Sign-in & EULA
On first launch the desktop application shows a sign-in screen. Use the same credentials as on the my.dronefield.app portal.
The sign-in screen
Section titled “The sign-in screen”The form asks for:
- Email — the address you registered with on the portal.
- Password — your portal account password.
Ticking “Remember me” keeps you signed in for 30 days. Don’t tick it on shared machines.
Click Sign in.
Forgot your password?
Section titled “Forgot your password?”Click Forgot password on the sign-in screen:
- You receive a code by email.
- Enter the code, then set a new password for your account.
The new password applies everywhere — in the desktop application and on the portal alike. See also Login & password management.
What happens behind the scenes?
Section titled “What happens behind the scenes?”After a successful sign-in the application:
- Receives a token from the server (Laravel Sanctum) — your secure handle for subsequent operations.
- Registers the device — generates a unique UUID and sends it with the hardware fingerprint. See Device management.
- Starts the heartbeat scheduler — every 15 minutes reporting that the device is alive.
- Fetches the licence state — your subscription / credits. This is cached for 5 minutes in memory to avoid querying the server on every action.
- Checks for updates — if a new stable build is available, a yellow banner appears at the top of the main screen.
EULA acceptance
Section titled “EULA acceptance”After the first successful sign-in, a dialog presents the End User License Agreement (EULA). Accepting it is required to continue.
Read (or scroll through) the agreement and click Accept. This acceptance is:
- Timestamped and recorded against your account — you can later view it under the portal Legal Documents page.
- Confirmed to the server with a POST call (for audit logging).
If a new version of the EULA is published, the app shows it again — until you accept it, you cannot start processing.
Sign-in problems
Section titled “Sign-in problems”See Sign-in problems for detailed troubleshooting.
The most common causes:
- Wrong email or password — verify on the portal.
- Inactive account — email confirmation may still be pending.
- No internet — required on the first sign-in; later, 30-day offline operation works (with the cached token).
- Firewall blocks
*.dronefield.app— whitelist it.
Session length
Section titled “Session length”A signed-in session lasts for about 30 days. During this time:
- The app online-validates the licence every 5 minutes.
- It also works offline — the Keychain-stored offline token carries you through.
- A heartbeat is sent every 15 minutes to the portal (when online).
Signing out
Section titled “Signing out”Top menu bar: DroneField → Sign out, or Settings (⌘,) → Account → Sign out.
Signing out:
- Revokes the token server-side.
- Clears the offline token from the local Keychain.
- Closes the open project and returns to the sign-in screen.
- Your projects are not deleted — sign back in and they’re all there.
Interrupted session
Section titled “Interrupted session”In rare cases (e.g. you revoke the device from the portal) the app automatically signs out at the next heartbeat. You see:
- A notification: “Session expired — please sign in again”
- In-flight processing stops, but partial results are preserved.
- You must sign in again.