Setting up SkyWatch takes minutes — and there's no app to install
One of the best things about SkyWatch is how little stands between opening the box and watching live planes drift across the radar. There's no app to download, no account to create, and no cables once it's powered. You set everything up from your phone's browser, using a small website the device hosts itself. Here's exactly how to go from box to live tracking.
What you'll need
- Power for the device
- Your home Wi-Fi name and password
- Your phone — used for both first-time setup and all settings afterward
Step 1 · Power it on
When you first switch SkyWatch on, it shows a brief splash screen and then opens straight into its display. On that first boot it makes a smart estimate of your location, timezone, units, and news region from your internet connection — so it's genuinely useful right away, and you can fine-tune any of it later. If it can already reach a network, you may find it's essentially ready to go.
Step 2 · Get it on Wi-Fi
If SkyWatch can't reach the internet yet, it creates its own temporary Wi-Fi hotspot and walks you through two quick steps — both done by scanning a QR code with your phone's camera, so there's no fiddly typing.
- Join — Scan the first QR code to join the SkyWatch hotspot. (Prefer to do it by hand? The network name SkyWatch-Setup and password skywatch are shown on screen.) Then tap Next.
- Open — Scan the second QR code to open the setup page in your phone's browser, then pick your home network and enter its password.
Once it's connected, SkyWatch remembers your network. If it ever drops off, it automatically brings the setup hotspot back so you can reconnect.
Step 3 · Open the settings from your phone
Everything about SkyWatch is configured from the little website it hosts — there's no app to install. To open it at any time, press and hold the main screen for about a second. A settings QR code appears; scan it with your phone to open the control panel in your browser, and tap the screen to dismiss the code.
One thing to know: your phone and SkyWatch need to be on the same Wi-Fi network for this to work. The settings themselves are tidily grouped into Mode, Features, and your individual Modes, Apps and System pages, so everything has a logical home.
Step 4 · Set your home location
This is the one setting worth getting exactly right, because it's the point your radar, sky charts and maps are all calculated from. Open Home location, drag the map so the crosshair sits right over your roof, and tap Save. In a hurry? Tap Use my phone to drop the pin at your phone's current spot. Every aircraft's distance and bearing on the radar is measured from here.
Step 5 · Choose your search radius
For the Aircraft, Ships and Traffic modes, the search radius decides how far out SkyWatch watches — anywhere from 1 to 250 miles. A tighter radius keeps the scope clean and focused on what's right overhead; a wider one pulls in more distant traffic. If your scope ever looks empty, widening the radius is usually the fix.
Step 6 · Confirm your region and units
SkyWatch guesses your timezone, units and news region on first boot, but you can override any of them under Region. Set your timezone, choose Imperial (°F, feet, mph) or Metric (°C, metres, km/h), and pick the language and country for your news headlines and weather forecast. Your unit choice here drives the altitude and speed readouts across all the tracking modes.
Step 7 · Pick a mode — and unlock more
Open Mode to choose what's on the display right now: live aircraft, ships, Amtrak trains, precipitation radar, the night sky, a sports scoreboard, a focus timer, one of the arcade games, and plenty more. The display switches instantly and remembers your choice.
The touch controls you'll actually use
SkyWatch is driven by simple taps:
- Tap any contact — a plane, ship, star, headline — to open its detail card.
- Tap anywhere on an open card (or the ✕) to close it.
- Drag inside a card to scroll a longer description.
- Press and hold the main view at any time to bring up the settings QR.
A few modes add their own touches — zoom buttons on the maps and star charts, source arrows in Crypto — but those four are the essentials.
Updates take care of themselves
You'll never plug SkyWatch into anything to update it. It checks for new releases quietly in the background and, when one's ready, raises an Update Available card on screen. Tap Install and it handles the rest, restarting into the new version on its own. Your license, settings, Wi-Fi and saved location all carry straight over.
Troubleshooting the first few minutes
- Empty radar scope? That's normal when nothing's overhead — you'll see a slow Scanning sweep. Widen your search radius to watch a larger area.
- Can't open settings? Make sure your phone is on the same Wi-Fi network as SkyWatch.
- Wrong location? Set it precisely under Home location.
- Lost the network? SkyWatch relaunches its setup hotspot automatically so you can reconnect.
- A mode shows a padlock? It just isn't unlocked on your unit yet — tap it to visit the store, or check Settings → Features.
That's it. A few taps on your phone and SkyWatch is located, connected and tracking the world around you.
👉 Explore SkyWatch and everything it can track — see it here.
