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Fieldcraft Heritage · User guide

How to use
Fieldcraft Heritage

Step-by-step instructions for every part of the app. Button names are shown in bold, just as they appear on screen. Stuck on a screen? Tap the gold ? at the top of it for help right there.

⬇ Download this guide (PDF)
01

Getting started

Open the app and add it to your home screen

  1. Open wildliferelicguild.com/fieldcraft-heritage.html on your phone.
  2. Android (Chrome): tap the ⋮ menu, then Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. iPhone (Safari): tap Share (on newer iPhones it is inside the ••• menu), then Add to Home Screen and Add.
  4. From now on, open it from the icon like any other app.

The first time it opens you'll see seven short welcome slides. Replay them any time from ? How to Use on the Home screen.

A few seconds after the first launch your phone may ask about notifications. Either answer is fine.

Help, Day mode and the bottom bar

  1. Tap the gold ? ball at the top right of any screen for help with that screen. Pop-up forms have their own small gold ?.
  2. Tap ☀️ Day to switch to a high-contrast look for bright sunshine. Tap it again to switch back.
  3. Use the bottom bar to move around: Home, Session, Finds, Intel, Settings and Gallery. Session only works while a dig is running.

What needs signal

  1. Logging finds, hazards, marks, notes and your walk works with no signal at all.
  2. Maps, weather, place search, the welcome pictures and the Field Memory write-up after five sessions need signal or wi-fi.

Before heading somewhere with poor signal, tap Cache Map on the Home screen while you still have signal.

02

Permissions

Add a permission

  1. Go to Settings and tap + Add Permission. (On a brand-new app, + Permission on the Home screen does the same.)
  2. Type a Permission Name (required) and, if you like, the Landowner.
  3. Under Location, type a village, town or postcode and tap Search, then pick the right result. If you're standing on the land, tap 📍 Use Current GPS Location instead.
  4. A satellite map appears. Drag the gold pin, or tap the map, to put it exactly on your permission.
  5. Add any Notes (access, parking, contact details) and tap Save Permission.

You can save without a location, but the maps will show a general area until you add one.

Two permissions can't have the same name.

Edit, delete or switch permission

  1. Go to Settings, find the permission under Permissions and tap Edit or Delete.
  2. With two or more permissions, the Home screen shows a row of permission names. Tap a name to switch to it, ✎ to edit it or ✕ to delete it.

Deleting a permission doesn't delete the finds and sessions you recorded there.

03

Your detector

Register your detector

  1. Go to Settings and tap Register Your Detector (or ⚙ Manage Detectors, then + Register a Detector).
  2. Choose it from Select Detector. If it isn't listed, pick Other / Not Listed and type its name.
  3. Optionally add the Serial Number and a photo of the serial plate with 📷 Camera or 🖼 Library.
  4. Tap Save Detector.

Once registered, the settings screens use your detector's own modes and ranges.

To remove one, tap Remove next to it in the detector list.

Log your detector settings

  1. When you start a session you're asked for your settings. Fill in what you use, then tap ▶ Start Session, or tap Skip — start without settings.
  2. Changed something on the detector mid-dig? Tap ⚙ Log Settings on the session screen, update it and save. Every find after that is tagged with the new settings.
  3. For discrimination, open ⊞ Discrimination Grid and tap squares: gold means accept, dark means reject.

Intel → Kit compares your keepers against the frequency and sensitivity you used, so it's worth filling those in. A change logged mid-session counts from the moment you log it.

04

Before you go

Read the conditions on Home

  1. The strip at the top of Home shows temperature, wind, pressure, ground moisture, soil temperature, rain, moon and sunrise/sunset. Swipe it sideways for more.
  2. The rating chip at the top right (Excellent to Very Poor) sums up detecting conditions. Tap ▼ to see the score and why.
  3. Underneath, Field Memory tells you what your past sessions on this permission showed in similar ground.

Weather is for where your phone is now, so check it when you get to the field.

Pre-Trip Plan

  1. On the Home permission card tap Pre-Trip Plan. During a dig, tap 📋 View Plan to open it.
  2. Switch the map with SAT, STREET, OS (Ordnance Survey 1888) and LIDAR (Environment Agency hillshade, England only). Bumps, banks and old ditches show up well on LIDAR.
  3. Your previous walks are drawn in colour, with the newest in yellow.
  4. To mark spots to try: tap 📍 Drop Pin, type a note in Pin note… first if you want one, then tap the map. Drag a pin to move it, or tap it and choose ✕ Delete. Tap ✕ Stop when you're done.
  5. Under 🗺 Historic Maps, open older maps for this exact spot, including the OS Old Series from 1798.
  6. Type anything you want to remember under Planning Notes and tap Save Plan.
  7. Tap Close when finished.

