide, and the readout shows how many requests a scan at that size makes. Pan the map to aim, then tap Scan. While the scan runs, the box stays fixed on the area being scanned and the bar shows progress with a Cancel button; when it finishes, the result appears in the bar and the box goes back to following the map so you can line up another spot. Tap Done to leave the scan view. Areas loaded less than two hours ago are skipped, so re-scanning the same ground is instant.
  • Clear data – Clear removes WDG Wars’ loaded territories and saved copy after confirmation. When its overlay is on, Biscuit then quietly reloads the area around you; when hidden, it waits until the overlay is used again. Other games’ cached results are kept. Clear is unavailable while a scan is running or when nothing is loaded.
  • Auto refresh during a wardrive – While a wardrive is running, Biscuit quietly rechecks the selected game’s loaded territories – including ones you scanned yourself – once its data is due to update. Other games keep their cached results without making map requests. The panel’s “Next refresh” time is the estimate this follows, and it can read “overdue” while WDG Wars is still catching up; this only happens during an active wardrive.
  • Reopening the app – Come back to the map after a while and territories more than a couple of hours old are cleared, with only the area around you reloaded automatically – tap Scan area again if you want the wider picture back.

Tip: If the tint is too strong or too faint for your map style, adjust Tint opacity in the WDG Wars settings. Scanning uses more data than normal driving; run it on Wi-Fi or when you have a generous data plan.

Wardrift territories and forts

Wardrift appears automatically in Settings > Wardrive APIs starting October 1, 2026, at midnight in your phone’s local time zone. If the app is closed, it appears when you next open it. Once unlocked, it stays available even if the clock or time zone changes, while the app’s data is retained. Existing Wardrift users keep their access and settings. Before launch, you can reveal Wardrift by holding Wardrive APIs in Settings. Revealing it does not enable the integration or automatic uploads.

Enable Wardrift and sign in under Settings > Wardrive APIs to use its map overlay. Territories use their controlling faction’s colour. Towers have a single-tower marker; Keeps have a wider castle marker. Tap a territory or fort for details; tap a numbered group of forts to zoom in.

  • Show nearby territory – Tap the Wardrift button below WDG Wars. Only one game’s overlay is displayed at a time. With the overlay on, Wardrift loads the area around your location if it has not been fetched recently; if a location is not available yet, it waits for one. Repeated taps reuse fresh results. Tap the selected game again to open its controls.
  • Scan the screen – Choose Scan area, pan or zoom to the area you want, then tap Scan. Wardrift makes one map request for the visible area, without a size slider. If the service’s territory or fort limit is reached, a red message suggests zooming in for more detail. The data already returned stays on the map. Tap Done to return to the normal controls.
  • Freshness – Fetched shows when Biscuit received the data. Territory and forts disappear after one hour unless refreshed, including when offline. This timestamp does not claim when the game itself last updated its data.
  • Clear data – After confirmation, Clear removes Wardrift’s cached map data without selecting WDG Wars or immediately loading it again. Wardrift stays selected, and the other game’s saved data is untouched. Tap Wardrift or request a scan to load data again; driving into a new area can also resume nearby loading.
  • Overlay and appearance – Turning the overlay off keeps the selected game, button, and cache. You can adjust the tint and entry notifications in Wardrift’s settings.

In landscape on iOS and Android, the bottom controls share one row: Location, WDG, then Wardrift, separate from the Nodes panel. Portrait placement is unchanged.

Session Management

Wardrive sessions are saved automatically so you never lose data:

  • Sessions auto-save with a timestamp as you scan
  • Resume a previous session to continue mapping where you left off – open a past session from your history and tap Resume to keep adding data to it
  • Browse your wardriving history to review past sessions
  • Filter history by session type (WiFi, Bluetooth, Flock, All, Counter-Surveillance)
  • Merge two or more sessions into a single combined session – useful when a wardrive was interrupted or you want to consolidate runs over the same area. Tap Merge at the top of the history view, pick the sessions you want, and confirm. A combined session can contain up to 400,000 WiFi and Bluetooth observations; route points do not count toward the limit. Selected sessions must share the same per-service upload status. The app verifies the combined file before removing the originals, and retains any original it cannot safely remove.

