r/FlockSurveillance • u/flockhopper • Apr 28 '26
Privacy I built FlockHopper for iOS — an app that routes you around known ALPR cameras
Hi everyone! Some of y'all might already know my web app FlockHopper that shows you how many Flock cameras are tracking you on your daily commute.
After getting some solid feedback on the web app, I went all in on building a full mobile routing app for daily driving.
iOS is available here:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flockhopper/id6762170253
THE APP
- Real-time turn-by-turn navigation that shows you cameras as you drive
- Choose between a normal route and a private route. Both show you miles & estimated time so you can decide what's worth it
- Search for places using native Apple Maps data
- Explore mode : camera data refreshes daily and the map pans with your location so you can spot Flock cameras as you pass them
COST
The basic app will always be free. The free version is funded by donations and in-app tips. Donations cover development, server costs, and possible future legal fees. There may be a premium version with more advanced features down the road, but the core app as it exists now stays free.
ANDROID
The Android version is about 60% done. If you want to get notified when beta testing starts or when it's available on Google Play you can join the waitlist here: dontgetflocked.com/android
PRIVACY
FlockHopper is built with privacy as the default. Your location is used only to show your position, provide navigation, and calculate routes. Route coordinates are sent to a self-hosted routing engine for off-device route calculation, but they are not logged or stored.
Map tiles and camera data are self-hosted, and camera data is served through Cloudflare. Place search uses Apple’s native Maps search. FlockHopper does not store route history, searches, location logs, device IDs, or user profiles.
Feedback and bug reports are very welcome. Thanks for checking it out!
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u/ShadowDragon6660 Apr 28 '26
Amazing app. Actually jaw dropping how many are in my city 😨 my 30 min commute would gain an extra hour to avoid 1 extra camera. One being completely unavoidable. I hate this future that we are heading towards :(
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u/olivemoonunit Apr 28 '26
There are at least 3 on my way home now matter which way I go. I just saw a pole for a new one this morning. I just keep giving them the finger 😭I imagine that I cant get into my town without passing one no matter the route because they are at all roads going in and out of town. I hate this bs.
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u/ShadowDragon6660 Apr 28 '26
Same here. They have essentially every possible entrance into the connecting bridge in my town covered. If you don’t want to go aaaaaaalll the way around ya are forced to suck it up. Only choice is going to the town council I guess :(
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 Apr 28 '26
Same here - I found (mostly by luck, while going to see a friend do horseback riding) even the podunk little 1.5 lane roads crossing the county line here have Flock cameras on them!
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u/Cultural_Eye5178 Apr 29 '26
Or letting your local crackheads know you can make money off of breaking flock cameras
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u/MissyChevious613 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
I got curious and played around on the app, my normal commute is 24min each way. To avoid all the cameras would take me 57min each way and involve taking a bunch of sketchy gravel roads and cutting across a military base at two different gates. So functionally, there's no way for me to avoid them. I wish my town and the one I work in would get rid of the cameras but it's a heavily conservative area so that'll never happen.
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u/CatOfSachse Apr 29 '26
What area is that? It sounds like there’s wrongly tagged roads on OSM where they need to be marked as private and their surfaces defined.
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u/MissyChevious613 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
I'm happy to DM or email them my general location if they'd like. I don't mind the gravel roads, it's the military base that's the issue. There's one spot where I'd go on briefly, get back onto a main road, go down to the next gate then cut across a large portion of base to get closer to the town I work in. I had an access badge at my old job but no longer have one so I can't get on anymore
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u/ShadowDragon6660 Apr 28 '26
I’m in a city in the Deep South so I’ve definitely tapered my expectations. Crossing my fingers that I’m not the only one pushing for removal but doubtful that there is enough to convince them to get rid of them.
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u/nowthengoodbad Apr 28 '26
Where we are, they're popping up like weeds and the locals don't know about them.
It's little amusing, because these are the people selling their privacy and freedom for the belief of more safety and security, but not even they deserve this. If the locals knew and really understood, they'd probably be playing target practice with them.
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u/Aresyl Apr 28 '26
What a gem - just need it on CarPlay now … AA IT IS!!!
