Getting Started
Set up your detector and start driving smarter in minutes.
What You'll Need
Uniden Detector
R4, R8, or R9 with Bluetooth enabled
iPhone or iPad
Running iOS 17 or later
Bluetooth
Enabled on both devices
Setup in 6 Steps
Download rDetect
rDetect hasn't reached the App Store yet. Request a TestFlight invite and you'll get the beta builds as they ship — it's free.
Power On Your Detector
Turn on your Uniden detector. Bluetooth is enabled by default on the R4, R8, and R9 — no pairing mode needed.
Launch rDetect & Grant Permissions
The first launch walks you through a short intro and three prompts: Bluetooth to talk to your detector, Location to tag alerts and learn lockouts, and Notifications so alerts still reach you with the app in the background. You can tap “Not now” on any of them, or skip the flow — but declining Notifications means background alerts are silently dropped, and it’s the one the app never asks about again.
Open Connect & Scan
Tap the antenna icon in the Dashboard toolbar (or Connect in the iPad sidebar), then tap Scan for Devices. Nearby detectors appear strongest-signal first — tap yours to connect. After the first connection rDetect remembers your detector and reconnects on its own.
Explore the Dashboard
Once connected, the Dashboard is your driving screen: speed and heading across the top, then the live alert — band and measured frequency side by side, a radar scope whose blip closes on the centre as the threat gets stronger, and a bold arrow for front, rear or side — with Mute, Lock and Save to Device one tap below. The strip in the navigation bar carries a heartbeat that pulses on every frame from your detector, plus voltage, GPS state and a count of nearby known falses. Tap the toggle at the top left to swap the card view for a full-screen map.
Customize Your Setup
Adjust muting rules, enable voice alerts, set speed thresholds, and create settings profiles for city vs highway driving.
First Drive Tips
Let Lockouts Learn
Encounters count once per location per day, so expect a spot to take two or three separate days — not two or three passes in one afternoon. K and X learn out of the box; Ka is off by default.
Start with Defaults
The default muting settings work well for most drivers. Fine-tune after a few drives once you see how alerts behave.
Voice Alerts Are On
Voice alerts are on out of the box — band, measured frequency, direction and strength, spoken over your music. Tune the speech rate, car-audio delay and which details are announced in Settings › Voice Alerts, or rename a frequency in Settings › Custom Phrases.
Try Apple Watch
If you have an Apple Watch, alerts appear on your wrist with haptic feedback. No setup needed.
Add POIs
Mark speed traps, school zones, and custom waypoints. rDetect warns you with voice alerts as you approach.
Plan the Route
Open the Navigation tab and search a destination. rDetect scans the corridor against your own alert history and known cameras before you set off, scores each alternate route so you can pick the quietest, then calls out what’s ahead as you drive.
Common Questions
Detector not appearing?
Open Connect and tap Scan for Devices — rDetect doesn’t start scanning until you ask it to. It keeps searching, and after about fifteen seconds offers a Try Again button. Make sure the detector is powered on with Bluetooth enabled and within range. You don’t need to quit other detector apps: rDetect finds your unit even when iOS has already connected it to another app, and recognises names like R8@E6, Uniden R8 and R8-E6.
Connection drops frequently?
Keep your phone within Bluetooth range. rDetect tells the difference between the car being switched off and the detector drifting out of range, and reconnects on its own either way — including from the background. If Bluetooth access has been denied, the Connect screen says so and gives you an Open Settings button straight to rDetect’s permissions.
GPS lockouts not working?
Encounters only count once per location per 24 hours, so several passes on one commute in an afternoon count as one — expect a spot to take two or three separate days. K and X learn out of the box; Ka is off by default, and both live in Settings › Lockout Settings. Learning also needs a GPS fix better than 30 m, so it pauses in tunnels and urban canyons.
Ready to Upgrade Your Drive?
rDetect is in TestFlight beta ahead of its App Store release. Join and turn your Uniden detector into a navigator that sees the cameras on the road ahead.
Requires iOS 17 or later • Works with R4, R8, R9