If Android or iOS is force-quit or stops unexpectedly during a wardrive, the next full app launch finishes and saves that interrupted session before normal automatic Bluetooth reconnection begins. The app does not silently continue the old drive or send its previous Node roles again. You can still choose Resume later from wardriving history when you explicitly want to add more data to that saved session.

Note: Sessions you import from a CSV file (for example, a download from WiGLE) can’t be merged and can’t be uploaded back to the community platforms. Only sessions captured on the device can be merged or uploaded.

The History Card

Each session in your history appears as a card:

  • Map snapshot – a small picture of your drive is captured automatically when you finish a wardrive and shown on the left of the card, with your route drawn as a blue line between a green start dot and a red end dot, plus the devices you discovered. On iOS, newly imported CSV sessions also build their map snapshot automatically. Sessions recorded before this feature and merged sessions show a map placeholder instead
  • Name and date – longer session names now fit across two lines
  • Stats – WiFi, Bluetooth, and Notable counts, the session duration, and a Node count when satellite Nodes contributed to the drive
  • API Sync dot – a small glowing dot labelled API Sync in the card’s top corner shows the session’s upload status at a glance: grey means not uploaded yet, yellow means uploaded to some (but not all) of your configured services, and green means fully synced everywhere. Tap the dot to see the per-service breakdown with upload dates
  • Menu (⋮) – everything you can do with a session lives in the menu on the right edge of the card: View Report, Upload, Export, Rename, and Delete

Tapping the card itself loads the session back onto the map, just like before.

On iOS, open the WiFi device list to search the full saved drive by network name, MAC address, or channel (for example, ch14 or ch 14). Networks remain searchable even when they are grouped together on the map. Tap a result to center the map on its strongest recorded observation.

Repairing a session: Your history list always opens quickly, even with a big backlog of sessions. CSV imports on iOS repair their details and build their map snapshot automatically. If another session is missing its map snapshot (it shows the placeholder), or it captured an unusually large amount of data, its ⋮ menu shows a Repair Metadata option – tap it to rebuild that session’s map snapshot and details. The session shows up in your history as a normal entry whether or not you repair it.

Progression and Personal Stats

Progression is an optional, private record of your wardriving milestones. It is off by default and never interrupts app launch; turn it on from Settings → Progression when you want to use it. Your dashboard then adds a Personal Stats page, which opens the full Progression screen and badge collection.

The stats card shows, in order: Devices Discovered, Lifetime Distance, Best Single Drive, Farthest Drive, Longest Drive, Current Wardrive Streak, Wardrive Sessions, and Badges Earned. Distance uses your Miles or Kilometers preference. Tap Lifetime Distance, Farthest Drive, or Longest Drive to open wardrive history.

A wardrive streak counts the local calendar date on which each drive starts. Multiple starts on the same day count once, and a drive that crosses midnight does not add a second day. Today’s streak is current when you have driven today; until today ends, a streak ending yesterday also remains current.

Progression includes these wardriving achievements:

  • Night Shift (Platinum) — capture 10,000 distinct WiFi BSSIDs during a single wardrive and a single local midnight-to-6:00 AM window. Separate drives and separate nights do not combine, and observations excluded by Startup Cooldown do not count.
  • Turkey (Bronze) — start a wardrive on 3 consecutive local calendar days.
  • It’s Not a Phase (Silver) — start a wardrive on 7 consecutive local calendar days.
  • Dedicated (Gold) — start a wardrive on 30 consecutive local calendar days.

Post-Wardrive Report

When you finish and save a session, Biscuit automatically opens a report that breaks down everything you captured. A loading spinner appears while the report is prepared – you can back out at any time and pull the report back up later from your wardriving history (open the ⋮ menu on any past session and choose View Report).

