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First, make sure your sensor device (BroodMinder, BEEP, etc.) is powered on and has sufficient battery. Bring your phone within a few meters of the sensor — BLE range is typically 10-15 meters in open air but can be shorter indoors or near obstacles. On your phone, verify that Bluetooth is enabled in your device Settings (not just in the app). If you are on iOS, also check that HiveSense has Bluetooth permission under Settings > HiveSense > Bluetooth. Try toggling Bluetooth off and on, then scan again from the Sensors tab in the app.

HiveSense uses on-device speech recognition powered by Whisper, which requires a one-time model download of approximately 181 MB. This download requires a Wi-Fi connection and happens the first time you use the voice notes feature. Once downloaded, the model is stored locally on your device and all speech-to-text processing happens entirely offline — your recordings are never sent to a speech-recognition service.

HiveSense is designed to work fully offline. All your data is stored locally on your device and is available without an internet connection. When you have cloud sync enabled and go online, your data syncs automatically in the background. You can also trigger a manual sync from the Settings screen. If you make changes on multiple devices while offline, the sync engine will merge them when you reconnect, using a last-write-wins strategy for any conflicts.

Yes — you create a free account when you first set up the app. Once you are signed in, HiveSense works fully offline: you can manage apiaries, log inspections, and use voice notes with no internet connection. BLE sensor reads work offline too, on the Pro plan. The account also enables cloud sync for multi-device access and collaboration with other beekeepers through the organization features.

Privacy is a core principle of HiveSense. All your beekeeping data is stored locally in an on-device database. Voice transcription happens entirely on your device using the Whisper model — no audio is ever sent to a speech-recognition service. Usage analytics are anonymous and can be turned off in Settings. If you turn on cloud sync, your data — including photos and voice-note audio — is transmitted over encrypted connections (TLS) and stored securely on Firebase servers. You can disable sync at any time, and your data remains exclusively on your device.