What this is

The R2TAK console is where you manage your agency's side of the TAK system. You use it to add people, decide what their phones are set up with, and call them out when something happens. In the field, people use a TAK app: ATAK on Android or TAK Aware on iPhone.

How a person gets connected

You add each person once. The console creates their TAK login and sends them a setup file, the Enrollment Data Package, by email, by text, or as a QR code you show them. The file connects their app to your TAK server under their own login and carries your agency's maps and, for ATAK, your agency's app settings. Their channels are set on the TAK server, so they are in place as soon as the phone connects.

The screens you will use most

1. Agency Phone Setup — set up once what every new phone gets.
2. Enroll — add one person, or a whole spreadsheet.
3. Users — everyone in your agency, with an Actions menu for each person.
4. Send an activation — call people out and see who responds.
5. Live Nets — radio channels for an incident.

Signing in

The sign-in page offers up to three ways in: your TAK username and password, your work account, or a one-time sign-in code. The console has no separate password of its own. To sign in at all, you must already be set up in an agency.

The user agreement

The first time you sign in, the console shows the user agreement before anything else. Read it, then press I agree. If you press I refuse, the console asks once more first: Go back to the agreement, or Refuse and sign out. Refusing signs you out and nothing is recorded; you can sign in again when you are ready, but a one-time sign-in code is used up, so you would need a new one. When the agreement changes, everyone is asked again the next time they sign in.

People setting up a phone see the same agreement on their setup page, and must press I agree before the setup file downloads. Anyone can read it at /eula on this console's address. The Readiness screen counts who has agreed.

Sign in with your TAK username and password

Use the same username and password you use in ATAK or TAK Aware. The console checks them with the TAK server and does not keep a copy. This option appears only when your server has it turned on.

1. In TAK username or email, type your TAK username, or the email address on your Users record. Capital letters do not matter here.
2. In TAK password, type your TAK password exactly. Capital letters matter here.
3. Press Sign in.

If you have forgotten your password, press Can’t sign in? Set up my phone again, or reset my TAK password on the sign-in page and request a reset link. The request goes to your administrators under Access requests; once they approve it, the link is emailed to the address on your record.

Sign in with your work account

If your agency has connected its work-account sign-in (Google or Microsoft), you can sign in the same way you sign in to your other work systems.

1. In Work email, type your work email address.
2. Press Continue when it appears.
3. Sign in on your employer's login screen. You return to the console signed in.

Work-account sign-in only signs in people who are already in an agency; it never creates an account. It matches on the email on your Users record, which is optional at enrollment. If that email was never filled in, the Continue button still appears but the sign-in is refused. Ask an administrator to add your email.

Sign in with a code

Type a one-time sign-in code from your administrator in Sign-in code and press Sign in. A code works once, on one device, so a forwarded code is useless. A code is also the way back in when the other options are not available.

Protect this computer

1. Sign in.
2. Open Settings and select the Lock tab.
3. Type a passphrase in Passphrase and again in And again.
4. Press Set passphrase.

Without a passphrase, anyone who sits down at your computer is signed in as you. With one, the stored sign-in is locked until the passphrase is typed.

Add a passkey

A passkey uses this device's own unlock (Face ID, a fingerprint, or its PIN) as a second check that it is really you. There is nothing to install.

1. Open Settings and select the Sign-in tab.
2. Press Add a passkey and follow your device's prompts.

Once you have a passkey, every work-account sign-in and every TAK password sign-in asks for it. If the device cannot read it, you can have a one-time code emailed to the address on your record instead. Sign-in codes are not affected: a code an administrator has just issued is already strong proof, and it is the way back in if you are locked out.

If you are locked out

• Another administrator is signed in. Ask them to open Users, check the box on your row, and use the Console sign-in codes bar that appears to text, email, or show you a code.
• No one is available. On the sign-in page, press Email me a code, type your email, and press Send it. If that email is on your record, a sign-in code arrives. It works once and expires in 30 minutes. Asking again sends a new code, and the code in the earlier email stops working. A code an administrator gave you is not affected. This option appears only when the server can send email.

First twenty minutes

This procedure takes a new agency from an empty console to its first connected phone. Do it in order: each step depends on the one before.

Open Training Eight guided courses on the real screens, starting with Getting started. Stop any time.

Set up your agency

1. Choose default channels. Open Agency Phone Setup, select the Channels tab, check at least one channel, and press Save default channels. Everyone you enroll from now on starts in these channels, and channels decide who each person can see and hear.
2. Set the ATAK settings. Select the App settings tab. Choose coordinates, units, bearings, the starting team color, toolbar colors and Self Marker Information. TAK Aware does not use these settings.
3. Add your maps. Select the Maps, Icon-sets, terrain data tab and upload your map layers, icon sets and terrain. Each card says which apps can use it.
4. Optional: create a role package. Select the Setup Package by Role tab to add extra channels and files for one kind of job, such as SWAT or drone pilot.

Add your first person

1. Open Enroll and select Single Enroll.
2. Fill in First name, Last name, Mobile number and Email.
3. In TAK app, choose the app on their phone: ATAK for Android, TAK Aware for iPhone.
4. To change their channels, open Change their channels.
5. In How their setup reaches them, choose email, text, or Not at all to show them a QR code.
6. Press Create.

Confirm it worked

1. Open Sent to see whether they opened their setup link.
2. Open Connected now to see whether their phone is on the TAK server. This is the real proof.

Who can do what

Every person in the console has one of four access levels. Most people are TAK Users. Agency Admin is the level for anyone who runs an agency. Site Admin and Global Admin cover the whole server.

TAK User

A TAK User can view their own details, download their own setup file and QR code, and reset their own TAK password from My account. They cannot see other people's phone numbers or email addresses.

Agency Admin

An Agency Admin runs one agency. In that agency they can:

• Enroll people and reset their TAK passwords.
• Edit people, remove their access, and revoke their certificates.
• Start and cancel callouts.
• Set phone settings and create Setup Packages by Role.
• Create channels for their own agency.
• Change the wording of their agency's setup email.
• See Readiness for the agencies they run.

Site Admin

A Site Admin represents the organization that operates the server. They can do everything an Agency Admin can, in every agency on the server, plus:

• Create and close agencies, one at a time or many from a file.
• Make a TAK login and certificate for an outside system, such as a dispatch feed, on Outside systems.
• Move a person from one agency to another.
• Create channels for every agency (Global channels), and mark a channel sensitive.
• Put files on the TAK server, and manage Data Sync folders.
• Set up video streams.
• View Server Health and the Error log.
• See every account on the TAK server.
• Make other people Site Admins, or Agency Admins in any agency.
• Let a person act as Agency Admin in other agencies you choose, from Users › Actions › Admin of other agencies…

Global Admin

Global Admin is held by Ripple Two. It can do everything a Site Admin can, plus two actions that permanently destroy something and cannot be undone from any screen:

• Deleting an agency outright. This is allowed only for an agency that has never had anyone in it and has no history. Any other agency can only be closed: closing blocks new enrollments, removes everyone's access and hides the agency from the lists, while keeping its records.
• Deleting an account from the TAK server. This includes accounts the console itself depends on, such as the server's own administrator account.

Global Admin cannot be granted from inside the console, not even by another Global Admin. It is set on the server itself. If a console session is ever stolen, this ensures the attacker cannot create a new top-level account to keep access.

Limits on granting access

• Nobody can give someone a level equal to or higher than their own. An Agency Admin who needs another Agency Admin asks a Site Admin.
• Nobody can act on someone who holds a higher level than they do.
• An agency's last Agency Admin cannot be removed, so an agency is never left with no one to run it.

Sensitive channels

A Site Admin can mark a channel SENSITIVE. Everyone can still see that the channel exists and that it is marked, but only Site Admins and above can see who is in it or change it.

Another agency's channels

An Agency Admin works with their own agency's channels, statewide channels, and channels another agency has shared with theirs. They cannot:

• put their people in another agency's channel, directly, through default channels, or through a channel template;
• declare a channel name another agency or the statewide list already holds;
• push files to phones in a statewide or shared channel;
• replay a statewide channel's history in After-action review.

Missing buttons

Controls you cannot use are either not shown at all or shown switched off with the reason on them. If a button you expect is missing, your access level is usually why.

Agencies

An agency is a separate group of people with its own settings, channels, setup choices and history. People, channels and records do not cross between agencies. One TAK server can hold many agencies, which is the usual arrangement for a county or a mutual-aid group.

The Agencies screen is available to Site Admins and Global Admins. Cards at the top count open agencies and their people, and flag agencies with No admin, No default channels or No TAK server address. Press a card to show only those agencies. Export CSV and Export Excel download the list.

Create an agency

1. Open Agencies and press Add an agency.
2. Enter the Agency full name and an Abbreviation. Callsigns are built from the abbreviation.
3. Optionally fill in the state, county, agency type, team color and contact details. The contact does not have to be in the agency.
4. Optionally enter a login ending to use instead of the short name. Logins are made as first.last.agency, for example dana.ruiz.hcso.
5. Choose the agency's channels.
6. Press Create agency.

Add many agencies from a file

For a new state or region with dozens of agencies. Nothing is made until you have seen what will happen to every row.

1. Open Agencies and press Add many from a file.
2. Press Blank template to get a spreadsheet with the right column names. Open What can go in each column to see what each one takes.
3. Fill in one agency on each row. Only Agency Name must be filled in. Save it as CSV. Up to 500 agencies fit in one file.
4. Under Choose the file, pick it, then press Check the file. Nothing is made yet.
5. Read each row. It says Ready, or what is wrong in plain words, such as a name that is already used or a channel the TAK server does not have.
6. Press Create agencies; the button says how many, such as “Create 12 agencies”. Only the ready rows are made. Fix the others in the file and check it again to add them later.

Work with an existing agency

• Open it: select the agency's name or row to switch into it.
• Admins: lists who can enroll people in that agency. Open in Users takes you to its people.
• Edit: change its details on the row.
• Templates: opens that agency's channel templates.
• Settings: shown on the agency you are in; opens its full settings.

Close or delete an agency

Close shuts an agency down while keeping its records. Nobody new can be enrolled, everyone in it is signed out of the console, and it drops out of the everyday lists. Their TAK apps keep working unless you tick Also turn off everyone’s TAK access and type the agency’s name; that does the same as Disable on Users for each person, so their phones stop connecting. Put back reopens it; anyone whose TAK access was turned off stays off until they are reinstated or enrolled again.

Closing an agency does not turn off its Outside systems, such as a dispatch feed. Turn each one off on that screen.

Delete is limited to Global Admins and works only for an agency that has never had anyone in it. You cannot close or delete the agency you are currently working in; switch to another one first.

Metrics

How your program is doing, live: who is enrolled, how fast people are joining, which agencies and channels they are in, and who is actually using TAK. Nothing on this screen is typed in; it is read from the roster and the TAK server each time you open it.