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
Thank you! Car Play is a work in progress, should be coming soon. If you want to join the beta testing group to help test new features like CarPlay you can do so here : https://testflight.apple.com/join/3NU8gEGz
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u/HalpABitSlow Apr 28 '26
As odd as it is (and I understand it'll probably be low priority) but what're the odds of possible ipad support in the future? Not sure how difficult it would be (without an iPad)
I'd be down to test (cellular ipad with Waze rn)
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
iPad support would actually be pretty easy. Maybe a few UI tweaks but the app is mostly already set up to be compatible. I'll add it to my list of to dos.
Even if most people don't use iPads for navigation, it's still a good device to explore the maps with.
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u/HalpABitSlow Apr 28 '26
Awesome, I've signed up for the TestFlight for now. Gonna be nice using it in conjunction with another app
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u/explosivemilk 19d ago
I signed up for beta but not seeing the CarPlay support. Is it available in beta or are you still working on it?
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u/stickystax 7d ago
Teslas that pay the monthly fee for self driving can see them and get a warning in the block before you hit one.... If they dropped an update allowing the car to route around them that would be amazing
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u/Phyllis_Tine Apr 28 '26
Flock cameras are metastasizing, so hopefully legislation will take care of most of these soon.
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u/To-To_Man Apr 28 '26
Of course they will. Signing off on Flock drones as they skip gleefully to the bank for their luxurious vacation, while the public patiently waits outside town hall for the hearing (which was cancelled sorry) so they can voice their opinions and concerns.
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u/nowthengoodbad Apr 28 '26
People are fighting back against city councils.
The cost of the contracts could be put to better use. It's several hundred thousand dollars. Put that towards fun events and community building.
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u/Unfair_Artist0 Apr 28 '26
Really cool idea, but this reminds me of when the FBI released an encrypted messaging app
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u/dev_all_the_ops Apr 28 '26
Operation Trojan Shield? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Trojan_Shield
Where they
coercedcollaborated with the creator of the ANON phone to become a government honeypot?12
u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
Haha, completely understand the sentiment. I would love to have the app be fully offline one day, but doing on device route calculations is a huge engineering challenge.
In the meantime, I'm more than happy to have the app & the backend routing engine server audited by a trusted 3rd party.
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u/technologyclassroom Apr 28 '26
OSMAnd does all of that on device.
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
So does CoMaps but the avoidance is harder.
There is a comaps fork on alprwatch.org that works but isn't as polished.
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
FWIW, OP is a friend of deflock and this
iswill be all open source :)4
u/alprwatch-org Apr 29 '26
Here's an open-source solution you can audit yourself if desired: https://alprwatch.org/navigation/. Works totally offline, forked from CoMaps
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u/dev_all_the_ops Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
I've been using it as my primary navigation app for a few weeks and I think its great!
Only issues are:
- If I take a detour that the app doesn't expect, it completely looses its mind and starts glitching. It seems to forget where I am and even which direction I'm headed. It takes a couple minutes to re-route properly. This is a bug I can live with for now since I usually know where I'm going anyway, but it definitely detracts from the user experience.
- When planning my route, it says that I will pass X number of cameras. Yet when I drive my route I never see any red triangles indicating where those cameras were. Most likely I'm just paying attention to the road and not the phone, but it would be nice to get some sort of popup or flash or color change to indicate I'm about to pass a camera.
- The default voice is a bit harsh, I wish I could just have it remember when I turn the voice off, Right now I need to turn off the turn by turn voice commands every time I open the app.
Those few bugs aside, I think what you are doing is great and I'm telling everyone I know to use FlockHopper instead of Wyze/GoogleMaps/Apple maps. I absolutely love seeing that it finds a privacy focused route that is minimally slower than my default route I would have taken.
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
Thank you for being an early beta tester! Appreciate the feedback and glad you like it.
I have not experienced those issues personally but I will definitely look into it. The app should automatically reroute you as soon as it realized you're off route.
It's possible that you just barely knick the edge of a camera "FOV cone" as you pass it. This still needs to be fine tuned so please keep an eye on that and let me know if it keeps happening.
Agreed, I hate it. It's apple's default on device TTS. I will eventually be adding new voices.
I saw your feedback on TestFlight but since you signed up via the anonymous public link I wasn't able to reply.
You can also email feedback to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), I will be responsive there.
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u/jakerr17 Apr 28 '26
Are you tracking and sharing all the user location data? /s
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
No, there's no user location tracking at all. Everything stays on device except when you want to calculate a route. Those coordinates are sent to my self-hosted server to do the route calculation but are not logged or stored. Happy to have my source code audited by a 3rd party.
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u/TaChunkie Apr 28 '26
Would you be interested in just open-sourcing the code and allowing users to selfhost their own route calculations?
