Please read the entire guide.

Most Recent Release Notes:

8/8/2023 – added “Recall Locator” function. The Recall Locator button on the home screen allows you to see the locator map and pointer for the last UAP alert received.  This button currently expires after 6 hours.

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USING SIGHTER

As an early adopter, you’re using a first released version of SIGHTER. Your current send and receive UAP alert horizontal  radius when in normal mode is 100 miles or less (160 kilometers). This radius will soon shrink by default, but will also soon be user-configurable. For simulated alerts, your received alert radius is worldwide.

Turn on auto-update in your smartphone’s Settings to get operational changes as they are made.

When recording video, iOS will prioritize your phone over the camera. Incoming or outgoing calls, or putting the app in the background while the SIGHTER camera is enabled may cause a temporary interruption of the camera. Once your call is complete, or when recalling the app, refresh the camera screen to re-enable the camera.

In order to receive SIGHTER UAP alerts sent to you by other users, make sure notifications from SIGHTER are turned on (you can turn notifications on or off in SIGHTER’s in-app Settings). Be sure to set SIGHTER’s notifications through your smartphone settings to “sound on” and SIGHTER banners to “persistent”.

By using SIGHTER, you should be prepared to receive UAP alerts at any time of day or night. Depending on your situation, this may or may not be convenient or acceptable to you. The SIGHTER mission depends on your commitment and  willingness to participate in UAP sightings whenever they occur within your alert radius. If this is not an acceptable condition of use, please set the alert sound in SIGHTER notifications to “off”.

When you open SIGHTER by tapping the app’s icon, or by tapping an alert notification, SIGHTER assumes you are starting an active sighting/recording event. SIGHTER will keep all needed smartphone systems turned on and ready to record, but may disconnect  SIGHTER’s camera when your phone sleeps. Close the app completely when not in use.

COMING IMPROVEMENTS

Your feedback and that from other early adopters will play a key role in both drawing SIGHTER’s roadmap as well as help define the operational characteristics of coming improvements. Send your feedback to info@sighter.io

The features below will be tested and released shortly. Turn on auto app updates in your smartphone’s Settings to get the latest updates as they are made.

• Improved user low-light exposure/contrast control.
• Always-on image stabilization.
• Always-on inclinometer to automatically record approximate elevation angle.
• Improved administrative alerts and alert control.
• Improved real time false positive detection algorithms.
• User configurable distance estimation scales (imperial vs metric)
• User configurable alert send/receive radius.
• Opt-out of simulations switch in settings.
• Smoother gradient shifts when using the locator.
• Recording in horizontal orientation.
• Reschedule uploads capability.
• Override options for iOS phone over camera priority.

SWARMING SIMULATIONS

SIGHTER is easy to use with a very simple and intuitive interface, but some users may find that simulated operation is a good way to familiarize themselves with the operation of the SIGHTER app. Participation in these exercises is optional.

The SIGHTER team will issue up to 6 randomized simulation alerts to you during the 30-day period after you’ve installed SIGHTER and signed in the first time.

When you tap on a simulation notification, SIGHTER will set your simulation timer to 2 hours. When the timer reaches “00:00:00”, your simulation will be over and your SIGHTER system will be put back  to “Normal Mode”.

To opt-in for the simulations, make sure your smartphone’s settings under Notifications from SIGHTER are set to “on” (default), and SIGHTER’s sounds to “on”, and banners set to “persistent”.  

There are three ways to opt-out of the simulations:

1. Turn off push notifications in SIGHTER’s in-app Settings.
2. In your phone’s settings under notifications, set SIGHTER’s sounds to “off”. You’ll still get the alerts but will not get the notification alert tone.
3. When a simulation alert comes to you, tap on it, then just close the app.

The simulated alerts may come to you from SIGHTER worldwide. Ignore the extended distance of the blue and red locating lines on the map after responding to the simulated alert notifications. During real world use, you will only receive alerts to UAP events that are reasonably close enough for you to participate in.

WHAT YOU CAN DO DURING THE SIMULATIONS – ANYTHING GOES.

But when your system is put in simulation mode, keep your video recordings SHORT, just a second or two each. You won’t want to test-upload multiple minutes of empty sky or the ground in front of you. Or your cat.