The action in the report’s upper-right corner reflects upload state: Uploading… while a configured service is running, Uploaded with a checkmark when every configured destination is complete, or Upload when a destination is still available. Open Upload and choose All to send the session to every eligible configured destination in order. It is disabled when no upload service is ready or the remaining destinations have rejected the session. An upload you start here announces itself with the same compact top notification used for automatic uploads: it names the destination while the upload runs, then comes back with the result before the next destination starts. Tap or swipe it away at any time and the upload keeps going. Results are saved immediately and reflected on the session’s history card.

At the top is an overall summary: total access points seen, unique networks, Bluetooth, cell-tower, and Notable counts, channels covered, open networks, distance travelled, and how long the drive took. Below that, the report is split into WiFi, BLE, and Notable tabs – a tab only appears if that kind of device was actually found during the drive.

When Counter Surveillance was enabled, the report also includes a three-stat Counter Surveillance summary for candidates, devices seen, and distance. Its report action opens the focused evidence report without replacing the wardrive report underneath it.

WiFi tab

  • Node performance – when you wardrive with satellite Nodes, see how much each WiFi Node (and your main device) contributed, the share of the total each captured, and the exact channels each one picked up, plus each Node’s name, role, and battery level
  • Charts – channel distribution (filterable to a single Node), security mix, and signal-strength breakdown, plus a Top Vendors list of the most common hardware makers
  • Unique networks (BSSID vs SSID) – see why your unique count is based on BSSID (each individual radio) rather than SSID (the network name), and which network names are actually made up of many access points
  • All networks – browse every network found, with search and filters for band, security type, capturing Node, and signal strength, plus sorting

BLE tab

  • Node performance for your BLE Nodes, the same way as WiFi
  • Breakdowns – signal-strength spread, a Top Vendors list of identifiable hardware makers (devices using private/rotating addresses can’t be identified, so they’re left off the list), and how many devices broadcast a name vs. none
  • All BLE devices – the full list with search and filters for Node, signal strength, and named/unnamed

Notable tab – surveillance-class devices detected during the drive, in their own sections: Flock cameras (grouped by detection evidence), Meta smart glasses, and Axon devices. For Flock results, an OUI-only match identifies a vendor prefix rather than proving that the mapped object is a camera. See Flock Camera Detection before sharing a result, and visually verify the hardware before reporting it to a third-party website.

Nodes only appear on the tab they were scanning for – a BLE-only Node won’t show up under WiFi, and vice-versa.

You can turn the automatic report off under Wardriving Settings -> Show report after wardrive if you’d rather open it only from your history.

Node Mesh Wardrive

Use dedicated Biscuit Nodes, or Pro/Ultra devices in Node mode, as extra radios for a Biscuit Pro or Ultra running in Manager mode.

  • Starting a WiFi or BT wardrive automatically gives connected Nodes the matching role.
  • Starting an All wardrive opens Assign Scan Roles with the current online roster and your saved choices already filled in. Choose WiFi or BLE for each dedicated C5 Node; Pro/Ultra Nodes also offer All. Editing online Nodes preserves the saved choices for offline Nodes.
  • The role sheet preserves the full online roster it displayed. If a Node drops while the sheet is open, Start pauses instead of silently launching with a smaller assignment map. A displayed 12-Node rig therefore starts with all 12 assignments or waits for the roster to recover.
  • Verified firmware starts the drive after the Biscuit confirms its selected scanner. Older Node firmware remains supported: each Node can confirm its role explicitly or by returning a valid result, without holding up the entire rig.
  • The Manager divides WiFi channels among its built-in scanner and every Node assigned WiFi or All. If a scanner goes offline, the session continues and coverage is reassigned.
  • Results from the Manager and all Nodes are merged into one live map and one saved session. The wardrive screen and final report show what each Node contributed.
  • Flock and other notable-device detections found during a Node’s assigned scanning role are included in the same session.
  • The live Node panel starts expanded and pins This device above the satellite Nodes. Pills use a green, amber, or red health dot rather than Active/Reconnecting text; screen readers still announce the full state. Amber results count immediately, and the dot returns to green when the selected role is confirmed. A temporarily reconnecting Node keeps its selected role instead of changing to Unknown.
  • After the main Biscuit disconnects and reconnects during a Node wardrive, a toast at the top of the Wardrive screen explains recovery. Biscuit connected confirms the phone connection has returned; the message below it distinguishes checking scanner status, restoring scan roles, and waiting for Nodes to reconnect. A countdown appears when a scan-role retry is scheduled. The toast clears when all selected scanners are confirmed active, and remains visible when the Node list is collapsed. Starting a new drive or reopening the map does not show a restoration toast.
  • Node health and each scanner’s recorded counts continue updating during an active session while the map is closed or the app is in the background. Reopening the map shows the current session state.
  • This device shows only the Biscuit scanner’s assigned role and its matching count during a Node Wardrive. It does not show both WiFi and BLE when only one is assigned.
  • Collapse the panel to a larger translucent Nodes side button when you want more map space; opening or closing it does not affect the separate CS panel.

