Built for the airsoft field ยท now in beta
A live tactical map.
Every dot shows what we know.
We're field-testing Phalanx right now. Install the beta, take it into a real airsoft game and help us find what breaks before launch.
// It's ATAK. The air support just isn't coming.
No TAK server, no config files, no 40-page manual - scan a QR and you're on the map.
Already run TAK? Keep it - Phalanx replaces nothing. It's for players who want the map without running their own server.
- Free for players
- Android 7+
- iOS: coming
- APK ~59 MB
- Beta - no caps yet
looks tacticool- lasts the whole game
a dot, somewhere- a dot you can trust
'realtime' buzzword- a cadence you set
drops on bad signal- tells you it dropped
You're inside the Facebook/Instagram browser - it blocks APK installs. Open this page in Chrome and the button just works.
Android will flag this install - expected. We're not on the Play Store yet; that's what a field test is.
Checksum - verify the file you got is the one we built. Any file-manager hash tool on Android can check it.
Asks for: location - including in the background, so your dot stays live with the screen off (you'll see a persistent notification during a game) - and camera, for the QR join. Does not ask for: contacts, storage, microphone.
Installing the APK (what your phone will say)
- Your browser flags the download as unfamiliar and asks if you want it anyway - tap through (Chrome calls the button 'Download anyway'). Every APK from outside the Play Store gets this warning, not just ours.
- Android asks permission before your browser can install anything outside the Play Store. Allow it - if it doesn't ask on its own, it's under Settings > Apps > your browser > Install unknown apps.
- Play Protect scans the app and blocks it as unverified. Android will warn you - we're not on the Play Store yet (the plan is Google Play at launch), that's what a field test is. The checksum above is how you verify us. Tap 'More details', then 'Install anyway'.
- First launch asks for two permissions and nothing else: location for the map, camera for the QR join. Grant both and you're a live dot on the field.
The boring problems
Solved first, on purpose.
-
We treat your battery like ammo.
There's exactly one GPS feed per phone, movement-gated so a player holding a position stops spending power. Positions broadcast straight to your team when it's cheap, and only write to the database on a slow heartbeat. The radio sleeps between real moves instead of screaming every second.
We're measuring it in the field test right now - the number gets published here, with the setup, good or bad.
- GPS feeds per device1, movement-gated
- Fast pathbroadcast, no DB write
- Durable write~5s snapshot only
- Standing stillnear-zero radio wakeups
-
1 to 15 seconds. Your call, per player.
Speed and battery trade against each other; that's physics, not a bug. So we made it a knob, not a guess - and it's yours alone. Crank it to 1s for the final push and burn the battery you have left. Coast at 15s for an all-day op. Your battery, your call: every player picks their own cadence, and nobody else's setting touches it.
-
When we lose someone, we say so.
A stale dot presented as live gets people 'killed.' So a teammate's dot is only ever as confident as the data behind it. Four states, unmistakable at a glance in bright sun with a gloved thumb.
GPS is GPS - expect 5-25 m under heavy canopy. What we promise: stale data is never dressed up as fresh.
- Livefresh position, team colour, moving shows the heading
- Hitself-declared down, sticks until respawn
- No signalgreys out at ~22s, told not hidden
- Lostlast-known intel after 2 min, never mistaken for live
-
One hold, and the whole field knows.
SOS lives behind a menu and a hold-to-confirm, so a stray tap can't cry wolf. Trigger it for real and every marshal and every team gets your location, field-wide. It doesn't replace the marshal or the emergency services - it gets attention to your position faster.
- Triggermenu, then hold-to-confirm
- Reachfield-wide, every team
- Costfree, always
- Rolecomplements the marshal, never replaces the whistle
How it works
Scan a QR. You're a live dot on the map.
-
Create
The organizer spins up the game and adds the teams - each gets its own colour and a printable QR code.
-
QR join
Scan your team's QR, or thumb in its five-letter code, and pick a callsign. No accounts, no signup form - seconds, and you're a live dot on the map.
-
Play
The whole field moves together - live positions, hits, objectives and SOS alerts for the length of the game.
Try it tonight with two phones. Create a game, walk around, watch the dots move.
Who's building this
Two airsoft players. One small product lab.
Sky Labs is a small software studio in Bulgaria - and the one writing this plays. We built Phalanx because the tactical maps we tried were either a pain to configure or couldn't last a full game.
Read the devlogThe business model
Free during the beta. Here's the honest math.
Right now everything is open - any game size, every knob, zero cost. That's the field test, and you're part of it.
At launch: players never pay. Ever. Games up to 20 stay free. Bigger games pay by headcount - because a 40-player Sunday costs us real server money every hour it runs, and the organizer already collects entry fees at the gate. That's the whole business model: we charge the people we cost money, and nobody can buy an advantage.
For the field test
The beta is live. Sundays are better with a map.
You're inside the Facebook/Instagram browser - it blocks APK installs. Open this page in Chrome and the button just works.
Android will flag this install - expected. We're not on the Play Store yet; that's what a field test is.
Checksum, permissions and install steps - at the main download section
Not ready to sideload? Follow the field test on Facebook - @phalanx.zone