• During the simulated alerts, feel free to participate and to record, send alerts, stop, record, call “false”, change your position, record again, stop again and schedule your upload just as if the sighting was genuine, closer to you and not a simulation.
• The content of the recording(s) during the simulations is not important. An empty patch of sky, your cat or feet, a tower or a treetop is fine.
• Feel free to tap the “False” button during the simulations, because these alerts will be just that.
• Ignore the “Caution” message when issuing alerts when your system is in simulation mode. Feel free to issue alerts at any time or for any reason during the 2-hour simulations.

LOCATING THE UAP AFTER RECEIVING AN ALERT

1. Tap the SIGHTER UAP alert notification when it appears on your phone.
2. You’ll be shown the locating map.
3. Hold your iPhone in front of you as you normally would, or vertically in front of you in portrait orientation.
4. Do not rotate, wobble or turn the phone to find the direction to the UAP. Instead hold the phone steady in front of you and rotate your body until the red locating line matches with the blue locating line as closely as possible.
5. You are now facing into the quadrant occupied by the UAP’s last known position.
6. Visually scan the quadrant until you have located the UAP.
7. Keep the UAP in the red center sighting circle as much as possible during a sighting.
8. When issuing an alert, be sure that the UAP is within the red center circle before tapping the green alert button. At that moment, the direction (azimuth) from you to the UAP is captured.

CALL FALSE BUTTON

The first user to see a UAP does not get the yellow “Call False” button, only alerted users get the “Call False” button.

If you’re an alerted user and you believe the UAP you’ve been pointed to is a false positive, tap the Call False button. You’ve voted. That’s it.

SENDING FALSE ALERTS

During normal operation, please take SIGHTER UAP alerts very seriously and  please act responsibly.  SIGHTER is not a toy and is intended to be used only for the purpose it was designed for.

SIGHTER has accounted for the fact that you might think some things to be UAP but are actually something ordinary. That’s the nature of UAP. If you think the sighting is a UAP, but you might not be sure — send alerts, record it (in either order) then upload it anyway.

ESTIMATING DISTANCE WHEN SENDING AN ALERT

When sending an alert, you will be prompted to enter the estimated distance from your position to a point directly under the UAP along the horizontal plane.

Don’t be too concerned about accuracy. You’ll only be guessing at the distance even in the best case. The measure for estimating distance in this ver of SIGHTER is fixed in kilometers. If you think in miles, a simple and close enough guide to estimate kilometers is just to double the number of miles.

The more important measure is the direction from your position to the UAP, which SIGHTER captured when you had the UAP aligned in the red circle and tapped the green alert button. Imperial (miles) and metric (kilometers), will soon be user-configurable.

SCHEDULING YOUR UPLOAD

You may record many minutes of video during an actual sighting. These may be a mix of short and long videos as conditions, or your sighting position changes. Depending on your upload speed, these may take some time to upload.

Once your sighting is complete you will be asked to either upload now or schedule the upload to SIGHTER servers.

When prompted, tell SIGHTER when you want the upload to begin.

Schedule your upload when you have a good internet connection, are connected to power,  and are least likely to be using your phone, such as when sleeping or watching Netflix. SIGHTER will upload in the background, but closing the app completely to use your phone for something else during the upload will interrupt the upload.

SIGHTER will send you a notification to open the app and start the upload when the selected time arrives. SIGHTER must be open to do this. Just tap the scheduling notification to open SIGHTER and tap the UPLOAD DATA button shown on the home screen. SIGHTER will start the upload automatically. SIGHTER will notify you when the upload is done.

RECORDING AUDIO

The default setting for the mic is off. Turn the mic on to record audio. The recording must be stopped before turning the mic on or off.

EXPOSURE CONTROL

When sighting or recording, use the exposure control slider on the recording screen to adjust exposure. SIGHTER allows you to set your camera’s light gathering capacity to the maximum possible if needed.

JITTER DURING RECORDING

Don’t be concerned about jitter while recording. Some “jitter” while recording video with a hand-held smartphone is inevitable. SIGHTER will process all sighting video data after your upload to eliminate jitter.

AUTOMATIC UPDATES

Be sure to have “Auto Updates” in your phone’s Settings turned on so you’ll receive all changes and improvements to SIGHTER as they are made.

SENDING INTENTIONALLY FALSE ALERTS

Do not send intentionally false, test or prank alerts to other SIGHTER users while your system is in Normal Operating Mode. Under our Terms of Use, doing so will cause your account to be suspended or cancelled.

YOUR FEEDBACK

The road to making SIGHTER more and more effective will be made with suggestions for continual improvement from users. We sincerely need and welcome your comments and suggestions. Feel free to offer your feedback through the contact form on the website at https://sighter.io or email them directly to info@sighter.io