All results use the connected phone’s GPS position. Keep the Nodes with the Manager as a multi-radio rig instead of placing them in separate locations if you want accurate map attribution.

See Node Management for Manager setup, discovery, saved roles, fleet limits, and Node firmware updates.

Data Export & Upload

After a session, you can upload your wardriving data to community mapping platforms.

AP and station scan exports

The Access Point, Station, and combined WiFi scan result screens include an Export action. Choose CSV for a spreadsheet-friendly file or JSON for a versioned, structured export. Exports include the complete retained scan, including timestamps, identifiers, signal strength, channel, and vendor information when available. iOS opens the native share sheet, including Save to Files; Android offers both the share sheet and an explicit save action.

WiGLE

Upload your data to WiGLE.net – the world’s largest crowdsourced wireless network database.

Setup:

  1. Create a free account at wigle.net
  2. In the Biscuit app, go to Settings
  3. Enter your WiGLE API Name and API Token

Features:

  • View your WiGLE stats directly in the app: total networks contributed and your overall rank
  • Upload sessions directly from your wardriving history
  • Android exports include captured cell towers as WiGLE-compatible GSM, CDMA, LTE, WCDMA, and NR records

WiFi channel 14 is listed at 2484 MHz in both apps’ CSV exports and WiGLE uploads. Re-exporting an existing saved drive uses the corrected frequency while keeping its recorded channel and locations.

WiGLE stats are cached, so opening the dashboard or stats page repeatedly does not repeatedly contact WiGLE. The app shows when the displayed values were last updated.

If WiGLE asks the app to slow down, Biscuit enters a protective cooldown for that WiGLE account. Cached information remains available, and the app shows WiGLE paused until … with the exact local time when WiGLE actions become available again. During the cooldown, stats refreshes, lookups, connection tests, and uploads are paused; Biscuit does not retry in the background. Other configured upload services continue normally.

Uploading a Session

When you upload a session from your wardriving history (open the ⋮ menu and choose Upload), the app will ask you to choose a destination from the wardrive APIs you have configured. Pick one, or use Upload to All to send to every configured destination at once.

Auto-upload completed wardrives

WiGLE and WDG Wars each have an independent Auto-upload completed wardrives switch in Wardrive API Settings. The switch is off by default and becomes available only after that service is enabled and its credentials are saved.

When enabled, Biscuit waits until a completed session is safely saved, then uploads to WiGLE first and WDG Wars second. On iOS, a compact top notification briefly announces each upload, gets out of the way while it continues, then returns with the result before the next service starts. Tap or swipe the notification away at any time; the upload continues. One service failing does not stop the next one, and temporary network or server problems leave manual upload available. A WiGLE cooldown defers only WiGLE and leaves the session retryable; authentication failures turn off auto-upload for that service so Biscuit does not silently keep retrying invalid credentials.

Sync everything at once

If you have several unsynced sessions, tap Sync (iOS) or Upload All (Android) at the top of the wardriving history. The app uploads every session that hasn’t been pushed yet to every service that’s configured, working down the list with a live progress modal – a green checkmark appears next to each service as it finishes. The button hides itself when there’s nothing left to sync.

