DEFLOCKHUD ← deflockhud.com

Hardware & flashing guide

Build the optional ESP32 scanner.

DeflockHUD's passive map mode needs no hardware. This page is only for active RF detection — adding a small ESP32 board, flashed with third-party detector firmware, so the app also catches cameras live by their wireless signature, including ones not yet on any map. Below: which boards work, where the firmware comes from, how it's flashed, and who to credit.

Heads up: the detector firmware is a separate, independent project — not built or maintained by DeflockHUD. Flashing your own board is at your own risk, and the firmware project's own README is the authoritative source for current steps. This page summarizes and links to it.

01 What you need

  • An ESP32 board the firmware targets (see below).
  • The flock-you detector firmware, flashed onto that board.
  • A USB-host (OTG) connection from your Android head unit / phone / tablet to the board.

Once flashed and plugged in, DeflockHUD reads the board's USB serial output (one JSON line per detection, 115200 baud) and auto-connects — no root, no pairing.

02 Compatible boards

Firmware targets

Out of the box

Boards the flock-you firmware ships build profiles for:

  • Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 — the firmware's default target
  • LilyGO T-Dongle S3

App side

Auto-detected

DeflockHUD talks to any board that speaks the protocol over:

  • Native USB — ESP32-S2 / S3 / C3 / C6 (CDC-ACM)
  • UART bridge — CP2102 · CH340/CH9102 · FTDI · Prolific
  • Fallback — generic 115200 serial

Simplest path: use a board the firmware already targets (the XIAO ESP32-S3 is the default). Other ESP32-S3 boards can usually be built by adding a matching PlatformIO environment — a firmware-project task, not an app one.

03 Where the firmware comes from

The detector firmware is “Flock-You: Promiscuous WiFi Edition” by colonelpanichacks — a third-party project that turns an ESP32 into a passive 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi sniffer, flagging Flock Safety cameras by their probe-request signatures (wildcard probes from known manufacturer OUIs plus information-element fingerprinting).

github.com/colonelpanichacks/flock-you →

Get the source, board support, and the authoritative flashing steps here. License: not stated in the repo at time of writing — check the project before reusing or redistributing its code.

04 Flashing it

The project builds and flashes with PlatformIO (there is no one-click web flasher). In outline — but follow the repo's README, which is the source of truth and may change:

  1. Install PlatformIO (the VS Code extension, or the pio CLI).
  2. Get the firmware — clone or download colonelpanichacks/flock-you.
  3. Connect the board over USB and put it in bootloader/download mode if its README says so.
  4. Build & upload for your board's environment, e.g. for the XIAO ESP32-S3: 
    pio run -e xiao_esp32s3 -t upload
  5. Verify — open the serial monitor at 115200; you should see the detector's boot banner and JSON output.
Don't trust these five lines over the project's own docs. Board names, PlatformIO environments, and steps are defined by the firmware repo and can change — the commands above are an orientation, not a substitute for its README.

05 Connect it to DeflockHUD

  • Plug the flashed board into your Android device via USB-OTG.
  • Android prompts to open DeflockHUD and grant USB access → the app auto-connects at 115200.
  • DeflockHUD auto-detects the USB chip and applies per-board RSSI calibration so readings are comparable across boards.
  • No scanner? Passive map mode still works with GPS alone.

06 Credits

Active detection is only possible because of the firmware and the research behind it. Per the flock-you project's own credits:

  • colonelpanichacks — the flock-you detector firmware.
  • @NitekryDPaul — initial research and the manufacturer OUI list.
  • Michael / DeFlockJoplin and Will Greenberg — contributions.
  • Lucia Pintor & Luigi Atzori — information-element fingerprinting research.

See the repository for the full, authoritative credits. Camera-location map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), much of it community-mapped via the DeFlock project.

07 The fine print

DeflockHUD is an independent app. It is not built by, maintained by, or affiliated with the flock-you firmware project, and it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Flock Safety, Inc. "Flock" is used only descriptively, to name the cameras the app helps you detect. Flashing firmware and building hardware is done at your own risk; check the laws that apply where you are before using any RF scanner.