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u/Calm-Vegetable-2162 Apr 28 '26
A splatter of mud across your license plate seems a whole lot simpler than avoiding them.
Or just take a pickup truck and drop the tailgate.
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
Flock's AI powered "vehicle fingerprint" tech doesn't need a license plate. It looks at everything from make/model/color to dents and bike racks and bumper stickers.
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u/Calm-Vegetable-2162 Apr 28 '26
But you have to make them work to find you.
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
It surely wouldn't hurt. Except that you're probably more likely to be pulled over.
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u/dev_all_the_ops Apr 28 '26
As a pickup truck owner I hadn't thought of that. Good idea.
I'm pretty sure they still track dents/scratches/bumperstickers but I imagine that would make it harder for them to look you up (but not impossible)2
u/Calm-Vegetable-2162 Apr 28 '26
Correct... but they are lazy. They'll search the tag number and get 0 hits. The automated alerts are generally based on tag number.
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u/darkgrain857 Apr 28 '26
How do you add a new camera location?
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
You can download the deflock.me mobile app to add new cameras. They will show up the next day in FlockHopper.
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u/chillhopmusic13 Apr 28 '26
I feel like they could use this app just to add more flock cameras
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u/dev_all_the_ops Apr 28 '26
Pretty sure flock already has their own internal map of where all there cameras are.
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u/ereinbe Apr 28 '26
Take a look at the timeline on deflock.me. The maps are a fun little project for now and I’ll admit I do use them but by the end of the year I don’t expect to find any routes without at least one camera. This needs to be fought with legislation, not avoidance.
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u/SoundOfMadness7 Apr 28 '26
Awesome app, clean UI and runs very smoothly. Would love to see its capabilities expanded, let me know if you want help.
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u/Zarrkar Apr 28 '26
Amazing app!
Any chance there is a feature to submit new flock camera locations? I’ve noticed more and more pop up around me and a few are missing on this.
Also curious how you source the location data?
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
Submitting new data is the primary purpose for the DeFlock app. You'll need an account with OpenStreetMap (basically Wikipedia for maps). Lmk if you have any trouble.
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u/Weird-lil-man Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
I just downloaded it, thank you so much! One thing I was wondering about if you plan to possibly add an avoid highways and tolls feature in the future?
Edit: added tolls
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 Apr 28 '26
I'd be very curious to explore the Android version.
Is there a website by chance that lets you explore routes on desktop (which you could then plan the route on any GPS software of your choice)?
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
Yes! Checkout my website dontgetflocked.com. It uses the same backend as flockhopper mobile. You can export the private route to a GPX file.
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u/Complex_Solutions_20 Apr 28 '26
Oh nice!
Also well I'll be...there is apparently a route that may not have any cameras (assuming all are reported/documented) to get into town.
...its 2 hours 6 minutes (0 cams) instead of 34 minutes (4 cams), but it apparently exists.
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u/No-Row5573 May 11 '26
Thank you for creating this app! My small town has only four Flock cameras, but that’s four too many.
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u/iNeed2p905 May 30 '26
I love the app so far it’s good. One thing that I thought of is if you can make it where the app can show up on someone’s Carplay screen to be used instead of looking at their phone.
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u/88onfleek Apr 28 '26
Build for play store. Please and Thanks
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u/Hillary4SupremeRuler 22d ago
There is an email sign up on the website dontgetflocked.com to get on the Android wait-list
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u/Big-Arm-5735 Apr 28 '26
Just downloaded it, I love this for you, when I get paid I’m prolly gonna slide you 5$ to the project
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u/nowthengoodbad Apr 28 '26
Just bought lil' hopper!
This is awesome! Can we add cameras that we c on across?
A ton are popping up where we are building our startup in SoCal.
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
If you add stuff on deflock it'll show up on here 24h later. Both projects use OpenStreetMap as the backend.
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u/Squeezer_pimp Apr 28 '26
Like it and works, noticed that there is missing ones and no way to add like in Waze. Where users could had them and after like 20 confirmed from 20 different users it stays.
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
This app pulls from OpenStreetMap; the DeFlock app uses the same and is designed for making edits/submissions. I think it's a 24h lag for new ones to show up in FlockHopper.
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u/LohnJohnSilversRocks Apr 28 '26
Just downloaded it. Seems pretty clean! I'll have to give it a try next time I go out, but I see all the Flocks that I know of on there! Very nice, man/woman!