• Who sees what — an agency admin sees their own agency. A Site or Global admin sees every agency, and can pick one from the box at the top.
• Where it is — under Admin in the menu.
• On the network now — who the TAK server has connected this moment, by app (ATAK, iTAK, TAK Aware, WinTAK, CloudTAK), and how many are on an older version of their app than the newest one connected. The console’s own background logins are left out.
• Busiest times — the most people on TAK at once, laid out by day of the week and hour in your own time zone. Darker squares are busier; point at one to see the typical and highest numbers. The console notes how many are on every 5 minutes. The TAK server keeps no record of this, so it starts the day it was switched on.
• Ready to respond — the last 30 days: callouts sent, how many people gave any answer, the typical time from sending to the first answer, Locate links opened, and texts that failed to send.
• Getting people on — access requests, setup requests and volunteers waiting for an admin, how many days a decision usually takes, and how many setup links were opened.
• Server health — for Site and Global admins: the TAK machine’s disk and memory, device certificates and backups. These are the same checks as Server Health, so the two screens always agree.
• Enrollment — new people each week, or switch to Total for the running total; the months underneath add them up. Each person counts on the day they were added, so people loaded in bulk all count on the day of the load. Point at a week to see its exact numbers.
• Who is on the network — groups agencies by their type. Set a type on Agencies › Edit, or for many at once in Set the type for … agencies at the bottom of this screen.
• Channel reach — how many people, and from how many agencies, are in each channel. Statewide channels are marked.
• Active share by agency — for agencies with five or more people, how many were on TAK in the last 30 days. Under 10% shows red, under 30% amber.
• Print report — the button at the top prints the same numbers as a landscape report, one topic per page, with a cover. Choose Save as PDF in the print window to email it. It prints whatever the screen is showing, so pick an agency first for a report about one agency.
• Active on TAK — when each person was last on TAK. It comes from the TAK server’s own record of every device it has heard from (which goes back to the day the server was built), plus the console checking who is connected every few minutes. The screen says how far back the records go. If that is less than 90 days, “not seen” also includes people who simply have not been on since then.

Readiness

How ready each agency’s people are to get on the map. The least ready agency is at the top, so you can see who needs a hand first. Nothing here is typed in; it is read each time you open the screen.

• Who sees what — an agency admin sees the agencies they run. A Site or Global admin sees every agency.
• Where it is — under Admin in the menu, next to Metrics.
• Who is counted — people who are switched on. People waiting to be let in, people switched off, and logins used by machines are left out.
• Set up — they have a TAK login, and they have a certificate or have been on TAK at least once.
• On TAK in 30 days — their phone was on the TAK server in the last 30 days.
• Certificate OK — their newest certificate has more than 30 days left. A cancelled certificate does not count.
• Agreed to terms — they said yes to the current user agreement. When the agreement changes, everybody is asked again, so this number starts over.
• Ready — set up, on TAK in 30 days, and certificate OK, all three. The big number at the top is Ready for all your agencies together.
• Sorting — press a heading to sort by it; press it again to flip the order. The bottom row adds up every agency.
• Opening the people — press an agency’s name or any of its numbers to open Users showing that agency’s people.
• A dash (—) means the console could not check. Set up, Certificate OK and Ready need the TAK server’s certificate list; if the TAK server does not answer, they show a dash, not zero.
• Export — Export CSV or Export Excel saves the same table, with the totals row. The download is recorded in History.

Agency settings

Settings holds information about your agency, your own sign-in, and this computer. What phones receive is set on Agency Phone Setup instead. If you manage more than one agency, choose the agency at the top of the screen first; most tabs apply to the agency selected there.

Tabs on the Settings screen

Set how TAK usernames end

New logins are made as first.last.agency. By default the agency part is your agency's Short name, so Dana Ruiz becomes dana.ruiz.bcfd. If two people would get the same login, the second gets a number, such as dana.ruiz2.bcfd.

Only a Site Admin or Global Admin can change the Short name, because it also decides which agency a video feed belongs to. An Agency Admin can still choose a different login ending.

1. Open Settings and select the Agency tab.
2. In Use instead of the short name, type the ending you want.
3. In Use it, choose Yes.
4. Check the example shown below the fields, then press Save.

Set the TAK server address

There is nothing to type: the address comes from the TAK server this console is connected to. If it is missing, open the Agency tab, press Use this server’s address, then press Save.

Quick Links for new people

On the Quick Links tab, check the screens most of your people need first and press Save starting links.

Your logo in QR codes

Once your agency has a logo on the Branding tab, the QR codes the console makes for your people carry it in the middle: the sign-up poster, setup cards, class cards and setup links. The codes are made stronger so they still scan with the logo on top. With no logo, the code is plain. The small codes read inside ATAK and TAK Aware stay plain on purpose.

Change the setup email

The email a person gets with their setup link can open and end in your own words. The setup link, their username, the password note and the app steps are always added for you, so the email always works.

1. Open Settings and select the Setup email tab.
2. Change the Subject, the first paragraph and the ending.
3. Press Preview to see the email as people will get it.
4. Press Save wording.
5. To see it in a real inbox, press Send me a test email. It goes only to your own email on file.

Agency Admins change their own agency's email. Site Admins and Global Admins can also choose Every agency under Change the wording for; that is the wording each agency starts with until it saves its own. Back to the standard wording undoes your changes.

Email and texts

Whether the server sends email and text messages is controlled by Ripple Two for the whole server, not per agency. To see whether they are on, open Agency Phone Setup and select Sending and who has it. Sign-in codes are always sent, even when email is off.

Bringing people in

There are several ways to add people to your agency. Choose the one that fits how many people you are adding and whether they are in front of you.

Add one person (Single Enroll)

1. Open Enroll and select Single Enroll.
2. Under Who, fill in First name, Last name, Mobile number and Email. The setup link is texted or emailed to these.
3. Under What they get, choose their Setup Package by Role (if your agency has any) and their TAK app. The summary box underneath shows what they will receive: channels, team color, role, permissions, callsign and login.
4. To change their channels, open Change their channels.
5. To change anything else, such as team color, role, console permissions, callsign, TAK login or password, open Advanced.
6. Under Send, choose how their setup reaches them in How their setup reaches them. Choose Not at all if they are in front of you and you will show them a QR code.
7. Press Create.

Add a list (Bulk Enroll)

1. Open Enroll and select Bulk Enroll.
2. Choose Add new people.
3. If you are starting from nothing, press Download the Excel template and fill it in.
4. Paste the rows, including the header row, into Paste the rows here, or choose a file.
5. Choose the settings for everyone in the file: team color, Setup Package by Role, TAK app, permissions and channels.
6. Press Check the file and read What will happen carefully.
7. Press Enroll everyone who is ready.

To update details for people already in your agency, choose Update people already in the agency instead. Each row is matched by its TAK login, so the file needs a TAK login column. Blank cells leave that detail unchanged, and nothing changes on the TAK server: channels, passwords and permissions stay as they are.

Let a group sign themselves up

Open Volunteer sign-up to make one QR code for a group. Each person who scans it enters their own name and mobile number and gets their own login. See Volunteer sign-up and classroom logins.

Add someone who is already on the TAK server

For someone who had a TAK login before this console, open Server Health › Unclaimed accounts (or follow Claim them on Home when it appears) and press Add to agency on their row. This links their existing login to your agency instead of creating a second one. Nothing changes on the TAK server.

Choose their channels

On Single Enroll and Bulk Enroll, the channel list starts with your agency's default channels selected. A Setup Package by Role or a group template adds its channels on top. What is highlighted is exactly what they get. Manual changes override templates. Each channel has four choices:

• Send only → — they share data on the channel but do not receive it.
• Receive only ← — they receive data on the channel but do not share it.
• Both ↔ — they share and receive.
• None — they are not in the channel.

What the person receives

Each person receives their Enrollment Data Package by email, by text, or as a QR code you show them. The first text to a new number only asks them to reply YES, because phone carriers require it. As soon as they reply, the link is sent.

Volunteer sign-up and classroom logins

The Volunteer sign-up screen offers two ways to bring in a group without entering each person yourself: a QR sign-up, where each person registers with their own name, and classroom logins, which are numbered seats for a training class.

Make a QR sign-up

One QR code serves the whole group. Each person who scans it enters their name and mobile number and gets their own login, on ATAK or TAK Aware. Nothing is texted or emailed.

1. Open Volunteer sign-up and select the QR sign-up tab.
2. In Call it, give the sign-up a name, such as the event and date.
3. In Open for, choose how long it stays open, from 4 hours to 30 days.
4. In Most people, enter the size of the group.
5. Optionally choose a Setup Package by Role or Extra channels (a template). Everyone gets your agency's default channels; these add channels on top. On ATAK, the file each person downloads also carries the package's maps, plugins and settings. On TAK Aware it only connects them.
6. To review each person before they get in, check Approve each person before they get in.
7. For a crew that is only here for a while, set Access ends. At that time everyone who signed up is switched off by themselves. Leave it empty and their logins keep working.
8. Press Make the link, then print the QR code or show it on a screen.

If you turned on approval, people waiting for you appear on the Waiting for your OK tab, which updates by itself. Sign-ups that could not be finished are listed under Did not work; the person can scan the QR again, and you can Clear one nobody is coming back for. A person you decline frees their place, so Most people counts only the people who are in or waiting. The Your QR sign-ups tab lists the sign-ups you have made.

Sign-ups you decline, and ones that did not work, are deleted 90 days later, with the details the person typed. People who got in are not affected.

Print or email a deployment packet

Under each sign-up's QR code are Print packet and Email packet. The packet is for the person in charge of an arriving crew: a flyer with the big QR code and the steps, the channel they will be on, when their access ends, a page on getting the app, and the team colors and roles. Everyone who scans it still gets their own login.

• Print packet opens it ready to print, or to save as a PDF.
• Email packet asks for one email address and sends a link to the packet. The link has the QR code and no password, and stops working when the sign-up closes.

Visiting access

A QR sign-up or classroom logins with an Access ends time is visiting access. When that time comes, everyone on it is switched off by themselves, the same as Disable on Users, and the sign-up closes. Each person gets the usual email saying their access was switched off. The agency's admins, and whoever made it, get one email listing everyone.

The Visiting access tab lists every one of them:

• See who lists the people on it, and what happened to each at the end.
• Change the end moves the time, earlier or later.
• End it now switches everyone off straight away.

Make classroom logins

For a training class, the console makes one numbered login per seat (CLASS-01, CLASS-02, and so on) and a printed card for each. Each person scans their card and the app signs in by itself. No names are needed.

1. Open Volunteer sign-up and select the Classroom logins tab.
2. In Name for the seats, enter the prefix, such as CLASS.
3. In How many seats, enter the number of students, up to 60.
4. Optionally choose a Setup Package by Role or Extra channels (a template).
5. Optionally set Access ends, so the seats switch off by themselves when the class is over.
6. Press Make the accounts and cards, then print the cards.

ATAK and TAK Aware

ATAK is the TAK app for Android. TAK Aware is the TAK app for iPhone. Both are set up with the same kind of file, the Enrollment Data Package, but they do not use the same things from it. Choose the right TAK app when you enroll someone: an Android phone cannot use the iPhone setup file.

What each app receives

Overlays are not part of the setup file. You upload them on Agency Phone Setup and send them with Send to phones, which reaches ATAK phones only. An uploaded overlay is also listed in Agency Downloads.

