DroidEFB FAQs + What is DroidEFB? DroidEFB is an in-flight information source or Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) for pilots including moving maps or charts, NOAA weather, terminal procedures or plates, airport and taxi diagrams, A/FDs, flight plan filing, and more. + I am unable to install DroidWeb.apk. Can't open file. If downloading the DroidEFB APK from a web browser on your Android device, a "Can't open file" message may appear when attempting to install. Some Android devices may not come with a file management system, preventing the package installer from running. To fix, install an application such as Solid Explorer from the Google Play Store. + I already used my 30 day free trial but would like to try DroidEFB again. If for any reason, things didn't go well during your free trial or you didn't get a chance to fully evaluate DroidEFB, please contact us we will gladly extend another 30 day free trial. Additionally, the 30 day free trial is automatically reset after 12 months. We're always adding new features and making improvements so this gives users an opportunity reevaluate and hopefully provide feedback on their experience! + Is DroidEFB FAA approved? Can I use DroidEFB for navigation? No portable electronic device can be used as a primary source of navigation information; only panel mounted, TSO certified devices can be used as navigation sources. This applies equally to any portable, hand-held device. DroidEFB is for situational awareness use only. Please reference AC91-78 and AIM Chapter 1 for more information regarding removal of paper aeronautical charts from the cockpit and restrictions for use of hand-held devices for navigation. Please note that DroidEFB, LLC does not check the chart and database information nor do we guarantee that any device used will not interfere with equipment or systems required for flight. Thus, it is the PIC’s responsibility to verify all available information before flight and determine suitability of device being used, including completeness and accuracy of data presented. + What geographies do you cover? What about Canada? We cover areas which the FAA charts through its AeroNav division. That primarily means United States (including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico) and its territories. We do have chart coverage (sectionals and enroute) for portions of Canada and Mexico but approach plates are not available. If you live in an area where electronic charts are easily available please let us know and we’ll look into supporting your region. + After selecting "File" Flight Plan, I received a "Service provider is not authorized to access user's account". DroidEFB files directly with Flight Service and users may optionally set up a free account on their website. Within the DroidEFB FlightPad, under the Flight Plan Config menu, users may optionally add their Flight Service account email. This email must be registered with Flight Service to avoid errors. To register, visit www.1800wxbrief.com and sign in or register for a free account. Click the Account tab > Service Provider Authorization and enable DroidEFB/Avilution to receive notifications. + What do the different colored traffic symbols indicate when using ADS-B? Is there an ADS-B legend? When traffic appears, the top center of the screen identifies the number of targets and identifies them as distant (grey) distant, (cyan) close, (yellow) alert. Distant (Grey) = traffic other than ALERT and CLOSE Close (Cyan) = traffic that will be within 10 NM or +- 3000 feet within 20 seconds Alert (Yellow) = Traffic that will be within 6 NM or +- 1200 feet within 20 seconds Note: DroidEFB uses traffic trajectory to predict where traffic will be - nearby traffic moving in the opposite direction may stop being reported as a concern earlier than traffic in front of or quickly approaching current position. Once connected to an ADS-B device, the Layers Tab will display a "details" option (see image below) and allow selection of Relative Altitude, Altitude Trend, Horizontal Speed, Vertical Speed, Call Sign, Track Prediction and Breadcrumbs. + Do I have to have an internet connection to use your application? Though airport and chart data is visible while logged in and connected to the Internet, it must be downloaded for offline use. Once downloaded, the data is stored locally on your devices internal or external storage and is fully accessible in flight without an active Internet connection. Downloading data is a 3 step process, requiring the user to first select the States/Territories for which data is to be downloaded followed by selecting Update Airports DB then Update Charts. If a State/Territory is selected in Preferences but is not downloaded, a notification will appear to alert the user. + How do I file a flight plan or receive a flight briefing? After launching DroidEFB, you can access the FlightPad™ feature via the navigation drawer. Within FlightPad, the tab farthest to the right is “Briefing” and from there you can configure and receive your flight briefing and file FAA flight plans. Flight plans are filed directly with Flight Services. To register, visit www.1800wxbrief.com and sign in or register for a free account. Click the Account tab > Service Provider Authorization and enable DroidEFB/Avilution to receive notifications. + Where is the manual? The DroidEFB manual is located at our Documentation and can be found here. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have questions, comments, or feature requests. We are typically able to respond to Email with 24 hours. + I see the $74.99 and $149.99 data subscription option on Google Play. How do I sign up for the monthly standard subscriptions? DroidEFB uses an integrated browser to associate your data purchase with your Google ID. The same Google ID may be used to log in to multiple devices, such as a tablet or phone, running DroidEFB. To see additional subscription options, including a 30 day free trial for new users, visit our purchase page. + How do I setup my Android device to use an SD card? To learn how to connect your SD card with your Android device, visit our tutorial page. + DroidEFB, LLC says I need Google Play Services. Google Play Services is not available, please get it from the Play Store? Google Play Services is already installed on the device? We use Google Play Services to authenticate your Google account on your device, which is also associated with Google email. If you get this notification, use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms from your device browser to install the most up to date version of Google Play Services! Even if your device says Google Play Services is already installed. For more information or installation and user assistance please view our online user guide. + My device is rooted. Is it supported? With full access to the root file system, it is possible to delete critical system files in the root file system or disable critical system apps and prevent your device from functioning properly. Due to the issues and challenges that occur with rooted devices, we do not "officially" support them. + Can I use DroidEFB with a Flight Simulator? X-Plane or Microsoft FSX? Yes, DroidEFB can be used with either X-Plane or Microsoft Flight Sim. Please see our tutorials page for detailed instructions on setting up either configuration. + What do the METAR symbols and colors over the airports mean? To see the METAR legend, open our in-app tutorial by selecting the three-dot menu then select "Tutorial". + What Android devices do you recommend? DroidEFB works on a wide range of Android devices running Android 5.1 or later. Many of our customers use only their phones or smaller 7" and 8" tablets as a backup to their primary source of information. We regularly test our applications on LG, HTC, Nexus, Sony, ASUS, Motorola, various Samsung devices and occasionally other phones and tablets. There is a wide range of tablets and phones out there. In general, any tablet from a reputable manufacturer will work just fine; if you’ve heard of the maker it should be safe. Low end tablets from no-name manufacturers often don’t have enough RAM in them to work properly, however. At a minimum, the device should be WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth capable with at least 16GB internal storage. + What is the status of my subscription? After signing up for a free trial subscription or purchase, an email is sent to the Google account used for the transaction. Launch DroidEFB and select Menu > Help to view current subscription information. Optionally, visit our subscription manager from a web browser to view subscription information. + How much storage space does DroidEFB use? The DroidEFB application itself is only a couple MB in size and we recommend installing it on Internal Storage. You can specify a path to External Storage (SD, Micro SD) in the DroidEFB by selecting Menu > Preferences > Device Settings > Path to external storage. After specifying a path to external storage, restart the application for changes to take effect. Depending on how many states worth of charts and plates you want to store for offline use determines the amount of storage space you need. It’s hard to give precise numbers but if you downloaded our full data set, including sectionals, low altitude charts, high altitude charts, and a full set of approach plates for the United States is around 5.5 gigabytes. So any device with external storage of more than 8GB should suffice. Otherwise we wouldn’t recommend anything less than 16GB of internal memory. If you don’t fly outside of your home region, you can download fewer States/Territories for offline use and use substantially less storage space. + How can I improve my GPS reception? We have had reports of success using various Bluetooth GPS receivers, including the Dual XGSP150/A and Garmin GLO. We’ve also had quite a few people report that Tether GPS works well. Tether is an application which broadcasts an Android phone’s GPS position over WiFi and allows other Android devices to use that for location. For Kindle Fire devices, which include neither GPS nor Bluetooth, this allows them to have location information. While we don’t test any of these approaches, they seem to work well for our customers. We recommend installing "GPS Status and Toolbox” to improve the performance of in-phone and in-tablet GPS’s. + I received the following - "automated download.log submission" or "Issue Report" This error is typically associated with a transient network, such as switching from mobile to Wi-Fi, or a user authentication error. If the error persists, please try the following: 1) Within DroidEFB, navigate to Menu > Account Login and attempt to login using the email address used to sign up for your subscription. 2) If the network quality or signal being used is suspect, it may be necessary to use another Internet connection. Adjust your device settings to use either mobile data or Wi-Fi only. Switching connections during an update will cause an interruption in service. 