JS8 Firefly Downloads & RevenueJS8 Firefly · App Store

JS8 Firefly is a JS8 client for amateur radio operators. Connect your iPhone or iPad to your HF radio and you can chat keyboard-to-keyboard, send heartbeats and leave store-and-forward messages with JS8 stations around the world, all from your pocket.

Its JS8 modem is written from scratch in Swift and checked against JS8Call's original code, so it works with any JS8Call station on all five speeds: Slow, Normal, Fast, Turbo and Ultra.

RECEIVE AND DECODE
• Decodes all five speeds at once
• Live waterfall with every decode labeled on it; tap a signal to tune to it
• Band activity, with directed messages to you highlighted
• Watch list: pick callsigns, @GROUPs and words, each in its own color, and they glow wherever they appear, with an optional alert in the background
• Stations heard, with grid, distance, bearing and signal report
• Set your grid square from GPS with one tap, or keep it updated as you move

FULL JS8 MESSAGING
• Directed queries: SNR?, GRID?, INFO?, STATUS?, HEARING?, QUERY MSGS and more
• Automatic replies, just like JS8Call
• Heartbeats and acknowledgements, CQ, groups, relays and compound callsigns
• Inbox and store-and-forward: receive MSG messages and hold messages for other stations
• Follow every conversation on the band, or just the one on your offset

MADE FOR PORTABLE OPERATING
• Digirig Lite over USB-C, with PTT keyed by a tone on the right audio channel
• QRP Labs QMX and QDX plug straight in for audio, and PTT switches to VOX for you
• Rig control over your network through Hamlib rigctld or flrig, so the app can set the radio's frequency
• Save your own frequencies with labels, like your local net or a sked
• Keeps receiving in the background and notifies you when a message is for you
• Levels panel for setting receive and transmit audio, with a Tune button

FREE AND OPEN SOURCE
No ads, no accounts, no tracking. JS8 Firefly is free software under the GNU GPL v3, built on the work of JS8Call by Jordan Sherer, KN4CRD, and its contributors. It is not affiliated with the JS8Call project. The source code is at github.com/NR5P/js8-firefly.

WHAT YOU NEED
• An amateur radio license to transmit. Anyone can listen.
• An HF radio and an audio interface such as a Digirig Lite, or a radio with built-in USB audio such as the QRP Labs QMX
• No rig control (CAT) over USB: iOS doesn't let apps open a USB serial port, so a USB cable carries audio but can't change the radio's frequency. Set the frequency on the radio, or run Hamlib rigctld or flrig on a computer on your network.
• (tr)uSDX owners: the radio's USB port carries no audio, so plugging it straight in will not work. Use an audio interface such as a Digirig Lite with Digirig's uSDX cable. This setup has not been fully tested yet, so before going on the air, check into a dummy load that it keys, sounds clean and returns to receive.
• A setup guide for the QMX and Digirig Lite is at nr5p.com/js8-firefly.html