TAK Aware

TAK Aware takes nothing from a settings file. Each person sets their own callsign, team color and role in the app the first time they open it. Map layers arrive switched off; the person turns each one on in the app.

Checking a person's phone

Neither app reports back what it has, so the console cannot see what is on an ATAK or TAK Aware phone. To check a person, use:

• Sent — did they open their setup link?
• Connected now — is their phone on the TAK server right now?

People setting themselves up

The public /setup page on your console's address lets people help themselves without signing in, so you do not have to track each person down. Give your people that link. The sign-in page also links to it with the Can’t sign in? button.

The page offers four options:

• Set up my device again — for someone already in your agency who lost their phone or setup file.
• Forgot your password? — for someone who needs a new TAK password.
• New here? — for someone not yet set up, who can request access.
• Need the app? — where to get TAK Aware for iPhone. ATAK comes from your agency, not an app store; its download link is on the person's Enrollment Data Package page.

How a request reaches you

For Set up my device again, the person types the email or mobile number you have for them and says which phone they are holding. For Forgot your password?, they type the email you have for them. If what they type matches exactly one active person in your agency, it becomes a request for you to approve.

Approve a request

1. Open Access requests and select the Setup again tab. The Wants their setup again card appears only when someone is waiting.
2. Check the request. It shows the contact they typed, but anything you approve goes to the contact already on file for them.
3. Press Send their setup for a setup request, or Email the reset link for a password request. Press Reject to decline.

A password reset link can only be sent by email. If the person has no email on file, use Reset TAK password in their Actions menu on Users instead.

Why no sign-in is needed

The /setup page never asks anyone to prove who they are. The protection is that what they ask for only ever goes to the phone or email already on file for them. If the contact is not theirs, they never receive it.

New people

Someone who is not set up yet uses Request access on the same page. They confirm their email address, and the request appears on Access requests under Waiting for you. Approving it opens the enroll form with their details filled in, so you can check them before anything is created.

How long requests are kept

• A request waiting for you stays until you deal with it.
• An access request you approve or turn down stays on the Done tab for 90 days. Then it is deleted, with everything the person typed.
• A Set up my device again or password request is deleted 90 days after you send it or reject it, or after it closes because the person was moved, removed or switched off.
• An access request whose email address was never confirmed is deleted after three days.

The person’s own record on Users is not affected.

People in your agency

The Users screen lists everyone you manage: the people in your agency, and the people in any other agencies you administer. Use it to find a person, get their phone connected, change their details or channels, and take them off when they leave.

Read the cards at the top

The cards across the top of Users show where your people stand. Select a card to filter the list to those people.

• People — everyone who is switched on. Links under the number show anyone switched off, anyone waiting to be let in, and any TAK logins that are not in an agency.
• Connected now — phones on the TAK server this minute.
• Can't connect yet — people with no TAK username, so their app cannot sign in.
• No mobile number — people who cannot be paged or texted.
• Certificates running out — certificates that expire within 30 days. When one expires, that phone stops connecting.

Find a person

1. Open Users.
2. Type in Search. You can search by name, call sign, login, email or phone.
3. To narrow the list, use Agency, Where they are, Permission, Missing or Show.

Logins follow the pattern first.last.agency. If that login is already taken, the console adds a number, for example dana.ruiz2.bcfd.

Work with one person

Each row has an Actions ▾ menu. Some items appear only when they apply to that person or to your role.

Work with several people at once

1. Check the box on each row you want.
2. In the bar that appears, choose how to send console sign-in codes: Text it, Email it, Text and email, or Just show me the codes. Each button shows how many people it can reach.
3. To connect their phones instead, press QR codes — connect their phone for one QR card per person. This button appears only when your server can build these codes.

Export the list

Press Export CSV or Export Excel at the top of Users to download everyone you manage as a file.

Taking somebody off

How you take someone off depends on two questions: are they coming back, and are they in your agency at all? A person in your agency appears on Users. An old TAK login that nobody ever added to an agency appears on Server Health › Unclaimed accounts.

Disable someone who is coming back

1. Open Users and find the person.
2. Open Actions and choose Disable — temporarily off.
3. If they must not be told, for example when access is cut off for cause, check Do not email them about this.
4. Press Disable them.

When you disable someone:

• They are signed out of the console and the app right away.
• On the TAK server, their password is changed, they are taken off every channel, their certificate is revoked, and their phone is disconnected. Their TAK account itself is kept. A phone that is connected right now can stay on the map until the TAK server restarts.
• The channels they were in are saved, so Let back in can offer to put them back.
• Their record and history are kept.
• Your agency's admins are emailed either way. If you chose not to email the person, the record shows it was your choice.

The message after you press Disable them says what happened on the TAK server. If it is red, their TAK login still works and their phone can still reach the map. Once the TAK server answers, open Actions and choose Try cutting off TAK access again.

To restore access, open Actions and choose Let back in. That turns their account on again. It does not restore their TAK access: they are in no channels, and their phone needs a new setup. The message offers two buttons: Put them back in these channels (the channels they had, or your agency's default channels), then Set up their phone. A channel that was renamed, deleted or is no longer shared with your agency is skipped, and the message names it.

Remove someone who has left

1. Open Users and find the person.
2. Open Actions and choose Remove — leaving for good.
3. Read the confirmation. Leave Also delete their TAK login checked.
4. Press Remove.

When you remove someone:

• Every device, code and saved setup package of theirs stops working.
• They cannot get back in unless someone adds them again.
• Their history stays, with their personal details wiped. Nobody can erase that record. On Users, they appear as Removed member.
• If they never finished setting up, nothing is kept, and the console says so. Both outcomes are normal.

Their TAK account goes too

With Also delete their TAK login checked, the console revokes their certificate and deletes their TAK account as part of the removal. You do not need to visit Certificates or Unclaimed accounts.

• If the same login also belongs to another agency, the console leaves it in place and tells you.
• If the console cannot delete the TAK login, the person is still removed from the agency. The message names the login that was left on the TAK server and explains why.

Delete old logins that nobody claimed

TAK logins that were never in an agency are listed on Server Health › Unclaimed accounts. Only Global Admins can delete them.

1. Open Server Health and select Unclaimed accounts.
2. Press Check the TAK server.
3. Check the logins you want to delete.
4. Press the delete button. It shows the count, for example Delete 3 logins.
5. Type the confirmation text the dialog asks for, for example delete 3, and confirm.

This revokes the certificate and deletes the account in one step. Any login the TAK server refuses to delete is left in place and named in the result. The TAK server's own admin login is protected and cannot be deleted. To keep a login instead, press Add selected to put it into your agency.

Teams

A team is a named group of people you can page all at once, instead of picking them one at a time. Paging is the only thing a team does. Teams have nothing to do with TAK channels or team color.

Teams are on the Teams tab of Send an activation. A team can include people from every agency you administer, so a SWAT team drawn from four departments can be one team. Paging it reaches everybody on it, in all four.

Create a team

1. Open Send an activation and select the Teams tab.
2. Type a name in New team name.
3. If you administer more than one agency, choose which agency keeps the team's history in Kept by.
4. Press Create team.

Add people to a team

1. On the team's card, type a name, call sign or phone number in Add somebody.
2. Select the person from the results.

Once a team has people on it, you can pick it under Who when you send an activation.

Take someone off a team

Select the person's name on the team's card. Do this when people change assignments; otherwise they keep being called to incidents that are no longer theirs.

Rename or delete a team

Press Rename or Delete on the team's card. These buttons appear only on teams you are allowed to change.

Agency Phone Setup

Agency Phone Setup is where you decide, once for your whole agency, what a new person's phone receives: channels, app settings, maps, icons, terrain and plugins. Single Enroll, Bulk Enroll and Volunteer sign-up all use these settings, so when you enroll someone you only need to pick their setup package.

The screen has five tabs:

• Channels — default channels and channel templates.
• App settings — how ATAK displays coordinates, units and the self marker.
• Maps, Icon-sets, terrain data — map layers, icon sets, terrain and overlays.
• Setup Package by Role — extras for one kind of job, and ATAK plugins.
• Sending and who has it — push files to phones and check how setups reach people.

Set default channels

Default channels apply to your whole agency. Everyone you enroll from now on starts with these channels checked. People already enrolled keep the channels they have.

1. Select the Channels tab.
2. Check the channels everyone should join.
3. Press Save default channels.

Create a channel template

A template is a saved, named list of channels, such as “Patrol.” Choosing a template when you enroll someone copies its channels onto that person in one step.

1. On the Channels tab, press Add template.
2. Name the template and check its channels.
3. Save it.

Choose ATAK app settings

1. Select the App settings tab and make sure ATAK is selected.
2. Choose Coordinates shown as, Distance, Altitude, Speed, Bearings shown in (degrees or mils), Bearings measured from (true, magnetic or grid north), and Everyone starts on this team color.
3. Under Self Marker Information (the box showing a person's own callsign and coordinates), choose where it is Shown as (a box, a bar along the bottom, or not shown) and what Tapping it does.
4. To set ATAK's toolbar and icon colors, check Set ATAK's toolbar colors and pick the colors.
5. Press Save.

To check the result, press See what ATAK gets. You can preview the agency settings or a specific person's file.

Some settings are always set on every ATAK phone and are not a choice: sharing the person's location and contact information with the team, an indicator showing whether they are connected to the server, receiving setting updates from the TAK server, and locating the phone by Wi-Fi and cell towers when GPS is weak (for example, indoors). The last one takes effect the next time ATAK opens. Each person's own callsign, team color, role, phone number and email also come from their Users record.

People can still change any of these settings on their phone. A phone that is already set up keeps its settings until it receives a new Enrollment Data Package.

Add maps, icon sets and terrain

On the Maps, Icon-sets, terrain data tab, each kind of file has its own card. Choose the file and press Upload.

Each card also has an Advanced option. You can build a map source from a tile address, build an icon set from TAK's own icons, or fetch terrain by picking squares on a map. The terrain option includes a Whole state: Georgia button.

Set up packages by role and plugins

A Setup Package by Role adds extra channels and files for one kind of job, such as SWAT. You pick it when you enroll someone. See Setup Package by Role.

ATAK plugins, such as UAS Tool, are on the same tab. Upload the plugin's .apk, then either check Everyone in the agency gets it or add it to a setup package so only that role gets it. When the person sets up, their phone asks to install the app.

Send files and check who has them

The Sending and who has it tab lets you:

• Push a file to phones that are already set up. See Push to phones and overlays.
• See your agency's TAK server address, and set it with Use this server's address if it is missing.
• See whether an ATAK download is available, how people receive their setup, and whether email and texts are switched on for this server.

Under Did it reach them?, two buttons take you to Sent (did they open their setup link?) and Connected now (is their phone on the TAK server right now?). See Did they get their setup?

Push to phones and overlays

A push sends files straight to phones that are already set up, without setting them up again. Use it for a new icon set, a map source, or a map file such as a KMZ for tonight's event. ATAK takes the file in by itself; an icon set, for example, lands in the icon palette.

Pushes are on Agency Phone Setup › Sending and who has it, under Push to phones.

