Troubleshooting

Check these in order. First, make sure the device is powered on. Second, try a different USB cable, many cables carry power only and no data, which is the most common cause of a device that charges but is never recognized. Third, try a different USB port. Fourth, unplug and plug the device back in so Desktop can detect it fresh.

Desktop builds its navigation around the connected device. If you see the wrong set of views, confirm the right device is plugged in and recognized, then reconnect it. The AirLeak family shows the capture views; Echo shows the sub-GHz views.

Open the Console pane, errors and anything your app prints appear there, usually with a message pointing at what went wrong. A common mistake is subscribing to device events on the wrong object; events are subscribed on the device as a whole, using its on method. See Device API: subscribing to events.

Use the built-in simulator. It stands in for a device so you can build and run an app with no hardware connected. See App Builder.

Check the app's version history. Desktop takes an automatic snapshot every time you Run, and keeps every version you committed, so you can almost always restore a recent state. See Publishing: saving versions and reverting.

No. Your saved apps, their history, and your settings stay on your machine and carry across updates. Install a new version the same way you installed the first.