Detect drones near you with your phone

Most new drones broadcast who and where they are. With a free app, your phone can pick that up and show every broadcasting drone nearby on a live map — with its position, height, serial number and often where the pilot is.

Free to download. Optional Silver, Gold and Platinum subscriptions. · Last updated: 2026-10-10

How can a phone detect drones?

Since 2023–2024, the US, the EU, the UK, Japan, China and a growing list of other countries require drones to broadcast Remote ID: a digital licence plate, sent by the drone itself over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, once per second. Anyone nearby with a suitable receiver can read it — that's the purpose of the rules. See Remote ID rules per region for where it is mandatory.

Your phone already has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios. A drone detector app such as DroneScout listens for these broadcasts and shows each drone on a map. It doesn't send anything to the drone and doesn't interfere with it: it only receives.

What you see for each drone

For every drone that broadcasts, DroneScout shows what is in its broadcast:

• its position on the map, live, with its track;
• height, speed and direction;
• its serial number or registration, and in the EU the operator registration number;
• the location of the pilot or the take-off point, when the drone broadcasts it — in the US and the EU most drones must;
• the drone's brand, recognised from its serial number.

All of this is in the free version, as is exporting a flight track to GPX. With a subscription, DroneScout also recognises the model, warns you when a drone appears — also in the background — and keeps a flight history of every drone it has seen.

Which drones will it detect?

Only drones that actually broadcast Remote ID. In practice that's most new drones where Remote ID is mandatory:

• US: most drones above 250 g;
• EU and UK: drones with a class label of C1 or higher (UK1 or higher in the UK), whatever their weight;
• Japan: drones of 100 g or more;
• China: civil drones of every category.

You won't see older drones without a Remote ID module, many small drones under 250 g, or a drone whose broadcast has been switched off. DJI drones start broadcasting only once they are in the air, and only in a country where Remote ID is mandatory. A drone detector app is a Remote ID receiver, not a radar: a drone that stays silent stays invisible.

How far can you see?

With a phone alone, a DJI drone (Wi-Fi Beacon) can be detected up to about 1 km away, and a drone broadcasting Bluetooth Legacy up to several hundred metres, depending on the phone, the drone and what's in between. Buildings, trees and hills shorten that; an open view lengthens it. Some add-on Remote ID modules transmit at low power and show up only much closer.

With DroneScout Bridge, a small receiver you place near your phone, the range goes up to about 2 km.

Start in a minute

1. Install DroneScout — free on Google Play and the App Store (buttons at the top of this page).
2. Allow Bluetooth (Nearby devices) and Location when the app asks. Android and iOS require both for any app that scans for Bluetooth devices. DroneScout doesn't send your location anywhere.
3. Open the map. Drones that broadcast appear within a second or two of being in range.
4. On Android, consider switching on Wi-Fi scanning in the app's settings — see the next section.

If nothing appears, there may simply be no broadcasting drone in the air nearby. More reasons: Why am I not detecting nearby drones?

Why your phone misses some drones

Drones broadcast Remote ID over different radio transports, and phones receive only some of them:

• iPhone and iPad: Apple doesn't let any app receive Bluetooth Long Range or scan for Wi-Fi, so an iPhone sees only Bluetooth Legacy broadcasts — a small part of what drones send, and no DJI drones at all. More: Remote ID on iPhone.
• Android: many phones lack Bluetooth Long Range S8 or receive it badly, and Android limits Wi-Fi scanning to about twice a minute. More: See more drones on Android.

DroneScout Bridge receives every transport and passes the drones on to your phone over plain Bluetooth, which every phone receives. There's no pairing: switch it on and the drones appear. It works with iPhone and Android, with the free app too. More: DroneScout Bridge.

Get a warning when a drone appears

With a Silver, Gold or Platinum subscription, DroneScout keeps scanning in the background and sends a notification when any drone comes into range — useful if you want to know when drones fly over your house, a site or an event. With Gold or Platinum you can choose per group: groups tell known drones (your own, your team's) apart from unknown ones, and you get a warning only for the groups that matter. See Keep scanning in the background and Group drones.

Who uses a drone detector?

• People at home who want to know which drones fly over their house or garden.
• Drone pilots who want to see other drones — and with ADS-B, manned aircraft — around their own flight.
• Security staff at events, sites and venues, who need to know when a drone shows up.
• Drone makers and builders, who use it to check that their own drone's Remote ID broadcast is complete and correct.

What a drone detector app can't do

• It can't see drones that don't broadcast Remote ID. Professional counter-drone systems use radar, radio-frequency analysis or cameras for that; they cost thousands of euros and need specialist operators.
• It can't stop, take over or jam a drone — and you shouldn't try: in most countries interfering with a drone or its radio link is illegal.
• If you think a drone is flying illegally, don't confront the pilot. Note what the app shows — time, position, serial number, operator ID — and report it to the police or your aviation authority.