Push a file

1. Press New push.
2. Under Name it, type a name. Only you see this name; it is how you find the push later.
3. Under Pick the files, check the files to send. Setup files from your agency library and maps or overlays from Agency Downloads are both listed.
4. Under Pick who gets it, check channels, people, or both.
5. Under When, decide whether to check Also send it to channel members whose phones are off right now (see below).
6. Press Push it. The button shows how many files you picked.

The console reports how many phones received it now, and how many will receive it when they connect.

If the console cannot write to the TAK server's device profiles, the push list says so, and nothing can be pushed from this server.

Who receives a push

Track and manage pushes

The cards above the list show Active pushes, Waiting for phones, Keeps sending, Problems, and how many people are On TAK Aware and cannot receive a push. Select a card to filter the list.

• Send now to anyone who has not had it sends the push again to connected phones that have not received it.
• Remove stops the push. Nobody new receives it.

Send an overlay

An overlay is a map drawn on top of the base map, such as an event site plan, a venue GeoPDF, or a KMZ of routes.

1. Open Agency Phone Setup and select the Maps, Icon-sets, terrain data tab.
2. On the Overlays card, choose the file and press Upload.
3. Press Send to phones beside the file. The push form opens with the file already checked.
4. Pick channels or people and press Push it.

• ATAK accepts GeoPDF, KMZ, KML and GeoTIFF.
• TAK Aware can use KMZ and KML only, and cannot receive a push. Share the file with TAK Aware users through Agency Downloads.

An uploaded overlay is also listed in Agency Downloads.

Setup Package by Role

A setup package adds extra channels and files for one kind of job, such as SWAT, Drone pilot or Deputy. Everyone already receives your agency defaults; a package adds to them and never replaces them. Include only what is different for that role.

Create a package

1. Open Agency Phone Setup and select the Setup Package by Role tab.
2. Press New setup package.
3. Type a Role name, for example SWAT.
4. Optionally, choose Coordinates shown as (ATAK only) and Which app is it for?
5. Under TAK channels, check the extra channels. To start from an existing group, choose a Group template and adjust the channels it fills in.
6. Under Files, check the extra maps, icon sets, terrain or plugins for this role.
7. Press Save setup package.

For each channel, choose the direction:

• Receive only ← — they receive data from the channel but do not share into it.
• Send only → — they share data into the channel but do not receive from it.
• Both ↔ — two-way: they share and receive.

Channels in a package work in every app, because they are set on the TAK server, not the phone. For files, ATAK receives everything. On TAK Aware, map sources arrive switched off, and icon sets and terrain do not reach it.

Assign a package

Pick a package when you enroll someone, in Setup Package by Role on Single Enroll, Bulk Enroll (one package for everyone in the file) or Volunteer sign-up. If your agency does not use roles, leave it on (none — agency default only).

Agency Downloads

Agency Downloads holds files your people fetch for themselves: a plugin, a new ATAK build, a map, a data package or an installer. You upload a file, then choose who can get it.

Upload a file

1. Open Agency Downloads and select the Files tab.
2. Under Add a file, choose the file.
3. In What is it?, type a short note, such as the app name and version. People see this note next to the file.
4. Press Upload. The file appears under Your downloads. Nobody receives it yet.

Make a file available to everyone in your agency

Under Your downloads, check Everyone can download for the file. It then appears in your agency's list, and anyone signed in can download it. There is no link to manage, and nothing expires. The Preview tab shows exactly what your people see.

Send files to someone without an account

1. Under Your downloads, check Send to one person for each file.
2. Select the Send tab and confirm the files under Files to send.
3. Optionally, name the share in Call this share.
4. Type an address in Email it to or a number in Or text it to. Leave both blank to get the link and send it yourself.
5. Choose how long the link lasts: 1, 7, 30 or 90 days.
6. Press Make a link.

For a single file, you can instead press Share on its row, enter an email or mobile number (or leave both empty to copy the link), choose how long the link works, and press Send.

The link is shown once, when you make it. Copy it then if you may need it again.

Track or cancel a link

Links you have sent, on the Send tab, shows each link and whether it was opened. Cancel a link and it stops working immediately. The file stays, and your other links keep working.

Did they get their setup?

ATAK and TAK Aware do not report back what they have received. To confirm that a person's setup reached them, check two screens.

1. Sent — shows whether each person has opened their setup link, and how it reached them. A person who stays at “emailed” or “texted” for a long time usually never received it.
2. Connected now — shows whether their phone is on the TAK server right now.

You can reach both from Agency Phone Setup › Sending and who has it › Did it reach them? On Users, the Connected now and Can't connect yet cards give the same picture for everyone at once.

If the setup never reached them

1. On Users, check that their mobile number and email address are correct.
2. If you sent it by text, check Sent for “waiting for their YES”. A first text to a new number only asks them to reply YES; nothing else is sent until they do. Ask them to reply YES to that text. If Sent says “they replied STOP”, that phone gets no more texts: send it by email, or show them the QR code.
3. Send it again with Users › Actions › Another setup. If they are with you, use Users › Actions › Set up and show them the QR code instead.

Calling people out

An activation is a call-out. You say what is happening, pick who to page, and send. The console keeps trying to reach each person until they answer, and shows you who has responded.

Send an activation

1. Open Send an activation.
2. Type a headline in What is happening, and add Details if needed.
3. Choose a Priority: Critical, Urgent or Routine.
4. Choose Answer within: the deadline shown to the people you page.
5. In Who, search for teams and people and pick them. Pick a team to page everyone on it, or pick individual people. You can mix both. A team pages everybody on it, in every agency it draws from.
6. Optionally, set the location (see below).
7. Press Send.
8. When asked Start a Data Sync feed for this call-out?, choose Yes, start a feed or No, just page.

If you start a feed, everyone who answers “responding” or “on scene” is added to a shared map for the call-out.

Mark the location on the map

Location is optional. Many call-outs, such as “everyone to the station,” need no map point.

1. Tap the map under Where is it?, or type an address or paste coordinates in Find an address or paste coordinates and press Find it.
2. Optionally, choose a Circle on the map to draw a ring around the point.
3. Optionally, press Choose an icon… to pick the Marker icon.

The point goes out as a marker on the TAK map. It stays on the map for up to 30 days unless it is cleared sooner.

How the activation reaches people

Once a person answers, the console stops escalating for them. A person with no mobile number on file receives only the first step.

See who has answered

After you send, Who has answered appears below the form and updates every few seconds. It shows how many people are responding, and each person's state and ETA. Follow up with the people who have not answered.

If you open another screen, the board stops updating and says so. Come back to Send an activation and it picks up again. It follows the last call-out you sent from this browser tab. If you switch the Paging agency, the board says which agency the call-out was sent from and stops updating. Switch back to that agency to follow it or stand it down.

Stand a call-out down

Press Stand this call-out down on the board, add a reason if you want one, and confirm. Texts and phone calls stop for everyone who has not answered yet. Nobody is sent a stand-down message, so tell anyone already on the way yourself. The marker stays on the map.

Locate a phone

Locate texts someone a link. When they open it and allow location sharing, their position appears on the TAK map and keeps updating while the page stays open.

Locate is for people who are not set up on TAK: a caller who cannot say where they are, a person reported missing, or a victim on a live call. They need no app and no account. Any phone that can open a web page works.

Send a Locate link

1. Open Locate.
2. In Name on the map, type a name the room will recognize, for example “Caller, 118 Oak St.”
3. In Their mobile number, type their number. To make a link without texting it, leave this empty.
4. Optionally, choose a Shaded circle (50 m to 1 km).
5. Choose how long the Link lasts: 1, 4, 8 or 12 hours. The default is 4 hours.
6. Choose the Channel it goes out on. Only people in that channel see the person on the map. If the list could not be read, press Try again; the link is not sent until it has been read.
7. In Why, type the reason, such as the call type and CAD number. The link is not sent without one.
8. Optionally, add questions and ask for their camera (see below).
9. Press Send the link, then confirm.

The console confirms whether the text was sent and shows the link once. If the text fails, the link still works: press Copy link, then read it out or send it another way.

About the shaded circle

The circle draws a ring around the marker to show “somewhere about here.” Indoors, a phone's position can be off by tens of meters, and a bare dot hides that. You choose the size, because how certain you are depends on the call. The circle is off unless you choose one.

Ask questions

1. Under Questions to ask them, choose a saved set, or press Add a question.
2. Type the question and the answers they can tap.
3. Mark an answer Alarming if choosing it should stand out. When they choose it, the answer shows in red under Questions & answers, the running Locate says New alarming answer, and a chat message with the answer goes into the Locate's channel (where it can: see the note below). Plain answers are only recorded.

• Check Post each answer into the channel to send every answer (never their position) into the channel as a chat message.
• Show our agency's name on their page is checked by default. Uncheck it when the page may be seen by someone dangerous.

Save question sets you use often on the Sets tab with Add a set. Changing a set later never changes a Locate that is already out.

Ask for their camera

Check Ask for their camera too to request live video from the back camera of their phone, without sound. The text tells them the camera is being requested. The video appears on the TAK map marker, and you can view it in the console with Watch.

What the person sees

A short text with the name and the link. The page shows who is asking and has one button. Their phone then asks permission to share location, as any map app does, so they still choose. They are told to keep the page open, and they can press Stop sharing at any time.

Follow a Locate

• A marker on the map moves as they move.
• A second marker stays where they first appeared, so you can see where they started as well as where they are heading.
• Running now lists every live Locate: whether the text was sent, whether they opened the link, how many positions have arrived and how accurate the last one was, how many answers came in, and when the link ends. It checks for news every 10 seconds while a Locate is running, and says when it last checked.
• A new answer on a running Locate puts New answer on it, or New alarming answer in red. It clears when you open Questions & answers. It counts answers that came in since this browser tab first showed that Locate.
• Questions & answers shows their answers, newest first. On a live Locate you can ask another question.
• Finished lists Locates that were stopped or ran out.

Stop a Locate

A Locate ends when they press Stop sharing, when you press Stop under Running now, or when the link runs out. Stopping it from the console disables the link immediately; their page stops sending and tells them so. A stopped Locate cannot be restarted.

Print a report

Every Locate, running or finished, has Print report. It makes one report to print, or to save as a PDF from the print window. It shows:

• who sent it, when, and the reason they gave;
• who was located (the number is masked) and the channel;
• the words their page showed them before anything was shared;
• a map of their trail, and every position with its time and how accurate it was;
• every question and answer, with alarming answers marked;
• how it ended, and who stopped it.

Every position is kept with the Locate, not only the last one, and is deleted with it 90 days after it ends.

Radio nets

Radio nets are the voice channels your people talk on. Three screens manage them, and each has a different job.

Build your everyday nets

1. Open Standing Nets.
2. Press Add a net and fill in the details.
3. Repeat for each net, and arrange them in the order your people expect.

Write a comm plan

1. Open Comm Plans.
2. Press New comm plan.
3. Add the nets that kind of incident needs, named and ordered.

Start an operation

1. On Comm Plans, press Start a callout on the plan you want. Live Nets opens with that plan chosen. (You can also press Start an operation on Live Nets and build the nets by hand.)
2. Name the callout.
3. Choose who is on it.
4. Start it. The nets are created and appear on those people's phones.

End an operation

1. Open Live Nets.
2. Press End operation on the operation.

Ending an operation removes exactly the nets it created. Nets an operator built by hand, and your standing nets, are not touched.

