FlosForge Radar for macOS, Windows and Linux
Bluetooth tracker and smart-glasses detector for your computer
Bluetooth trackers are small, inexpensive, and easy to slip into a bag, coat, or car — but computers have never offered warnings when one is traveling with you. FlosForge Radar changes that. It listens to the Bluetooth signals around you, distinguishes separated trackers from everyday belongings, and alerts you if an unknown tag stays nearby or repeatedly reappears. It also detects smart glasses capable of recording. Radar is strictly listen-only, operates entirely offline, and never connects to the internet. Free and open source under the MIT License.
- Warns when a tracker follows you
- Listen-only, never connects
- No network access
Demo mode: all devices, addresses, signal readings, and alerts shown are simulated by the app’s built-in demo environment. Product names are descriptive labels used by the app and imply no affiliation with, or endorsement by, their respective manufacturers.
- Runs on
- macOS, Windows, and Linux
- Bluetooth
- Listen-only, never pairs or connects
- Network
- Zero internet access, completely local
- Account
- None required
Telling an unwanted tracker apart from someone’s keys
Most tracker networks broadcast whether a tag is currently with its owner. A tracker traveling with its owner is usually just someone’s keys in their pocket; an unknown tracker separated from its owner that moves along with you is what an unwanted tag actually looks like. Radar checks this status for every network that broadcasts it — so a crowded train or café can have dozens of tags around you, and the ones with their owners are never flagged.
- Supports Apple Find My, Samsung SmartTag, Google Find Hub, Tile, Chipolo, Pebblebee, and the DULT standard
- Trackers traveling with their owners are quietly counted, never flagged as suspicious
- Tile, Chipolo, and Pebblebee do not broadcast owner status, so Radar treats them cautiously as possibly separated
- Clear device details explain exactly why a tag was flagged, showing its progress toward alert thresholds
Alerts that escalate when a tracker lingers or returns
An unaccompanied tracker raises a gentle notice when first detected, a warning if it stays near you for ten minutes, and a full alert after thirty minutes or three separate encounters. Modern trackers frequently rotate their Bluetooth addresses to prevent tracking, so Radar follows whatever stays stable instead — keeping a 48-hour local memory even across computer restarts.
- Follows Samsung SmartTags across address rotations using their embedded privacy ID
- Smart glasses with recording capabilities raise a warning as soon as they come into range
- Warnings and alerts also arrive as system notifications, with a switch to turn them off
- Custom location profiles (like Home, Work, or Transit), each with dedicated thresholds and trusted devices
Locate where it is hidden, then keep watch
Radio signals fluctuate as they pass through bags, clothes, and walls, so Radar gives you honest distance ranges (like “1–3 m”) rather than misleading exact numbers. The Locate mode turns live signal strength into an intuitive warmer-or-colder meter to help you pinpoint where an unwanted tag is concealed. You can also pin any device to your Watch list to record its signal every few seconds and get notified when it appears or leaves.
- Live signal meter with a real-time warmer or colder trend chart
- Customizable distance bands for “very close”, “near”, and “in the room”
- History timeline showing how close a device came over the last hour, day, week, or all time
- Encounter logs recording minimum distance and timestamps, exportable to CSV, Markdown, text, or JSON
A clear, organized view of every device nearby
Beyond trackers and smart glasses, Radar identifies action cameras, voice recorders, phones, earbuds, beacons, and penetration testing tools like the Flipper Zero. Everything else is named from the bundled Bluetooth SIG list of over 4,000 company identifiers. Set the list to refresh only when you ask, so it holds still while you read it, and export complete records whenever you need them.
- Five flexible views: table, compact list, cards, grouped by category, and the proximity chart
- Display refresh: live, every 5, 15 or 60 seconds, or only when you press Refresh
- Export the entire device list or an individual device to CSV, plain text, Markdown, or JSON
- Save visual proximity charts as PNG or SVG images
Every feature, in full
A list of features you can find in the application.
See it working
Take a look at the user interface of the application.
What a Bluetooth scanner cannot do
A scanner can alert you that an unknown tracker has been traveling with you, but it cannot tell you who put it there. In personal safety, understanding technical limits is just as important as knowing capabilities:
- It cannot detect every device: Smart glasses actively connected to a phone often stop broadcasting advertisements, a tag can be powered off or shielded in an RF blocking pouch, and unrecognized devices cannot be named until their signatures are added to the database.
- Distances and identifications are estimates: Bluetooth identification relies on published protocol patterns and can occasionally confuse similar hardware. Signal strength fluctuates with obstacles, clothing, and body position, easily halving or doubling distance estimates.
- It cannot determine human intent: An unknown tag traveling near you might simply belong to a fellow passenger on a train, a carpool colleague, or a lost set of keys.