Tip: Uploading more than 10 sessions in one go can hit the community platforms’ rate limits. The app will warn you before starting and suggest merging some sessions in history first; you can still proceed if you want.

Upload results and rejected sessions

After an upload, each service shows you what happened:

  • Uploaded (green check) – the session is on that platform. If a platform already has this exact session, it’s recognised as a duplicate and simply marked done – there’s no need to upload it again.
  • Rejected (amber !) – the platform wouldn’t accept the data in this session. Tap it to read the reason. Because the same data will be rejected again, that session won’t keep retrying to that service; capturing a fresh wardrive is the fix.
  • Temporary problem – if the upload failed because of something passing (no connection or the server was busy), the session stays available and you can simply try again later. When WiGLE rate-limits the app, Biscuit shows the cooldown end time and prevents another WiGLE attempt until then.

Wardriving Settings

Several settings in the app let you customize wardriving behavior. Tap the gear immediately left of Help on the Wardrive screen, or open Settings → Wardriving.

Geofenced Areas

Use Settings → Wardriving → Geofenced Areas to keep activity around homes, workplaces, or other private locations out of wardrive results. The app supports up to 10 named circular areas on both iOS and Android.

The map starts at your current location when one is available. Tap the map to place a ring, give it a name, and adjust its diameter from 10 m to 5 km before saving. Open a saved ring to rename, resize, reposition, or delete it. Ring measurements follow your selected distance units even though both apps preserve the same exact sizes.

The wardrive map draws saved ignore rings as translucent blue areas even before you press Start, so you can see each boundary as you approach it. Once a drive begins, those circles stay fixed to the snapshot being enforced for that session. When your phone’s GPS accuracy circle overlaps a ring, the active wardrive screen shows Ignoring signals: area name. Overlapping areas are summarized as the nearest name followed by + N more. WiFi, Bluetooth, notable-device, cellular, and Node observations inside the area are discarded completely, while your GPS trail and distance continue normally.

Geofences are an app-only privacy setting: their names and locations are not added to completed sessions, reports, exports, uploads, or firmware messages. A wardrive uses the geofences that existed when its preflight or recording began, so changes made during a drive apply to the next drive.

Distance Units

Choose whether distances show in Miles or Kilometers. New installs default to Miles. The setting applies to geofence diameters, the post-wardrive report, and the counter-surveillance report.

RSSI Re-logging Threshold

Controls how much a device’s signal must change before it is logged again. This reduces duplicate entries and keeps session sizes manageable.

  • WiFi threshold (default: 5 dB) – An AP is re-logged only if its signal has changed by at least this amount since the last log
  • Bluetooth threshold (default: 25 dB) – A BLE device is re-logged only if its signal has changed by at least this amount

Lower thresholds capture more granular data but produce larger sessions. Higher thresholds reduce noise but may miss subtle signal changes.

Blacklists

Filter out networks and devices you do not want in your wardrive results:

  • SSID Blacklist – Enter WiFi network names to exclude (e.g., your home network)
  • BSSID Blacklist – Enter specific AP MAC addresses to exclude
  • Bluetooth MAC Blacklist – Enter BLE device MAC addresses to exclude (e.g., your own wearables)

Blacklisted items are silently ignored during scanning and do not appear in session data or uploads.

iOS and Android also include a separate, locked Built-in Upload Blacklist for known Rickroll, funny-SSID, and beacon-spam names generated by Biscuit and common research firmware. It contains 113 exact SSIDs, the BruceBeacon1 through BruceBeacon9999 family, and Biscuit’s reserved spam BSSID. This built-in list applies only when data is sent to a wardriving API; it does not remove matching observations from saved sessions or manual exports. Matching ignores letter case and surrounding whitespace, while allowed SSIDs keep their original capitalization and spelling in the upload. If every uploadable row is filtered, Biscuit makes no network request and reports that nothing remains to upload.

Startup Cooldown

Keeps your starting environment out of wardrive results by learning nearby WiFi BSSIDs and Bluetooth MAC addresses before the drive begins.