Live map

The Live map shows everything on your TAK server right now: people, aircraft, drones, boats, ham radio stations, markers, alerts, and drawn shapes and lines. It updates every few seconds. Open it from Live map in the Respond section of the menu.

You see what is in the channels your agency can see. Site Admins and Global Admins see everything, including things in no channel at all, which are listed as Unassigned. Nothing on this screen is saved; After-action review is where the history lives.

The panel on the left

• Channels lists each channel with how many things are in it. Flip a switch to hide or show that channel. Type in Filter channels to find one. All and None flip every channel the filter is showing.
• Missions lists the Data Sync folders your agency can see. Press Show on map to draw what is inside one, and Hide from map to take it off. Files inside a Data Sync, such as KML, pictures and packages, are not drawn yet.
• Packages lists the data packages on the server. It is to look at only.

Reading the map

• A person is a dot in their team color. A small point beside the dot shows which way they are moving.
• An aircraft is a plane shape pointing the way it flies. Blue is friendly, red is hostile, green is neutral and yellow is unknown.
• A drone is orange. A boat is teal. A ham radio station is purple.
• A marker is a pin in its own color. An alert is a red circle.
• Shapes, lines and circles are drawn in the colors they were made with. A route is a dashed line.

Click anything to see what it is, its channels and when it was last heard. Type in the search box to find a callsign or name. Use the picker beside it to choose Dark map, Light map, Satellite or Topo, and Labels to turn the names on the map on or off. Under the map, the counter says how many things are drawn out of how many you could see, and the numbers beside it are where your pointer is.

After-action review

After-action review shows what happened on one channel between two times: markers, drawings, chat, callouts and, if you choose, who moved where. Use it to write up a callout or a training exercise afterward. Open it from After-action review in the Admin section of the menu.

Run a review

1. Open After-action review.
2. If you manage more than one agency, choose the agency in Agency.
3. Choose the Channel.
4. Set From and To, or press Last 4 hours, Last 12 hours, Last 24 hours or Yesterday to fill them in.
5. To include position reports, check Include movement.
6. Press Show what happened.

The timeline lists every event in order. Callouts sent from Send an activation, and the answers to them, appear on the same timeline.

Read the map

Every marker is drawn with the same frame shapes TAK uses:

Each person's movement is drawn as a line in that person's own color. The small circle at one end of a line is where they started. Tap a line in the timeline to find it on the map, or tap a dot on the map to find it in the timeline.

Play it back

1. Press the play button under the map to watch events unfold in order.
2. To change the speed, choose from the speed list (for example, 5 min/sec).
3. To jump to a moment, drag the slider. The marks along the slider show when something happened; blue marks are chat.

The Chat on this channel window fills in as the messages arrive during playback, like a message thread.

How far back the record goes

The TAK server decides how long it keeps its record, typically about 30 days. The date boxes stop at the oldest event the server still holds. If your window starts before the record does, the screen says so and shows the date the record begins.

Channels

A channel is a group on the TAK server. The channels a person is in decide whose map markers and messages they see, and who sees theirs. Everything else on a phone is settings; channels decide who a person is working with. The Channels screen has three tabs: Channels, Templates and Patches.

How a person can be in a channel

Read the channel list

Each row shows the channel's Name, which Agency it belongs to, its Description, and how many Users the TAK server has in it. The count includes people from every agency, because they are all people who can hear you.

• GLOBAL — every agency on the server can use it. Only a Site Admin or above can change it.
• SENSITIVE — everyone can see that the channel exists, but who is in it, and every change to it, is managed by Site Admin and above.
• nobody in it yet — the channel is set up here but has no people. The TAK server starts it when the first person is added: press Members.
• not recorded — tap to record — the channel exists on the TAK server, but nobody has recorded which agency it belongs to. Tap it to record the owner.

The cards at the top count Channels, Global, Nobody in it, On TAK, not set up here and Sensitive. Press a card to narrow the table to those channels; press it again to see them all. Use Filter by name to find a channel quickly.

Channels named AREA 1 INTEROP through AREA 8 INTEROP have a Map button beside the name. Press it to see a map of Georgia with that GEMA area's counties highlighted.

Add a channel

1. Press Add channel.
2. Type the Name.
3. Optionally, type what the channel is for.
4. If you manage the whole deployment, choose who it Belongs to: an agency, or Every agency on this server (Global). To restrict who manages it, check Sensitive.
5. Press Add channel.

Adding a channel records it here. It does not create anything on the TAK server or put anyone in it. The channel appears on the server when you add its first member.

Describe a channel

Type in the Description box on the channel's row. The description is kept by this console, not by the TAK server, so the next person to look knows what the channel is for. Typing a description for a channel marked On TAK, not set up here adds it to your records. To change a channel's name, press Rename (Site Admin and above). It takes two steps, so nobody is cut off: Start rename gives everybody in the channel the new name as well, and Finish rename, once phones have reconnected, takes the old name away. The manual has the details.

Add people to a channel

1. Press Members on the channel's row.
2. Press Add members.
3. Check the people to add. Use the search box to find them.
4. Under They can, choose Both, Receive only or Send only.
5. Press the Add button, which shows how many people will be added.

The members list shows your agency's people only. Site Admins and Global Admins see everyone in the channel, from every agency.

Change what a member can do

In the members list, change the setting under What they can do. The change applies right away.

Turn a channel on or off

Turning a channel off is not the same as taking someone out of it. They stay in the channel, but it goes quiet: they stop seeing it and stop being seen on it, on all their devices. Turn it back on and it comes back. It is the same switch people see beside each channel in CloudTAK and ATAK, set by you for them.

• For one person: on Users, open their Actions ▾ menu and choose Channels. Each channel they are in has an On or Off switch at the end of its row. Press it. It works right away, without Save channels.
• For everyone in a channel: press Members on the channel's row, then Turn on for everyone or Turn off for everyone. This is handy at the start or end of an operation.
• For some people: in Members, tick them, then press Turn on for them or Turn off for them.

The message after says who was changed, who already had it that way, and who was not connected. Someone who is not connected gets the change when they next connect.

Take people out of a channel

1. Press Members on the channel's row.
2. Press Remove on one person, or check several people and press What would this change?
3. Review the result, which names anyone who would be left in no channel, then press Take them out.

Taking someone out of a channel does not remove their access. They keep their login and their device; they stop hearing that channel and stop being heard on it.

When you change a person's channels from Users, the screen shows every channel they will end up with, and nothing changes until you press Save.

Share a channel with other agencies

Press Agencies on a channel your agency owns to see which other agencies are in it. Choose an agency and press Invite, or press Withdraw to take an agency and its people out. Each agency puts in its own people; you cannot add or remove another agency's members. Global channels do not have this button, because every agency already has them.

Site Admins and Global Admins also see Edit agency, which changes a channel between Global, one agency, or several agencies.

Remove a channel

1. Press Remove on the channel's row.
2. Choose one of the two actions:
   • Take it off my list only — forgets the description. Nothing changes on the TAK server, and nobody loses the channel.
   • Delete it on the TAK server (Site Admin and above) — takes the channel away from everyone in it, in every agency. You must type the channel name to confirm.

Templates

A template is a named set of channels, such as "Patrol", that you can give someone in one step when you enroll them. Press Add template on the Templates tab to create one.

Patch channels with another agency

A patch joins your channels with another agency's for one operation, such as a warrant, an event or a search. While it runs, phones see one extra channel named OP- followed by the operation name. Nobody's own channels change.

1. On the Patches tab, press New patch.
2. Type the Name of the operation.
3. Under Your channels to bring, check the channels whose people should join.
4. Under Your people, choose Both, Receive only or Send only.
5. Under Invite, check the agencies to invite.
6. Set when it Ends.
7. Press Send the invitation.

Nothing changes on anyone's phone until an invited agency accepts. The invited agency's admin presses Accept…, picks its own channels and direction, and presses Accept and join, or presses Decline. An agency can Leave a running patch, and the agency that made it can press End it now (or Cancel it before anyone accepts). Ending a patch takes everyone out of the OP- channel; their own channels are not touched.

Export the channel list

Press Export CSV or Export Excel to download every channel you can see.

Data Packages

Data Packages lists the files stored on the TAK server itself: icon sets, map overlays, map sources, photos, PDFs and other files that people pull down to their phones. In ATAK, these appear under Download from server.

What the list shows

The list covers the whole TAK server, not only your agency. The server keeps one store shared by every agency and marks each file with the channels that can see it. Each row shows the file, its size, who put it there, when, and Channels that can see it.

• no channel — nobody can see it — the file is on the server, but no phone can download it.
• not known — the server did not report the channels for that file.
• left over from a shared folder — the TAK server keeps a snapshot when a Data Sync folder is created and leaves it here after the folder is removed. These rows are safe to remove.
• shares a fingerprint — another file on the server has identical contents. See the caution under "Remove files."

If the screen says it could not read what the TAK server holds, the server did not answer. That is not the same as the server being empty.

Put a file on the server

Site Admins and Global Admins can add files.

1. Under Who can see it, check one or more channels, or check Every channel.
2. Choose the file. Any file up to 400 MB works: a data package (.zip), a photo, a PDF, a map file (.kml, .kmz) or a video.
3. Press Upload to the server.

When the upload finishes, the screen lists the channels the server reports for the file. Read that list to confirm who can download it.

Remove files

Site Admins and Global Admins can remove files.

1. Check the files to remove, or press Remove on a single row.
2. If you checked several files, press Remove selected.
3. Confirm.

The screen checks the server after a removal. If a file is still listed, the screen says so. Try once more; if it remains, report it through Support.

Data Sync

A Data Sync folder is a shared folder on the TAK server that holds files and live map markers together. People subscribe to a folder, and everything in it (files, markers, notes) updates on their screens as it changes. Use one for a single incident, an exercise, or a standing job that several agencies work together.

Each folder appears as a card showing its Channels, who made it, its Default access, its chat room if it has one, whether it is password protected, and how many things are in it. Press the file count to see the files.

Site Admins and Global Admins can create, edit, download, fill and remove folders.

Create a folder

1. Under Make a shared folder, type the Name. Use letters, numbers, dots, dashes or underscores, with no spaces, for example Warrant-Service-0214.
2. Under What it is for, describe the folder in plain words.
3. Choose the Channel. Only people in that channel can see the folder.
4. Choose the Default access: Add and edit, View only, or Full control, including delete.
5. Press Make the folder.

When the folder is ready, the screen lists the channels the server actually shared it with. Read that list rather than assuming.

Edit a folder

1. Press Edit on the folder's card.
2. Change the description, Chat room, Default access or Channels.
3. To require a password, type a new password twice. To remove an existing password, check Take the password off.
4. Press Save.

Add a file to a folder

1. Press Add file on the folder's card.
2. Choose the file (up to 400 MB).

The file goes straight into the folder, and everyone subscribed to it receives it. Icon sets, map source packs and data packages all work. A download with no file extension is fine; choose it exactly as it downloaded.

Download a folder

Press Download on the folder's card to save its contents to your computer as a .zip file.