3) Navigate to Menu > Preferences > General > Alternate download server, change the setting and repeat number one above. If you continue to experience this error or think it may have been caused by something else, please contact DroidEFB Support. + Do you support real time weather or ADS-B? What about TIS-B?. Yes! We are currently supporting Baron’s MobileLink product for weather delivered over XM Radio by WxWorx, SkyRadar and iLevil via WiFi for in flight weather through ADSB transmissions and the Dual XGPS170 via Bluetooth. With DroidEFB, ADSB provides NEXRAD Radar, METARs, TAFs, NOTAMs and PIREPs. There are still limitations of ADS-B and TIS-B. Per the FAA, the cockpit display of ADS-B/TIS-B traffic is NOT intended to be used as a collision avoidance system and does not relieve the pilot of responsibility to “see and avoid” other aircraft. The cockpit display of traffic information is intended only to assist pilots with the visual acquisition of the other aircraft and will not be used for avoidance maneuvers during times when there is no visual contact with the other aircraft. Presently, no air traffic services or handling is predicated on the availability of an ADS-B/TIS-B cockpit display. A “traffic-in-sight” reply to Air Traffic Control (ATC) must be based on seeing an aircraft out-the-window; NOT on the cockpit display. + How do I know if my charts and plates are up to date? When DroidEFB first starts, the data expiration date is briefly shown at the bottom of the screen. If the data is expired, a small notification will continue to be displayed. If no notifications appear, then the charts have successfully been downloaded to match the States/Territories and chart types selected within the preferences. If data is missing for the planned route, RouteMinder™ will trigger a notification prompting the user to download the missing data. + How do I get DroidEFB? Is there a difference between the Google Play version and the version on the DroidEFB web site? We offer two methods of purchasing subscriptions as a courtesy to our customers. Users may purchase and manage subscriptions through Google Play or via our website. If a subscription has been purchased via our website, it will work with DroidEFB whether installed from our website or the Google Play store. If a subscription has been purchased via the Google Play store, it will only work with the Google Play store version. Note: The Google Play version has a play store logo on the DroidEFB launcher icon. If installing from the DroidEFB website, a prompt will appear for changing the Android device settings to “allow installation of apps from unknown sources.” This can be changed back after installation is complete. + How do I change the default app used to open a .csv file? To share a flight plan? If DroidEFB is not the default app previously selected to open a csv file or share a flight plan, follow the steps below to reset the default. Navigate to the Android devices Settings > Apps. Find the previously selected default app and choose Set as default. Then select clear defaults. + How do I make suggestions or feature requests? What if I have an issue with the data or the application? Feel free to contact us anytime if you have questions, comments or recommendations for making our product better! Service is everything and we want to hear about your experiences: good, bad or otherwise. If you experience any issues whatsoever, notify us right away so that we can correct the issue and notify other subscribers that may be effected. DroidEFB,LLC is a small company that values each and every user and we strive to make our product as complete and reliable as possible! + Can I install DroidEFB on multiple devices? Yes! Your DroidEFB subscription is authenticated using the Google account on your Android device and can be associated with multiple devices, such as a tablet and mobile phone. + How do I setup my Android device to use an SD card? The vast majority of our users have requested that charts be “stitched” together rather than switching from one chart to another. Unfortunately there are some side effects to this process where the borders meet or overlap and can occasionally cause labels to be cut off. We are working to support an alternative view that would include charts with full borders but there is no ETA yet. In the meantime, Terminal Procedures and Sectional Charts with legend may be downloaded digitally from the FAA Aeronav division. + Does DroidEFB run on Windows? What about iOS? We've had good results running DroidEFB on Windows using the Bluestacks app player. DroidEFB is also available through the Your Phone app with certain Samsung devices. See our Link to Windows tutorial to learn more. iOS devices are not currently supported. + How do I upgrade, modify or cancel my subscription? IMPORTANT: Uninstalling the app will not automatically stop your subscription — the subscription must be cancelled to stop automatic payments. Feel free to change your standard monthly to an annual subscription or upgrade from a standard to premium subscription with Geo-referenced approach plates and airport taxi diagrams at any time. Just remember to cancel your previous purchase in order to prevent duplicate billing! Need help or have questions about a refund for an unused portion of a purchase? Contact us and let us know you are changing your subscription information. If for any reason, the subscription doesn’t meet your expectations, please let us know what we can do to improve the product! + Which UDP port is DroidEFB configured to use with Stratux or FlightBox? DroidEFB was previously configured to work with port 43211 but as of release 2.1.1, DroidEFB now listens for Stratux on port 4000. + How do I update FBO information at my airport? FBO and fuel price information is provided to DroidEFB by FlightAware. FBO and fuel price information can be updated by logging into https://www.flightaware.com/
