Your first survey

This page walks through a first survey that saves CSV log files on the phone. It takes a few minutes, and no survey data leaves the phone until you share the files.

Before you start, install the app and go through first run. If you picked Files on this phone on the last first run card, Log files is already on and you can skip step 3.

1. Open the Survey tab

The app opens on the Survey tab. Its top line shows the location:

• Finding location… while the phone works out where it is.
• Location fixed · 12 m accuracy once it has a fix. The number is how accurate the fix is, in meters.
• Location is off with Turn on, or Location permission needed with Allow, when something stops it. Tap the button to fix it.

A fix usually comes faster outdoors or near a window.

2. Pick what to survey

Under What should it survey?, tap a tile to turn it on or off. Tiles that are on show a check mark, and the count on the right says how many are on.

Tile	What it records
Cellular	Serving and neighbor cells
Phone state	What the radio is doing. By default, shows “Included with Cellular” while Cellular is on
Wi-Fi	Access points nearby
Bluetooth	Classic and BLE devices. On Android 12 and newer, asks for the Bluetooth permissions when you turn it on
GNSS	Satellites. Uses the most battery
Call records	Calls and tower changes (plus texts in the CDR build). Only Log files takes them

For a first survey, Cellular and Wi-Fi (with Phone state included) are a good start.

3. Turn on Log files

Under Where should the data go?, turn on the Log files switch (“CSV on this phone”). The switch turns the destination on or off; tapping the rest of the row opens the Log files page instead.

If the line above the button reads “Connect NS Analytics or turn on Log files to start”, tap Use Log files. It turns Log files on and NS Analytics off in one step.

You can leave the other destinations off for now. See The Survey tab for what each row shows.

4. Start the survey

Press Start survey at the bottom of the screen. A message confirms “Survey started · Mission ID” followed by the survey’s Mission ID.

When you press Start, the app may ask Keep surveying with the screen off? if battery optimization is still on for Network Survey. Battery optimization can pause the survey while the screen is off, which leaves gaps in your records. Go to Settings opens the setting so you can turn optimization off for Network Survey, and Later skips it for now. Both start the survey. See Battery optimization.

5. Watch it record

While a survey runs, the Survey tab shows the Recording card:

• A Recording badge and a timer.
• The number of records so far and how long ago the last one arrived, for example “17,184 records · last one just now”.
• The Mission ID, with a button to copy it.

Below it, Current setup shows the record types as chips (off ones are dashed) with Change to edit the running survey, Records shows the count by type, and Where it’s going shows each destination’s status. Log files reads Saving while it writes.

The survey keeps running while you use other tabs or leave the app. An ongoing notification titled Recording shows that it is running; see Mission ID and the survey notification. While a survey records, the screen stays on anywhere in the app, unless you turn off “Keep the screen on while recording” in Settings.

Open the Signals tab to watch the live Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GNSS views while you walk.

6. Stop the survey

Go back to the Survey tab and press Stop survey. A message confirms “Survey stopped” with the number of records. The top of the Survey tab now shows “Last survey ran for” with the time and record count, and the Mission ID with its copy button.

7. Find and share the files

Open More, then Log files under Destinations (or tap the Log files row on the Survey tab).

• Location shows the folder, Download/NetworkSurveyData/csv, and the free space. Its button opens the folder in a file manager.
• Start a new file every sets how big a file can grow before a new one starts.
• Recent files lists the files grouped by survey, newest first. Tap a file to share it (to email, a chat app or cloud storage, for example). Tap Select, or long press a file, to pick several files or a whole survey and share them together.

Each record type gets its own file. Cellular gets one file per technology, such as craxiom-lte-...csv and craxiom-nr-...csv, and a device status file is written alongside. You can also copy the folder off the phone over USB. See Log files and the CSV format.

Next steps

• The Survey tab: every row, status and message on the Survey screen.
• Saved setups: switch between setups with one tap.
• NS Analytics: upload surveys to your team’s workspace. To connect this phone, see Connect a phone to NS Analytics.
• MQTT streaming: send live records to your own broker.
• Scan rates and Location source: tune how often the app scans and where its location comes from.