When TAK refuses an item

A map item can be in only one Data Sync folder. If someone adds an item that is already in another folder, the TAK server drops it without telling the phone. The folder's card shows a warning that names the item and the folder that already holds it, and the phones in the folder are told in its log. Remove the item from the other folder first, or add a new marker instead.

Remove a folder

1. Press Remove on the folder's card.
2. Confirm.

The TAK server keeps a snapshot of the folder on Data Packages, marked left over from a shared folder. You can remove it there separately.

Video Server

The video server is where drone and camera video comes in and goes out. The Video Server screen sets up how video is sent in and who may watch it. To watch video, use the Live feeds tab or the Video wall.

The screen has four tabs. Which ones you see depends on your role.

Watch, share or record a feed

On the Live feeds tab, find the feed and use the buttons on its row:

• Watch plays the feed on this screen. Press Stop watching to close it.
• Share… makes a link so someone else can watch.
• Start recording keeps a copy. Press Recording — stop to end it.

Send a drone or camera feed in

1. Open the Sending video in tab.
2. Under Send a drone or camera in, type a name for the feed.
3. Press Copy next to the address you need. The whole address, password included, goes on your clipboard.
4. Paste it into the drone, encoder or OBS.

If the device asks for a username and password on their own, they are under If it asks for a username and password. It is the single login for sending video, shared by every agency on this server, and kept short so it can be typed into a drone controller. Ripple Two sets it; press Show to read it.

Choose who can watch your video

1. Open the Who can watch tab.
2. Choose Anyone who can reach the video server, or Only our agency, and agencies we pick.
3. If you chose your agency only, add any other agencies that may watch under Other agencies that may watch. For a joint operation, give each one an end date so access stops by itself.
4. Press Save.

The note at the top of the tab says whether the video server is actually checking this setting. If it says Not live yet, anyone who can reach the video server can still watch every stream until a Site Admin turns checking on for the whole server.

Server settings

Global Admins only. The tab has four cards:

• Things to look at — settings that need attention, most serious first.
• Change a setting — each setting shows its own warning when you pick a new value. Read it before you save.
• Cameras the server pulls from — cameras the video server connects to on its own.
• Technical details — look only, and folded away: the ports video comes in and out on, and the video server’s logins. Passwords are never shown.

Who is on the server

Several screens answer different questions about who can reach your TAK server. They look similar, but each one reads something different.

Certificates

Certificates lists the devices that hold a certificate for your TAK server. A certificate belongs to a device, not a person: one login can hold several, one per handset. A person with two certificates usually has an old phone still on the list.

The cards at the top count Devices with a certificate, Expiring soon (within 30 days), Already expired and Revoked. Press a card to show only those certificates, and use the search box to find a login or device.

Site Admins and Global Admins can press Revoke certificate to stop a handset from reaching the map.

Outside systems

Outside systems is for things that are not people but still need to reach the TAK server: a dispatch (CAD) feed, vehicle locators, a drone dock, Node-RED. Site Admins and Global Admins press Add an outside system, give it a name, its agency and its channels, and get a TAK login and a certificate for it. The login always starts with ext-, and it is never listed or counted as a person.

The certificate is shown one time only: a .p12 file with a password, and the same as .pem files with the full CA chain. Save them before you close the panel. If the key is lost, press Replace certificate. To stop a system, press Turn off, then Delete.

Admins of the system's agency get the usual warning email before its certificate runs out. Closing that agency does not turn the system off; turn it off here.

Connected now

Connected now shows who is connected to the TAK server this minute, read live from the server. Press Refresh to read it again.

This is not the Users list. A device can connect with no account in any of your agencies, and those rows are the ones worth looking at; the Not in any agency card counts them. The Agency, Team and Role columns come from the person's entry in Users, because the TAK server reports only a callsign and a login. They show what this console assigned, not what the handset is set to right now.

Users

Users lists everyone you look after. Site Admins and Global Admins also see accounts that exist only on the TAK server. Use Where they are to narrow the list:

• In an agency and on the TAK server — set up and able to connect.
• In an agency only — cannot connect — no TAK account yet.
• On the TAK server only — not claimed — a TAK account that is not in any agency.

Unclaimed accounts

Unclaimed accounts lists TAK accounts that belong to your agency but are not in it: people who joined before this console, an agency migrating in, or logins left over from setup. Open it from the Unclaimed accounts card on Server Health.

1. Press Check the TAK server.
2. Check the accounts to bring in and press Add selected, or press Add everyone.

Adding an account puts that person in your agency so you can page them and send them a setup. Nothing changes on the TAK server. Bring existing accounts in this way instead of creating duplicates.

Federation screen

Federation joins your TAK server to a partner's TAK server so that people appear on each other's maps. People cross only in the channels someone chose to share, and only in the direction someone chose. The Federation screen is available to Site Admins and Global Admins. It refreshes every 15 seconds; press Refresh now to update it immediately.

Every TAK server has a certificate authority (CA) file, its "stamp file," that signs its certificates. Two servers join when each one trusts the other's CA file and one server calls the other.

Join another agency

1. Press Add an agency.
2. Swap stamp files. Send the partner yours: press Download our CA file, or fill in Our address, as they should dial it and Send their file back to, then press Make the page for them and send them the link. The page gives their TAK administrator our file, address, fingerprint and the steps for their server. Pages still working are listed there; press Cancel the page to stop one sent to the wrong person.
3. Upload their CA file: type Their name, choose Their CA file (or paste the certificate text), and press Trust their file. A public web authority, such as Let's Encrypt, is refused: ask them for their TAK server's own CA file.
4. Call the partner and read each other the fingerprints. That call is what protects you against a fake.
5. Tell them where to call. Step 2 on the screen shows the address and federation port to give them. Before you tell them it is ready, confirm the port they should dial from outside and that the firewall lets them in; the screen explains both checks.
6. Wait for them to call. When their server connects, they appear on the screen under the name you typed. Only a partner that appears after you pressed Trust their file gets that name; step 3 shows their certificate's name and their server's own fingerprint to read back to them. Press Done for now if you want to leave and come back.

Share channels

1. Press Change on the partner's card.
2. For each channel, choose what flows:
   • We send to them → — our people in that channel appear on their map.
   • We receive from them ← — what they send lands in that channel here (unless Channel Mapping says otherwise).
   • Both ways ↔ — both of the above.
   • Not shared — the channel stays private.
3. If the partner told you about a channel of theirs that is not listed, type it under A channel of theirs they told you about and choose what flows.
4. Optionally, set Until. Anything shared in this save undoes itself at that time, which suits a joint operation with a known last day.
5. Press Save.

Channel Mapping

Decides where a partner's channels land here. TAK calls it group mapping, and the switches use TAK's names.

• Off — all data they send lands in your receiving channels (the ones set to We receive from them), whichever of their channels it came from.
• Channel Mapping (TAK: Federated Group Mapping) — turns mapping on. Their channels land where you map them. A Federation Hub can only send different channels to different agencies when this is on.
• Automatic Channel Mapping (TAK: Automatic Group Mapping) — same names match without a row.
• Fallback When No Channel Mappings (TAK: Fallback When No Group Mappings) — unmapped data goes to your receiving channels. Off, it is dropped.
• Their channel → Our channel — one row per mapping. One of their channels can land in several of yours.

The first time you turn it on, the other two start on, so nothing that lands today stops landing.

Check that it is working

How data is flowing is a picture of each link: our server on the left and each partner on a line from it. The words on each line say what goes to them and what comes to us. Dots move only when the TAK server counted messages on the link in the last few minutes; a still line means nothing crossed. Green dots are going to them, purple dots are coming to us. A box's color says how it is doing: green connected, amber connected but nothing heard, red not connected. Behind a Federation Hub, each agency has its own box and line, and the words say what the hub lets through. Dots come from an agency when its people are reaching our map; nothing counts what goes to each agency, so there are no dots that way. Click an agency's line to change its channels. If you have no partners yet, press Show a sample of the flow picture to see an example; it is clearly labeled SAMPLE.

On each partner's card, the first line says what crossed recently, for example "Carrying 1,240 to them and 61 from them in the last 3 minutes." That line answers "is it working?" The totals underneath ("in all that time") count from when the link came up, so they stay large even on a link that stopped an hour ago. Read the first line, not the totals.

The Channel Sharing table then shows, for each channel:

• Direction — the direction you chose: We send to them, We receive from them, or Both ways.
• Local members — how many people on this server are in that channel. If it says nobody, the channel cannot work in either direction: there is nobody to send and nobody to see. This is the most common reason a federation looks broken when the link is fine.
• Active — whether the open connection is actually passing that channel right now. This is the link's own answer. Not active means the channel is shared on our side but not being carried, usually because the partner has not accepted it on theirs.

Callsign clash

If one of the partner's people uses the same callsign as one of yours, the card shows Callsign clash in orange. Two markers with one name fight over one spot on every map, and it looks like a network fault. Rename one side before a joint operation, not during it.

Two settings per partner

Both settings save as soon as you change them.

• They may pass our channels on to a third server — whether the partner may forward what we send them to servers we have not agreed to. TAK turns it on for every new partner, and this screen does not change that. Turning it off sets TAK's hop limit for that partner to one; that has not been tested on a live link yet, so do not count on it alone. Turning it on asks you to confirm. The Federation Hub's card does not offer it, because passing our channels on to the agencies behind it is the hub's job.
• Data Sync folders and files also go to them, not only positions and chat — off means only positions and chat cross.

End a federation

Press Disconnect on the partner's card. This forgets the partner and stops all sharing.

Records and technical details

• Print the federation record makes one page showing who is joined, what flows each way, and the federation actions taken while working in the agency you are in now. Actions taken while working in another agency, by anyone (you included), and changes the server made by itself, are not on it. Give this page to a partner's security staff.
• Technical page shows fingerprints, ports, the certificate authorities this server trusts, and the TAK version.

The Federation Hub

Some deployments also run a Federation Hub, a separate machine that sits between TAK servers and routes traffic between them, like a switchboard. A hub appears on this screen as one partner card. Under it, Agencies on this hub lists every agency on the hub's diagram, read from what the hub reports about itself about once a minute. A label says when that report is out of date.

• active — their people are reaching our map right now.
• connected, not sending — the line is up, but nobody of theirs is in a shared channel.
• not connected — the hub cannot reach them.
• switched off — their box is switched off on the hub's diagram.
• not known — they call in, and the hub did not say how they are doing.

Change channels for an agency on the hub

Our server sees the hub as one partner, so what you share under Channel Sharing goes to the hub. Which agency gets which of those channels is set per agency: press Change channels next to it.

• What we send them — pick each channel they get. A channel goes only to the agencies it is picked for; to share one with two agencies, pick it for both.
• What we take from them — Everything they send, or Only these channels of theirs.
• Save — if the Save would stop anything another agency gets today, the console asks first and names every agency and channel. The hub changes the two lines within about a minute; until then the agency says waiting for the hub, about a minute, and then on the hub.
• the hub shows something different — somebody changed that agency's line by hand on the hub. The next Save puts it back.
• Stop setting this from here — leaves the hub's lines as they are now and stops the console changing them.
• Forget it — shows for an agency set from here that is no longer on the hub's diagram. It clears that agency's choice.

