Sharing Preferences

SkyTracker works fully offline. Sharing is opt-in, per station, and reversible at any time. Three modes: Private, Unlisted, and Public.

The three modes at a glance

Mode	Data sent to skytracker.ai?	Shown on public map?	Good for
Private	No	No	Devices that should stay fully offline. The default.
Unlisted	Yes	No	Getting rarity scores, lifer tracking, tail stories — without appearing on a public map.
Public	Yes	Yes	Being part of the SkyTracker Network — the thing that makes this project valuable for everyone else.

Private

Default on install. The agent never contacts skytracker.ai. No aircraft data, location, or telemetry leaves the device. Everything still works locally — the display UI, the aircraft list, the radar sweep — but none of the AI/platform features (rarity scores, lifer tracking, tail stories, community map) are available because those require the network.

Private is the right choice for devices you want to use as pure local receivers, or for testing before you decide to share.

Unlisted

Aircraft sightings are shared with skytracker.ai and attached to your account. Your station contributes to the network (better rarity scores, richer tail-number stories), and you get the full AI layer back. But the station does not appear on the public map at skytracker.ai/map.

Unlisted is the right choice if you want the platform features but don't want strangers to see where your receiver is.

Public

Everything Unlisted does, plus: the station appears on the public community map with the name you chose, a coverage ring, and (optionally) real-time stats. The actual street address is never shown — only the general area.

Public stations are what make SkyTracker a network. Every public station widens coverage for tail-number stories, improves rarity scoring (by growing the corpus of "what's normal in this region"), and helps other hobbyists find interesting feeders near them.

Changing modes

Edit /etc/skytracker/config.yaml:

station:
  sharing: private   # private | unlisted | public

Restart the agent:

sudo systemctl restart skytracker

You can also change the mode from the station settings page on skytracker.ai — the change will be pushed down to the device on its next check-in.

What changes when you downgrade

Public → Unlisted: station is immediately removed from the map; existing sightings stay in the platform database and still count toward your lifer list.
Unlisted → Private: agent stops sending new sightings. Past sightings remain in your account history (you can delete them from settings if you want).
Public → Private: combines both of the above.

To audit exactly what gets sent in Unlisted / Public modes, see Data Privacy.