- It cannot give directional bearing: Standard Bluetooth Low Energy packets do not carry direction, so the app cannot point an arrow toward where a device is located.
- It intentionally omits emergency equipment: Radar does not identify or catalog police, fire, or emergency-service hardware.
Questions about FlosForge Radar
Can my laptop detect an AirTag or another tracker that is following me?
Yes. While laptops and desktop computers do not have built-in tracker warnings like modern smartphones, FlosForge Radar fills that gap. It listens for Bluetooth advertisements broadcast by nearby tags, checks whether each device is separated from its owner, and warns you if an unknown tag lingers near you for ten minutes or repeatedly turns up across your day. It supports Apple Find My (AirTags and certified third-party trackers), Samsung SmartTags, Google Find Hub devices, Tile, Chipolo, and Pebblebee.
Does FlosForge Radar connect to the devices it finds?
No. FlosForge Radar is strictly passive and listen-only. It never pairs, connects to, or sends data to any detected device. Furthermore, the application operates with zero network connectivity — no telemetry, no user accounts, and no cloud syncing — so everything detected remains entirely on your computer unless you explicitly choose to export it.
What should I do if it finds a tracker following me?
First, prioritize your safety: if you believe you are in immediate danger, move to a safe, public location and contact local emergency services or a specialized support helpline before attempting to remove or disable the tracker. The physical tracker and its timestamped presence can be vital evidence. Within Radar, you can export your encounter log for documentation, add the device to your Watch list to record continuous signal data, and use the Locate tool to safely pinpoint where it is concealed.
How every FlosForge app works
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No telemetry
No analytics, no crash reporting, no usage pings. Not configurable — simply absent.
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Local storage only
Your data stays on your own device, stored in private application sandboxes under your control.
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Open exports
Everything exports to standard formats you own (CSV, GPX, JSON, Markdown), with zero lock-in.
Getting it running
Download a ready-made release from GitHub, or clone the repository and run it from source. Both give you the exact same app; building from source lets you inspect every line of code first.
Before you start
These builds are not signed with expensive corporate certificates from Apple or Microsoft, so macOS Gatekeeper and Windows SmartScreen will display an unsigned app prompt the first time you run them. Only download builds from the official GitHub Releases page, or build directly from source. If you believe you are being tracked and are in danger, contact law enforcement or a specialized support service before removing or disabling a tracker — where it was found and when it was active can be critical legal evidence.
What you need first
- macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon or Intel), Windows 10 (version 1703) or later, or Linux with BlueZ 5.50 or later
- A Bluetooth Low Energy (4.0 or later) adapter, standard on almost every modern laptop
- To run from source: Node.js 22.22 or later (or 24.15 or later), and Git
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Download a build
Choose the installer for your system from the Releases page: a .dmg for macOS (Apple silicon or Intel), a setup .exe for Windows (which runs on Windows on ARM too), or an AppImage for Linux (x64 or ARM64). SHA256SUMS provides a checksum for every file.
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Open it for the first time
On macOS, open the app, choose Open Anyway in System Settings → Privacy & Security, and allow Bluetooth access when prompted. On Windows, click “More info” and then “Run anyway” on the SmartScreen dialog. On Linux, make the AppImage executable; if scanning fails with permissions, add your user to the bluetooth group and log in again.
chmod +x FlosForge-Radar-Linux-*.AppImage -
Or build and run from source
Clone the repository and install dependencies with npm.
git clone https://github.com/dimitriostzr/flosforge-bt-scanner.git cd flosforge-bt-scanner/desktop && npm install -
Explore the demo, then scan for real
Start with the simulated demo mode to see how alerts look, run a live scan with your Bluetooth adapter, or compile your own standalone installer.
npm run demo npm start npm run dist # optional: an installer, in desktop/release/
Free software · MIT · not sold
Free and open source
FlosForge Radar is released under the MIT License. It is not sold — there is no paid version, no licence key and no tier — and the licence is the whole arrangement. In plain terms:
- Free to use for personal, academic and commercial purposes, with no fees, subscriptions or paywalled features.
- You are free to read every line of source code, change it, and build and share your own versions.
- Whatever you redistribute keeps the original copyright notice and the MIT licence text.
- The MIT licence covers the code; the FlosForge name and project icons remain reserved branding, so distributed forks should use their own name and icon.
- Provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. Do not rely on it alone for your safety.
Read the MIT licence text The LICENSE file in the repository
Free, and the source is public
FlosForge Radar for macOS, Windows and Linux is free software, published in full on GitHub. Download it, audit it, or fork it. It is offered without a support commitment, so read the README first and try it on a machine you can afford to experiment with.