Install the beta

Navigator is distributed through Apple's TestFlight while it is in beta. It is not on the App Store yet.

Join the TestFlight beta

Requirements

• iPhone or iPad running iOS 26.2 or later. Navigator is a universal app — the same build runs on both, and the in-flight instrument panel re-lays itself for the wider screen.
• The free TestFlight app from the App Store.
• Roughly 20 MB of free space, plus whatever your saved flights and track logs take up.

Installing

1. Install TestFlight. Search for "TestFlight" in the App Store and install it. You only have to do this once.
2. Open the invitation link above on the device you want to fly with. Opening it on a Mac or an Android phone will not work.
3. Tap Accept, then Install. Navigator appears on your home screen like any other app.
4. Launch it once on the ground and grant the permissions below, so you are not answering permission prompts on the takeoff roll.

The current beta build is version 1.0. TestFlight builds expire 90 days after they are uploaded; when yours does, TestFlight will prompt you to update to the newest one.

Permissions to grant

Navigator asks for at most two permissions, both only when the feature that needs them is used.

Permission	Asked when	Why
Location — While Using the App	The first time you start a live flight, on either source	Position, ground speed and track on Device GPS. On GDL90 the fixes are ignored, but the permission is what lets Navigator keep listening while backgrounded
Local Network	The first time you start a live flight using a GDL90 source	Navigator listens for the GDL90 UDP broadcast on your Wi-Fi network

If you decline location access, live flights on Device GPS will sit at zero ground speed and never detect takeoff. A GDL90 flight still works, but only while Navigator is on screen — the header shows STAY IN APP. You can grant it later in Settings → Navigator → Location.

Recording continues while the app is backgrounded for the length of a live session, so iOS shows its blue location indicator throughout.

Post-flight scoring needs neither permission — it reads only the files you hand it.

Download charts before you fly

The sectional map needs its chart downloaded while you still have Wi-Fi. Open Charts on the Flights screen, or use the Sectional Chart section on Start Live Flight to grab your route's area plus 15 NM in one tap. Both are on iPhone and iPad; only the in-flight map itself is iPad-only. See sectional charts.

Navigator holds the screen awake for the whole live session, so there is no need to change Auto-Lock.

Sending feedback

TestFlight's built-in feedback is the fastest path: take a screenshot inside Navigator and TestFlight will offer to attach it to a report, or open TestFlight and tap Send Beta Feedback.

For anything longer — a track log that scored wrong, an .fpl that would not import — email michaellachut3@gmail.com and attach the files. A flight exported as JSON from the results screen contains everything needed to reproduce a scoring question. See Troubleshooting for what to include.