Where each channel goes on the hub shows the result: one row for each channel we send the hub, one column for each agency, and gets it where that agency gets it.

Where the deployment has a hub, Global Admins see a link to the hub's own admin page at the bottom of the screen. It opens in a new tab and requires the hub certificate installed in your browser; without it, the page will not load. Where available, the card Joining another agency through the Federation Hub has a step-by-step guide: press Open the guide. Most of those steps happen in the hub's own screens; sharing channels, and picking which agency gets which, happens on this screen.

Access control

This page describes how people get access to the TAK server and the console, how you take that access away, and what the system does not prevent. It is written for agency IT, security and legal staff. It describes what the system does today, including where it falls short.

How a person gets access

Nobody can give themselves access. An administrator adds a named person, and the system creates that person's own account on the TAK server. The TAK server issues certificates to that account only. There is no shared certificate and no pool of spare certificates.

• Each person's TAK account has its own password. That password is for that one person and is never shared with anyone else. A person may use it to set up more than one of their own devices.
• The person receives their setup on a link that expires. A personal setup code can be used only once and expires after 90 days by default. Issuing a new code cancels the old ones.
• A setup link that carries the person's certificate (the urgent field setup option) expires after two hours and stops working after three downloads.
• Group codes, used for classes, are shared by design. They expire within hours by default and have a use limit. Each person who uses one still gets their own account.

How administrators sign in to the console

There is no stored console password. The console offers these ways to sign in:

• Work account — your agency's own sign-in (single sign-on).
• TAK username and password, where your deployment has turned it on. The console asks the TAK server whether the password is right and keeps no copy of it. After five wrong passwords in 15 minutes, sign-in with that login is paused.
• A single-use sign-in code issued to the person. Too many wrong codes pause code sign-in for a while, from one network or for the whole server; it opens again by itself, and Site and Global Admins are emailed.

An administrator can add a second step by registering a passkey. After that, work-account and TAK-password sign-ins also ask for the passkey, or for a code sent by email if the passkey is not available.

Who can see whom

Every TAK connection belongs to a named person, because each person has their own account and certificate. Roles are enforced by the server on every request, not only by hiding buttons. An administrator of one agency cannot see or change another agency's people, files or channels unless a Site Admin or Global Admin has made them an administrator of that agency too. When an administrator with wider access opens another agency, the system records it.

Take access away

Choose the action that matches the situation. All of these are in the Actions menu on Users, except where noted.

What is recorded

The system records more than one hundred kinds of action. These include every enrollment, every account created or removed, every certificate revoked, and every role, permission and channel change. Each entry is sealed to the one before it, so a changed entry can be detected. See Audit logging.

When someone replies STOP to a text

The person stops getting setup links, file links and administrative texts.

They still get callouts. This is deliberate: a person can stop routine texts without stopping emergency notifications.

The callout board marks anyone who has replied STOP, so you know the callout went to them anyway. The text provider may still refuse to deliver the message. When it does, the console shows a delivery failure.

Known limitations

• A certificate is a file. Nothing stops a person from copying their own certificate to another device. You can see a person's devices and turn them off, but the system does not prevent the copy. This is true of every TAK deployment we know of.
• The tamper check detects changed entries and entries removed from the middle of the record. It does not detect entries removed from the end.
• A passkey is optional. There is no setting that requires one for every administrator. A single-use sign-in code does not ask for the passkey, even if the person has registered one.

Encryption and cryptography

This page describes how data is protected in transit and at rest, which algorithms the system uses, and what it does not claim. It is written for the person at an agency whose job is to find the gaps. Network measurements were taken on the reference deployment on 2 September 2026. Anything not measured or read from the code or configuration is labeled as such.

In transit

TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are refused on every endpoint measured. On the reference deployment:

Where TLS 1.2 is accepted, the connection is forward secret and authenticated. NULL and anonymous cipher suites were offered and refused. The Georgia production TAK Server configuration, read on the same date, declares TLS 1.2 as its minimum and accepts client connections only over TLS with a client certificate.

Phones and CloudTAK identify themselves to the TAK server with an X.509 client certificate issued by the deployment's own certificate authority. The TAK server's certificate names the server by hostname only, so a client that checks certificates must connect by hostname, not by IP address.

The console connects to its database over TLS and checks the database's certificate. When the console checks a TAK password, it sends it only over TLS to the TAK server, after checking that server's certificate against the deployment's own certificate authority.

Algorithms

At rest

• The console's database and CloudTAK's database are both managed PostgreSQL, encrypted at rest under a customer-managed AWS KMS key, and not reachable from the internet. On the reference deployment, the console's database keeps 7 days of backups and CloudTAK's keeps 1.
• Setup and sign-in codes, link tokens, refresh tokens and emailed second-step codes are stored only as hashes and cannot be recovered.
• The work-account client secret and the text-message auth token are sealed whenever the deployment has a sealing key configured; the GovCloud installer creates one. The key is kept in the console server's settings file, not in the database, so a copy of the database alone does not open them. Someone who controls the console server could open them. This is not a hardware key service.
• Application secrets are kept in AWS Secrets Manager and written to a settings file on the console server that only the root account and the console's own service account can read. Links that carry credentials are removed from log lines before they are written.

What we do not claim

• Revocation is not enforced on the federation link. The federation hub has certificate status checking (OCSP) turned off, so a revoked federation certificate keeps working until it expires. Turning it on would need a status responder inside the hub's network, because that network has no outbound internet access.
• The federation link permits 128-bit and non-Suite-B ciphers. These are two hub settings, and they do not meet the Federation Security Plan.
• A live setup link's record is stored readable. The link token is hashed, but the record beside it holds what the setup page shows: the person's TAK password when the console set it, and for an R2TAK setup their setup code. These are removed when the link is used up or cancelled, and by the next clean-up after it expires. A leaked database backup would expose them for links that were still live.
• A link waiting for a text reply is stored whole, readable. When somebody has been texted and has not yet replied YES, the server keeps the complete link it will send them until they reply, or for up to 30 days. A leaked database backup would expose those links too.
• Some shared logins are stored readable. The video watch and publish logins must be shown to administrators and typed into equipment, so they are not hashed.
• A second sign-in step cannot be required for everyone. It works per person, and a single-use sign-in code does not ask for it.
• Removing entries from the end of the audit record is not detected. Changed entries, and entries removed from the middle, are detected.
• The TAK server's own disk is not asserted to be encrypted. It holds the certificate authority. The build templates request an encrypted volume, but this has not been read back from a running system.
• What CloudTAK stores outside its database has not been characterized, and CloudTAK connects to the TAK server with an administrative certificate.

FIPS

We do not claim FIPS 140-2 or 140-3 validation. FIPS validates cryptographic modules, not products, so it is not something R2TAK can apply for. A deployment is built from validated modules switched into FIPS mode. The TAK Server configuration read on 2 September 2026 carried no FIPS setting, and the console software does not switch its own cryptography into FIPS mode.

The algorithms listed above are FIPS approved, with the single exception of scrypt. Using approved algorithms is not the same as module validation, and this page does not present it as such. Where validation is a procurement requirement, the path is GovCloud FIPS endpoints, the TAK server's FIPS mode, replacing scrypt with PBKDF2, and fixing the two federation settings above. That is scope of work, not current status.

Where the software comes from

R2TAK runs TAK Server obtained from the U.S. government's TAK Product Center under its distribution agreement. It is the same server software deployed across defense and public safety, not a reimplementation or a fork. The certificate authority and the TAK transport encryption are the government product's. R2TAK's own cryptography is limited to the uses listed above.

Audit logging

The audit log is the system's record of who did what, and when. This page describes what it covers, how it shows tampering, and how to check it. It is written for agency IT and security staff and describes the system as built.

What is recorded

Every privileged or security-relevant action is written to the audit log at the moment it happens. Each entry records the person who acted, their agency, the time (UTC) and details specific to the action.

The log covers more than one hundred kinds of action, including:

• enrolling and signing out devices, and revoking certificates
• adding, approving, disabling, moving and removing people
• role, reach and agency-access changes
• approving or rejecting access requests
• creating, renaming, archiving and deleting agencies
• an administrator opening another agency
• work-account, TAK-password and second-step sign-ins
• callouts
• Locate requests and video access changes
• sharing and un-sharing channels with other agencies and with federation partners

An automated check in the test suite fails if a new kind of action is added without a plain-language label. This keeps the history screens readable.

Tamper evidence

The log is a hash chain. Each entry is hashed (SHA-256) together with the hash of the entry before it. If an entry is changed, or removed from the middle, the chain breaks from that point on. The database also refuses to edit or delete audit entries. A database owner could still bypass that, which is why the chain exists.

Check the record

1. Open Agency history.
2. Select Check the record.
3. Read the result. The check walks the whole server's record and tells you whether it is intact. The count shown is your agency's own entries. If the chain is broken, the result says so, and names the point where it breaks when that entry belongs to your agency.

Server administrators can run the same check from the server with npm run audit:verify. It walks the whole chain and exits with an error if the chain is broken, so it can run on a schedule.

Platform logs

Below the application log, AWS GovCloud records control-plane API calls (CloudTrail) and the history of commands run through AWS Systems Manager. The build templates turn on VPC Flow Logs for rejected network traffic. The TAK Server keeps its own connection and administration logs. Retention and write-once storage for these logs are set by the deployment's policy.

Data protection

This page describes the controls that keep data where it belongs and record when it is shared. It is written for agency IT and security review.

Network egress

Outbound network access is restricted per subnet. The TAK Server tier has no outbound internet route. Only the tier that must reach outside services, such as email and text delivery and software image downloads, has a NAT path, and only for the hosts that need it.

Sharing is scoped and recorded

• Federation. Only channels explicitly shared with a partner cross the link, and only in the direction chosen: in, out or both. A share can be given an end date. Every share and un-share made through the console is recorded in the audit log.
• Agencies. Each agency sees only its own people, files and channels. When an administrator with wider access opens another agency, it is recorded. Channels shared with another agency, and administrators granted access to another agency, are also recorded.
• Video. An agency can wall off its video so that only its own logins, and partner agencies it names (optionally until an end date), can watch. Video from an agency that has not walled off, or from a stream no agency owns, can be watched by anyone with access to the video server. Walling works only where the video server is set to check with the console.

Encryption and secrets

At rest, the databases are encrypted with AWS KMS (AES-256) and the asset storage bucket uses AES-256 server-side encryption. The work-account sign-in client secret and the text-message provider's auth token are also sealed with AES-256-GCM. In transit, public endpoints use TLS 1.2 or later, and TAK client and federation links use mutually authenticated TLS. Application secrets are held in AWS Secrets Manager, not in code or images. See Encryption and cryptography for detail and limitations.

Open item

A formal Data Loss Prevention program is the deployment's to finalize. It includes CUI classification, alerts on unusual shares and exports, and an incident-response procedure. The technical controls above are the foundation it builds on. It is tracked as POA&M item P-3.

Infrastructure and hosting

This page describes where the system runs, how its network is divided, and how servers are administered and changed. It is written for agency IT and security review.