  • Toggle – Off by default. When on, a cooldown window runs at the start of every new wardrive session.
  • Cooldown Duration – How long to learn nearby identifiers, 10 to 300 seconds (1 minute is a good starting point for walking away from your front door).

While the cooldown is counting down, a compact privacy toast appears at the top of the app. A circular countdown on the left shows the remaining seconds and fills as the privacy cutoff approaches its end. Tap the X on the right to end the cutoff immediately and start the wardrive. The toast stays available as you move between tabs, except while a higher-priority connection message is visible. Unique counters do not increase for ignored observations; when Density Line floating counts are enabled, those ignored discoveries appear in red.

Any BSSID or Bluetooth MAC learned during the cooldown stays excluded for the entire session, even if it continues broadcasting after the timer ends. Normal map markers, counters, reports, exports, and uploads include only identifiers first seen after the cooldown. The temporary Density Line view can still show ignored activity so you can confirm the device is scanning. The chosen cutoff is saved with the active session, so recovery applies the same identity filter after a crash. Changing the toggle or duration during a session does not affect that session; the new value applies to your next one.

Other Settings

  • Cluster size – Controls how close markers must be before they are grouped into a cluster on the map (default: 25m on Android, 100m on iOS)
  • Path update interval – How frequently your GPS trail is updated on the map (default: 2 seconds)
  • Auto-start wardriving – Automatically begin a wardrive session when you connect to your Biscuit device
  • Auto-save sessions – Automatically save session data at regular intervals (recommended)
  • Confirm before stopping – Show a quick confirmation prompt before ending an active wardrive session so a stray tap can’t end your run. On by default; turn it off if you prefer Stop to fire immediately
  • Keep screen on – Prevent the screen from dimming during a wardrive session

Background GPS (Android)

Some Android phones pause GPS when the screen turns off to save battery. During a wardrive that can leave a stretch of your route without location updates, so the map draws a straight line across the gap and the networks seen there don’t get an accurate position.

  • Background GPS (in Wardriving Settings) lets Biscuit keep GPS running while the screen is locked. Tap Allow and confirm the system prompt; the setting then shows On.
  • The first time you start a wardrive without it enabled, Biscuit offers a one-time Keep GPS alive when locked prompt so you can turn it on in a tap.
  • If you ever see a wardrive where the path jumps in a straight line between two points after your screen was off, enabling this is the fix.

Detection Notifications

Get a phone notification the first time a notable device shows up during a wardrive. Useful when you have the app in your pocket and want a heads-up the moment something interesting is in range, without staring at the screen.

  • Go to Settings → Notifications, then turn on the detections you want alerts for: Flock Detection (Flock cameras), Meta Detection (Meta smart glasses), and Axon Detection (Axon body cameras).
  • The first time you enable any of them, your phone will ask permission to send notifications – approve to start receiving alerts.
  • Flock alerts use the title Flock Like Signature Detected and only fire when Biscuit captures the Flock-like probe-request behavior. Lower-confidence name, manufacturer, and OUI matches can still appear in the scan results without sending an alert.
  • Meta alerts and Notable map markers exclude Quest headsets, including unnamed headsets recognized by their Quest advertising signature. Only smart-glasses candidates are treated as Meta detections.
  • During a wardrive, you’ll get one alert the first time each eligible unique device is seen. The same device won’t keep re-alerting in the same session. Axon alerts use the title Axon Equipment Detected.
  • All three are off by default. Stop and restart the wardrive to reset which devices have already alerted.
  • More notification types (Drone and others) are planned.

Apple Watch Control (iOS)

If you have an Apple Watch paired to the iPhone that runs Biscuit Manager, the companion watch app lets you start and stop wardriving from your wrist and watch live stats as you go.

  • Wardrive page on the watch exposes a mode picker (WiFi, BT Only, All), a Start / Stop button, and live counters for APs, stations, BT devices, distance travelled, and elapsed time
  • Commands are relayed through your iPhone over WatchConnectivity – the phone still needs to be nearby and running Biscuit Manager
  • Stats update about once per second while a session is active

See the iOS App page for full details on the watch companion.