Monitor compares radio observations with a baseline while your iPhone stays in one place. It is not an unattended security alarm or a count of people arriving and leaving.
This article describes the 1.1.0 release candidate. The public App Store version is 1.0.0; its older dashboard does not include the recorded-count and activity-snapshot controls below.
Establish the starting comparison
- Choose Monitor, select the radio measurements you need, and keep the iPhone stationary.
- Keep Spectra visible and the phone unlocked. Each available source needs 30 seconds of active observation; permission waiting does not count.
- If useful, choose Add 30 seconds to baseline once to extend the comparison to 60 seconds per source.
The starting baseline begins automatically, and the countdown follows the slowest participating source. When it is ready, New identities recorded starts at zero and the panel shows its capture time and elapsed comparison time. No duration guarantees discovery of every device. Baseline findings remain in the retained inventory: initially observed does not mean trusted.
Read changes without overinterpreting them
New identities recorded counts signal-identity lineages first observed after this baseline, excluding identities seen earlier in the same Monitor session. A known identity does not become new after a fresh baseline, a quiet period, or inventory eviction. This is a recorded comparison count across all Monitor measurements, regardless of result filters—not a count of physical devices or currently present signals.
The recorded count is independent of the latest 40 retained events. Older activity or inventory rows leaving their bounded history do not reduce it, but later evidence or an explicit discovery-identity replacement can correct it. Incomplete history or a recording limit is disclosed; uncertain identities are not invented as new. Older or imported reports without a recorded count show Unavailable, not zero.
Open View activity & help to review timestamped retained activity while Monitor continues. The view is a fixed snapshot: close and reopen it for later activity. It retains up to 40 raw events, including baseline capture when present; repeated identity-and-kind events are combined for reading. The recorded count can exceed the identities and activity still available for inspection.
- Newly observed identity: an identity recorded as new for this comparison, not necessarily a newly arrived device.
- Signal returned: an already-known identity was observed again. This is a historical event, not proof a physical device left, returned, or is still present.
- Not recently observed: a previously observed identity stopped being observed. Earlier dashboards called this Not recently seen. For Bluetooth, the wait is 45 seconds; local-network services follow Bonjour announcements and removals.
Sleep, identity rotation, interference, and broadcast behavior can produce changes without physical movement. One identity can have several kinds of activity; the timeline is not a current missing-device total or unlimited lifetime history.
Acknowledge or restart intentionally
Mark changes reviewed acknowledges the latest displayed change without resetting the recorded count, trusting a device, erasing evidence, or changing the baseline. Opening activity or the Guide does not acknowledge changes or stop measurement.
For a fresh reference, tap New Baseline in the main Monitor panel. The tap starts a new 30-second observation window immediately. When it is ready, the new comparison's recorded count begins at zero, but identities seen earlier in the same Monitor session remain known. Earlier comparisons, their recorded counts when available, and retained events stay in the session after Stop Monitor. Wait for the current baseline to finish before starting another; up to nine comparisons fit in one session. Stop and start another Monitor when that limit is reached. Spectra does not automatically judge that you moved or replace the baseline for you.
Finish and review coverage
Choose Stop Monitor for the full retained inventory and detailed results; it is not required to read the activity snapshot. The inventory distinguishes Since baseline, Starting baseline, and Earlier observations retained from before the current comparison. These sections describe observation time, not trusted or untrusted devices.
Switching apps or locking the iPhone ends measurement. Review Coverage for source loss and interruptions. A late or recovering source gets its own 30-second observation window; recovery alone does not make an already-known identity new or rewrite the original baseline. Partial local-network coverage can keep novelty uncertain until full recovery and warm-up.
Radio intensity is not a measure of risk, and a quiet dashboard is not an all-clear. See the Spectra Guide for complete baseline and retention details.
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