Authorization boundary

The environment runs entirely in AWS GovCloud (US). At the infrastructure layer, AWS GovCloud holds a FedRAMP High provisional authorization and DoD SRG Impact Level 2, 4 and 5 provisional authorizations, and offers FIPS 140-validated cryptographic endpoints in the region. These authorizations belong to AWS, not to the R2TAK application.

The whole environment is built from version-controlled CloudFormation templates and installer scripts. Those templates are the authoritative description of the infrastructure, and the environment can be rebuilt from them.

Network segmentation

• Subnets are separated by function, and outbound access is controlled per subnet. The TAK Server tier has no outbound internet route.
• Traffic between components stays inside the private network (VPC) and reaches the TAK server and video server through HAProxy's internal entry points.
• Public exposure is limited to the specific ports the product needs. Each one is an explicit load-balancer listener and security-group rule.

Administration and change control

• No SSH. The build templates open no SSH port. Servers are administered through AWS Systems Manager, so operational commands are recorded in CloudTrail and in Systems Manager's command history.
• Each server runs under its own IAM role, limited to what that server needs.
• Deployments are artifact-based: a built, fingerprinted package is placed in the deployment's storage bucket and installed through Systems Manager.

Data at rest

• The PostgreSQL databases (Amazon RDS) are encrypted at rest with AWS KMS (AES-256). The console connects to its database over TLS and checks the database's certificate.
• The asset storage bucket uses AES-256 server-side encryption.
• AWS Secrets Manager is encrypted with AWS KMS.
• The databases support automated snapshots and point-in-time recovery. The retention period is set per deployment.

Federation and compliance

This page states the system's standards posture for agency IT and security staff, and for partners assessing a federation, such as the National Guard's Sit(X). It lists the open items as well as the controls in place.

Standards posture

This environment is not FedRAMP-authorized and not CJIS-certified. For federation, it relies on demonstrable equivalence: the AWS GovCloud infrastructure authorization described under Infrastructure and hosting, plus the application controls described under Access control, Encryption and cryptography, Audit logging and Data protection.

The application's cryptography uses FIPS-approved algorithms (SHA-256, ES256, AES-256-GCM, AES-256-CBC with PBKDF2) with one named exception: scrypt, used for operator passwords in the separate TAK account service where that service is deployed. No FIPS 140 validation is claimed.

Federation options

The formal package

The evidence documents are kept as a package for auditors: the gap analysis and Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M), an interim System Security Plan summary, and the audit-logging, access-management, infrastructure and Data Loss Prevention plans. The pages in this group are the agency-facing versions of the same material. Open remediation items are tracked in the POA&M. The security officer named by the deployment owns the authorization decision.

Known federation link limitations

• Certificate revocation is not enforced on the federation link. Certificate status checking (OCSP) is off, and the hub's network has no outbound internet access to reach a status responder.
• The link permits 128-bit and non-Suite-B ciphers.

Federation readiness package

This page is the single summary for a partner agency assessing a federation. The other pages in this group (Access control, Encryption and cryptography, Audit logging, Data protection and Infrastructure and hosting) give the detail behind each section. Where a control is in place, it is stated. Where it is not, it is listed as a remediation item. Nothing here asserts a FedRAMP authorization or CJIS certification that the system does not hold.

Posture

The system is hosted entirely in AWS GovCloud (US), which holds a FedRAMP High and DoD SRG IL2/4/5 provisional authorization at the infrastructure layer and offers FIPS 140-validated cryptographic endpoints in the region. The application itself is not FedRAMP-authorized or CJIS-certified. Federation proceeds on a demonstrable-equivalence basis, using GovCloud plus the documented application controls.

Federation options

• One-way PLI outbound (our positions into a partner): available now, without a full authorization package.
• Two-way: requires the IL4-equivalent evidence in this package, with the remediation items below closed. Subject to partner audit.

Controls in place

• Encryption at rest (AWS KMS, AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.2 or later).
• A tamper-evident, hash-chained audit log covering more than one hundred kinds of action.
• Role-based access, limited by agency, with work-account sign-in for administrators and a personal TAK account and certificates for each responder.
• Network segmentation, with no outbound internet route from the TAK Server tier.
• An environment built entirely from version-controlled templates and scripts, and reproducible from them.

Remediation items (POA&M)

P-1 through P-5 document controls that largely exist already. P-6 is the one technical item. The recommended path is to request one-way PLI now while completing the package for two-way federation. The full package is available as a separate document on request.

What changed recently

Release notes for the console, newest first. Only changes you will notice on screen are listed.

1 November 2026

• Less to read on every screen. Long notes fold under About this. Warnings you need before you act stay open.
• Long lists fold. A long list of channels or agencies says what is picked, and Show all opens it with a box to find one by name.
• Video Server. Sending video in now leads with the task: name the feed, copy an address. On Server settings, the look-only tables are folded under Technical details.
• My account. The Files tab is now three cards, with each Data Sync folder in its own box.
• User agreement. I refuse now asks once before it signs you out.

29 October 2026

• User agreement. Everyone is asked to agree to the user agreement the first time they sign in, and again whenever it changes. People setting up a phone agree on their setup page before the file downloads. See Signing in.
• Search box. Type at the top of any screen to find a person, an agency, a channel or a screen. Press / or Ctrl+K to jump into it.
• Check this person. The first item on each person's Actions menu on Users. It says first what is wrong, then lists every check, with a button to fix what it can.
• Visiting access. A QR sign-up or classroom logins can have an Access ends time. Everyone on it is switched off by themselves at that time. The new Visiting access tab on Volunteer sign-up lists them.
• Deployment packet. Print packet and Email packet under each sign-up's QR code, for the person in charge of an arriving crew.
• Logo in QR codes. An agency's logo now sits in the middle of the QR codes the console makes for it.
• Locate report. Print report on every Locate: who asked and why, the map of the trail, every position and every answer.
• Setup email. A new tab on Settings to change the subject, opening and ending of the setup email, with a preview and a test email to yourself.
• Readiness. A new screen under Admin: how ready each agency's people are, least ready first.
• For Site Admins: Add many from a file on Agencies makes many agencies from one spreadsheet, and the new Outside systems screen makes a TAK login and certificate for a dispatch feed, a drone dock or another system that is not a person.

16 October 2026

• Training center. The Training button at the top now opens eight courses, from getting started through running the whole server. Each step points at the real control on the real screen. Turn on Let me do it to try each step yourself, or Screen tips to see a short tour of each screen's buttons the first time you open it. Your progress is saved in this browser, so you can carry on where you left off.
• Summary cards. Users now opens with cards for People, Connected now, Can't connect yet, No mobile number and Certificates running out. Agencies, Access requests, Channels and Push to phones have card rows too. Press a card to narrow the list, or to open the related screen.
• Export CSV and Export Excel on Users, Agencies and Channels.
• Push to phones and TAK Aware. The screen now states that TAK Aware (iPhone) cannot receive pushes, and people who use TAK Aware are grayed out. Send files to them through Agency Downloads or a share link instead.
• Actions menu. The menu on each person in Users is labeled Actions.

15 October 2026

• GEMA area map. Channels named AREA 1 INTEROP through AREA 8 INTEROP have a Map button that shows which Georgia counties are in that area.
• Federation flow picture. The Federation screen shows each link with the data moving on it, to and from each partner. With no partners yet, Show a sample of the flow picture shows a labeled example.
• Federation Hub guide. Where a deployment has a Federation Hub, the Federation screen includes a step-by-step guide to joining another agency through it.
• Channel patches: Send only. When you create or accept a patch, your people can be Both, Receive only or Send only.
• Faster lists. Users, Channels and a channel's Members load faster on large servers.
• Push to phones is laid out in four steps (name it, pick the files, pick who gets it, and when), with a count of what will be sent.
• New login format. New TAK logins are first.last.agency. A duplicate gets a number, for example dana.ruiz2.bcfd. Logins already issued are not renamed.

14 October 2026

• Single Enroll is laid out in three steps.
• Email people has a Sent emails tab showing each email's results and each person's status. Failed sends can be sent again with one button.

13 October 2026

• Agency Phone Setup. One screen for everything a new phone receives: channels, ATAK settings, maps, roles and sending.
• Setup Package by Role. "Packages" are now called Setup Packages by Role: extra channels and files for a kind of job.
• Enroll shows exactly what a person gets. Channel boxes start with your agency's defaults, and each has four buttons: Send only, Receive only, Both and None. Choosing a template adds its channels.
• Overlays. Upload a GeoPDF, KMZ, KML or GeoTIFF and send it to phones.
• Statewide terrain in one step.
• Video Server settings are organized as cards, and the screen explains why one place shows port 554 and another shows 8554.
• Email and texts show Off when the server cannot send.

31 August 2026

• Video plays in the console. Live feeds can be watched directly on the Video Server screen.
• Any camera plays. Cameras that send a format browsers cannot read are converted automatically while someone is watching.
• Video tiles can be resized and moved with buttons.
• Spreadsheet imports ignore capitalization. A channel, team color or position typed in the wrong case is corrected to the server's spelling. Anything that matches nothing is flagged on its row.
• Busy-server messages. When the server is briefly busy, the console no longer reports it as an invalid sign-in.

Late August 2026

• Home — one screen that shows what needs attention.
• Locate a phone.
• After-action review with a timeline and map.
• Work-account sign-in, and people can request access themselves.
• Unique callsigns — duplicate callsigns are no longer allowed, because they knock each other off the server.

When something looks wrong

Common problems, what usually causes them, and what to do.

It is not working for one person

Start with Users › Actions › Check this person. It runs every check the console can make, says first what is wrong, and offers a button to fix what it can. The sections below cover what to do when the fix is outside the console.

A change has not reached a phone

Phones that are already set up keep what they received when they were set up. To update a phone, do one of the following:

• Send a new setup: Users › Actions › Another setup.
• Send the file with Push to phones (see Push to phones and overlays). Pushes do not reach TAK Aware (iPhone).

Someone never received their setup

1. Open Sent. If the status still reads "Sent" after a long time, the setup did not reach them.
2. Check their mobile number or email address in Users.
3. Remember that the first text to a new number only asks them to reply YES. Nothing else arrives until they do.
4. Send it again with Users › Actions › Set up.

Someone was not paged

1. Open Send an activation.
2. Look at Who has answered, below the send form, for who answered and who did not.

An activation goes out by app notification first, then text, then phone call. A person with no mobile number receives only the app notification. To find them, open Users and press the No mobile number card.

You need to know who made a change

Open Agency history. It records every change, who made it and to whom. Press Check the record to confirm the history has not been altered.

A screen says it could not read the TAK server

That is not the same as the server being empty. The usual cause is the server restarting. Wait a moment and open the screen again.

The channel list does not fill in

The console reads the TAK server's channel list once after you sign in. If the server did not answer at that moment, reload the page to ask again.

A file is still listed after you removed it

The TAK server reports success whether or not it removed the file, so Data Packages checks afterward and tells you if the file is still there. Try once more. If it remains, report it through Support.

A button you expected is missing

Buttons are shown only to people who can use them. Actions that affect the whole server, such as Data Packages, Data Sync folders, agencies and video server settings, require a higher role. If you need one of these, ask your administrator for the appropriate level.

Not built yet

These capabilities are not available in the console today. They are listed here so you do not spend time looking for them.