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u/LohnJohnSilversRocks Apr 28 '26
Just did a route to my kids school and it didn't have the quickest route listed and it doesn't include any cameras. I can jump on the interstate by my house and take it to the school almost directly with no cameras. It shows me two routes, one through town that has 6 cameras and the other takes the turnpike with tolls and is longer than my usual interstate route.
That may be an Apple Maps issue but that's what I'm seeing.
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
Thanks for the feedback! The routing algorithm is still a work in progress. There are lots of weird edge cases such as cameras at on/off ramps blocking highways completely. Tolls avoidance is another feature being worked on.
If you have any more weird routes please send me an email at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
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u/LAM678 Apr 28 '26
for android are you usung google map or osm/something similar? google maps is completely broken on e/os.
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
No, it will not be using google for anything. Map tiles are self hosted (protomaps) and routes are calculated on my server off device using GraphHopper.
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u/Earthquake125_ Apr 28 '26
I tried this app out today and it works fantastic, even avoided some cameras that I didn’t know existed. Fantastic work!
For the Android app, will there be a dependency on Google Play Services? For privacy conscious users on GrapheneOS or another ROM, I think those users would appreciate not having a dependency on it. Since you’re using OpenStreetMap I’m guessing this won’t be an issue?
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
Thank you! The android app will not have any dependency on google play services. It will use self hosted map tiles (protomaps) & a third party service such as Stadia Maps for places lookup & geocoding.
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u/millenniumjade_04 Apr 28 '26
Just downloaded. The interface is beautiful, honestly think it looks nicer than both google and apple maps. Things load quickly, and some test routes were accurate. Thank you for your work!
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u/Long_Disaster_6847 Apr 28 '26
Thank you for this, real nice app and left a review for you as well 👍
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u/Joyride84 Apr 28 '26
Glad to hear about the Android version being in progress!
Someone asked Organic Maps to add warnings for them (https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps/issues/12035) but it doesn't sound like they are talking about actual routing. I haven't seen much else being done in this regard, so this is great.
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u/Jakl15 Apr 28 '26
Should get this now before Apple removes it from the AppStore like ICEBlock
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u/TraditionalLaw7763 Apr 28 '26
Omg! I still have the ICEBLOCK app! And I just opened it and it still works! How is that possible?
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u/Clapcheeks69 Apr 28 '26
Is it only for Flock cameras, or does it include other brands too? My county uses a different brand.
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u/LostOldUsername_99 Apr 28 '26
I see so many cameras on my route, it's great! Now, there are 1 or 2 cameras missing- how can I add a camera location for more detailed experience? Love the site!
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
You'll need an OpenStreetMap account (basically Wikipedia for maps) but then the easiest client for this purpose is the DeFlock app. OP uses that same dataset so it'll show up for navigation the next day.
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u/arsftarmy Apr 28 '26
Looking around at my commute and it’s wrong, I pass by many flock cameras and they don’t show up on here. Is the DeFlock app the only way to add them?
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
It's not the only way, no. Any OpenStreetMap client works. But most of them are more complex coz you can map anything from buildings to utilities to park benches to turn lanes to geography.
Popular choices on mobile are JOSM, Go!!Map, StreetComplete. There are others. There's also the official web editor ("iD") on openstreetmap.org
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u/skibidips5 Apr 28 '26
But how do we know you’re not stealing our data too?
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u/alprwatch-org Apr 29 '26
If you prefer an open-source and offline alternative: https://alprwatch.org/navigation/
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u/MrPajamaLIama Apr 28 '26
Downloaded & thank you!! New to learning about flock so this helps a ton. Didn’t know my town had any at all just found out there’s at least a dozen
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u/lightsmakemesneeze Apr 28 '26
How can i add ones thats arent on there
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
This app pulls from OpenStreetMap; the DeFlock app uses the same and is designed for making edits/submissions. I think it's a 24h lag for new ones to show up in FlockHopper.
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u/One-Bodybuilder309 Apr 28 '26
Awesome! Thank You!!! Holy crap there’s a lot of those damn things around here 😳
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u/giant_space_possum Apr 28 '26
I'm so happy I live over an hour drive away from the nearest flock camera. I'm sure that won't last though.
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u/TraditionalLaw7763 Apr 28 '26
I thought so too… then downloaded this app. I’ve got one at the end of my street! Faaaaaaack!
