Install WingView

WingView shows live aircraft on a small round display, around any location you choose. Set up as many as eight and switch between them on the device. Connect it to this computer, click install, and your browser writes the firmware over USB. There is nothing to download and no driver to set up.

Plug the device into this computer.

Your browser writes the firmware over the USB cable, so the device has to be connected to the machine you are reading this on.

Choosing your device. When you click Install, your browser asks which device to connect to. WingView appears as USB JTAG/serial debug unit. Anything listed as a Communications Port is your computer’s own hardware, not your device.

If more than one USB JTAG/serial debug unit is listed, another ESP32 board is connected to this computer, including any plugged in only for charging. Unplug it before continuing: installing to the wrong board erases it.

Checking for the current firmware...

You will be asked whether to erase the device first. Either answer installs successfully; what differs is whether the settings already on the device survive.

  • Do not erase if this is your own device and you are reinstalling or repairing it. Your Wi-Fi details, API key, saved locations and downloaded maps are all still there afterwards.
  • Erase to return the device to a clean state, with nothing of the previous setup left on it.

If your only goal is to clear a device before passing it on, you do not need to reinstall at all. Use Factory reset on the device’s own settings page instead, which wipes it to a clean WingView setup from your phone.

The install takes about a minute. Leave the device plugged in until it finishes.

Supported hardware

WingView runs on two off-the-shelf round ESP32-S3 displays. We do not sell them; you buy the board yourself and we provide the firmware. The same install works for both, so there is nothing to choose here.

On the Waveshare board, the USB-C plug has a right way round. If your browser lists USB-SERIAL CH340 instead of USB JTAG/serial debug unit, turn the plug over where it goes into the device and try again. The two sides of that socket reach different chips, and only one of them is the chip WingView installs to. Turning the plug over at the computer end has no effect.

After the install

The rest of the setup happens on the device itself, using your phone. You do not need this page or a computer again.

  1. The device restarts and creates its own Wi-Fi network named WingView-XXXXXX.
  2. Its screen shows a card with that network name, an address to open, and an eight-character passphrase.
  3. Join that network on your phone. It has no password.
  4. Open the address shown. Your browser asks for a passphrase: leave the user name blank and type the eight characters from the card.
  5. Set your Wi-Fi details, a location to watch and your API key.

Watch the device’s screen. Everything you need for the next step is displayed on it.

You will need a Wingbits API key to finish setup. That is separate from installing the firmware, and comes from your Wingbits account.