New Helium App Features: Remote Assert, Search, & More 📱!
Spring has sprung and the Helium App has three great new features we’re excited to tell you about!

Remote Assert

Our first feature is Remote Assert! Highly requested by Hosts, Owners, and those with remote Hotspot deployments, Remote Assert removes the need to pair with the physical Hotspot. Instead, pairing can be initiated by the Hotspot Owner any time, anywhere.

All you need to do is update the app to version 3.1.0, find your Hotspot, press Settings, then Update Location, and drop the pin for its new location. The cost to assert is the same as before.

Bundled in with the new Remote Assert feature is the ability to add a Hotspot’s TX/ RX antenna gain (in dBi) and Height (in meters, above ground level) information to the blockchain.

Why is this beneficial? By supplying these additional details, the Helium Network can better understand Hotspot placement and antenna upgrades.

Note that this information won’t be used immediately by Proof-of-Coverage, but the network intends on using this in the near future.

Search

Ever wanted to quickly lookup which Hotspots are in a city or see the earnings of a Hotspot on the fly, without leaving the app? Now you can!

With the new Search functionality in the App, not only can you search by Hotspot name on the Network, you can also search by name of the Hotspots you own! If you are a Patron with many Hotspots to your name, this will be the feature for you.

Try it out yourself!

Start typing any Hotspot name and it will filter down and suggest possible Hotspots. Tap on them and hit the Flag icon to Follow them (more on that later).

You can also “fly to” any city on the Network to see if there are Hotspots deployed.

Follow a Hotspot

Our next (very exciting) feature also benefits Hosts, Owners, and curious spectators. Follow a Hotspot allows anyone to favorite, or follow, a Hotspot on the Network.

We’ve often heard Hosts request the ability to view their Hotspot’s mining and activity on their own personal Helium App so they know exactly how their Hotspot is doing, be alerted when it goes offline, or simply update the Wi-Fi once they receive the Hotspot (Bluetooth Pairing required).

Notice that it’ll say “Owned By…” with the Flag icon 🏳️. When you’re following a Hotspot, the flag will turn purple and will be added to the Followed Hotspots filter on the Hotspot page.

As a Host, you can pair with a Followed Hotspot to update Wi-Fi and even run Diagnostics (Bluetooth pairing required).

For security reasons, users won’t be able to Transfer Hotspot or Update Location if they do not own it.

Feedback and Contributions Welcomed!

And that’s it for our huge features update for the Helium App! We hope this improves the user experience for all types of Network users and we look forward to your feedback.

For feature requests, bug reporting, or even trying your hand at contributing to code, please visit our Github page.
['Coco Tang']
['Technology News', 'Technology', 'Crypto', 'Tech', 'Blockchain']