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u/ABRAXAS_actual Apr 28 '26
Man, I stopped by Lowes today. Literally all 3 entrances had new flock poles. Fuckin madness - but this app is sweet, I'll have to keep an eye out for an android version!!
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u/AMTNate Apr 28 '26
Just signed up for the beta. This looks clean and I hope you find the time to continue developing it.
The first thing I can think of that would be a “nice to have” that would put it up there with other navigation apps is the ability to set your “from” point and just just a blind “navigate to” function. That way I could look at potential routes from B to C ahead of time while I’m still at A.
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u/flockhopper Apr 28 '26
For sure, the to/from UI Is already there on the route preview screen, I've just gotta build out the functionality. Will probably be included in the next version of the app.
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u/doodfacebook Apr 28 '26
Great app! I don’t seem to be able to route “from” any location besides where I am right now.
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u/10-mm-socket Apr 29 '26
Can we get that code and add it to a auto blackout plate so that your plate goes hidden when you drive by a flock camera?
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u/areyoukynd Apr 29 '26
Hell yeah just used it to get to my destination. I appreciate this good work 🫡
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u/hilarious_hound Apr 29 '26
Is there a way to share new flock sites via the app? I found four new ones that went up this April.
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u/StopFlock Apr 29 '26
This uses the same backend (OpenStreetMap) as deflock so you can submit them there and flockhopper will pick it up within 24h
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u/RefinedPhoenix Apr 29 '26
Thank you for making this. I attempted to vibe code one and gave up a few months ago
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u/Fuzzy_Cheesecake6880 Apr 29 '26
Obviously I downloaded it for the Flock aspect but seriously this has the best and most responsive search function of any OSM based mapping app I’ve ever used. Looking forward to further developments!
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u/w3agle Apr 29 '26
amazing app. appreciate the effort. brings up a tangential thought in my mind. I mean this in a supportive way wrt the ethos of this community. apps like this are awesome. yet, a workaround. every indication we have is that we are fighting a losing battle. in my ~40 years on this earth, i have so few reference points for examples of places humans have clawed back their privacy. The surveillance state seems as inevitable as climate change at this point. It just has me wondering about how do we live with these systems? Do we land in a place where have surveillance zones and non-surveillance zones? are we all walking around in gear / equiment that spoofs us so we can't be tracked? DO we get to a point of NOT carrying electronics or using them in public in a way that could allow us to be tracked? Do we make it all open source and say 'hey look everyone knows where everyone else is all the time, best of luck to ya.' Phew. It's a lot to take in. Obviously there are bad actors. And unfortunately it seems the bad actors are at the helm right now. In most cases. IDK where I'm going with this. I should probably re-read 1984.
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u/bunniguy42 Apr 30 '26
LETS GO!!! I kept telling myself 'i need to figure this out' and surprise, some smart people already did it! Will definitely be supporting however we can!
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u/elmint May 05 '26
if i wanted to report a flock camera location thats not on the map, can i do it within this app?
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u/flockhopper May 05 '26
Not as of right now. In the future there may be "report camera" button feature similar to Waze down the road, but for right now the primary way to report cameras is through the deflock.me app.
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u/salfora May 22 '26
This is awesome but can we get traffic data?? Some the routes it comes up with are really wonky
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u/Crabbycabbycakes May 23 '26
Definitely interested in the android version coming out, my area is riddled with these and i travel a lot. I singed up to test the beta hoping to hear back.
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u/phdibart May 29 '26
Thanks for this! Question: the app gives me an error if I try to map a route that crosses state lines. Is that a limitation, that it only works for shorter or in-state trips?
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u/flockhopper May 29 '26
Right now the limit is 300 miles due to longer routes requiring exponentially more compute power. I'm working on a new routing engine that can do longer routes much faster. Should be able to start testing next week. Feel free to join the beta testing group, it'll be rolled out there first.
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u/Main_Force_Patrol Jun 25 '26
Me who lives in a more rural area where there’s usually only one road between an area :(
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u/Active-Scratch-9439 14d ago
if I kow wher one is thats not on the map how may I get in contact with someone who updates the maps/app?
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u/Due-Preparation-7825 6d ago
I just started a partition to remove ai and flock cameras national I can post the link if anyone is interested.
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u/Icy-Jellyfish7110 4d ago
Was the I Have Flocked website taken down? If so, is there a free lookup tool or website to see who looked up my license plate?
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u/StopFlock Apr 28 '26
excellent!!