Troubleshooting

Check that you are using a data USB-C cable, not a charge-only one, and that the board is genuinely an ESP32-S3 (see Hardware). Some boards need you to hold the boot button while connecting to enter flashing mode; consult your board's own instructions. Try a different cable or port before anything else.

Keep the board connected and still for the whole flash, a loose cable is the usual cause. Close other apps that might be claiming the USB connection, and try again. Once a flash completes successfully, later updates happen over Bluetooth and do not need the cable.

AirLeak only runs on the ESP32-S3 family. An ESP32, ESP32-C3 or ESP32-S2 will not work even if a flash appears to start. Confirm the exact chip, boards labelled ESP32-S3 (ideally N16R8) are the ones to use.

Make sure the board is powered and within a few metres of your phone, and that Bluetooth is on. If the board has a status light, check it is showing signs of life. Power-cycle the board and scan again. Only one phone connects to an AirLeak at a time, disconnect it elsewhere first.

Live data stops when the Bluetooth connection drops and resumes when it returns. Bluetooth LE has a limited range, keep the board reasonably close. Walls, bodies and busy radio environments all shorten the usable distance.

AirLeak can only hear devices that are actively broadcasting Bluetooth-LE advertisements. A device that is idle, fully connected and quiet, or not using Bluetooth LE will not appear. This is normal, not every device announces itself all the time.

Privacy-protecting trackers (Apple Find My and Google's network) deliberately rotate their identity, so AirLeak can tell you a tracker of that type is present but cannot tie it to an owner. That is by design, not a fault. See Tracker detection.

Alerts flag anything that travels with you, including your own tracker or a companion's. Use the alert settings to tune which warnings you receive, and treat an alert as a prompt to check rather than a verdict.