Deleting a pin doesn't ask you to confirm.

Save the map for offline use

  1. While you still have signal, tap Cache Map on the Home permission card.
  2. Wait for Map cached — ready offline.
05

In the field

Start a session

  1. On Home, choose your permission and tap → Start Session.
  2. Log your detector settings, or tap Skip — start without settings.
  3. The session screen opens and starts recording your walk.

If the app gets closed mid-dig, it reopens straight into the same session with your walk intact.

Quick Dig: club digs and one-off sites

  1. On Home tap → Quick Dig or or Attending a Dig →.
  2. Type a Dig Name.
  3. Optionally set a Location with Search or 📍 Use Current GPS Location, and drop planning pins.
  4. Tap → Start Session.

A Quick Dig isn't saved as a permission, but every find is kept in your Finds.

Before you dig card

  1. At the top of the session, tap the ground you're on today: Ploughed, Cultivated / drilled, Stubble or Grass / pasture.
  2. Tap 📷 Field photo to take a GPS-stamped picture of the field.
  3. Tap Done ✓, or Later to hide the card.

Recording the ground each time is how Field Memory learns which ground is best.

Log a find

  1. Tap the big Log Find button the moment you dig something.
  2. Wait for GPS Locked. If it says GPS unavailable, step into open ground and tap ↺ Retry GPS.
  3. Optionally enter the signal: the VDI number, plus Stability and Tone.
  4. Tap Photograph Your Find. Add more photos with Back / more or Library (up to six).
  5. Enter the Depth (cm) and choose Coin, Relic or Unknown.
  6. Add notes, or tap 🎤 Dictate and speak.
  7. If it's a good find, tap ☆ Mark as Keeper. If it's rubbish, tap Mark as Scrap.
  8. Tap 📍 Save Find.

📍 Save Find only works once GPS has locked and a type is chosen.

Material, period, weight and size are added later in Enrich (see Your finds).

Typing the VDI lets the app tell you what that number has turned out to be on this ground before.

Only finds you star as ⭐ Keepers count as good finds in your rates and in Intel. You can star them later too: tap ☆ on a find in Finds → All finds. Scrap is left out of your finds rates. If most finds in a spot are scrap, the app says so and marks it as a 🗑 junk patch on your maps.

Flag a hazard

  1. Tap ⚠ Hazard.
  2. Pick the type, for example Ditch, Elec. Fence or Bull.
  3. Drag the pin or tap the map to put it in the right place.
  4. Add notes or a 🎙 Voice Note if useful, then tap ⚠ Save Hazard.

Hazards stay on this permission's maps for every future visit.

Mark a spot (including Come Back)

  1. Tap ⭐ Mark.
  2. Pick a type: Promising, Iron Patch, Boundary, Hot Spot, Come Back, Water or Note.
  3. Place the pin, add a note and tap ⭐ Save Marker.

Come Back spots show as blue ↺ pins on later visits. Tap one and choose ✓ Dug — found something to log a find right there, or ✓ Dug — nothing there to clear it.

Field notes

  1. Tap 📋 Notes.
  2. Type how the detector and ground are behaving, or tap 🎙 Dictate to record your voice. Tap it again to stop.
  3. Tap Save Field Note.

In Field Notes, 🎙 Dictate saves a voice recording. It doesn't turn speech into text.

Using the session map

  1. 📍 Centre jumps the map to where you are.
  2. 🥾 Trail On/Off shows or hides the line of today's walk.
  3. ⛶ makes the map full screen.
  4. SAT, STREET, OS and LIDAR change the map, the same as in Pre-Trip.
  5. Tap a find pin to see it, then tap its photo to view it full screen. Hazard and mark pins can be dragged to correct them.
  6. 📍 Re-ping GPS gets a fresh position fix if your position dot looks wrong.

Pocket mode: accurate walk tracking

  1. Tap 🌙 Pocket before putting the phone in your pocket.
  2. The screen goes black, ignores taps and keeps recording your walk.
  3. To get back, swipe up firmly on the screen.

If the screen switches itself off, many phones stop sending GPS and your walk line gets gaps. Pocket mode keeps the screen awake but black, so the line stays accurate.

End the session

  1. Tap End, then End Session. Tap Keep Detecting if you change your mind.
  2. The Session Complete screen opens (see After the dig).

Everything is saved as you go, so ending never loses anything.

06

After the dig

Session Complete

  1. If you found anything, the film roll shows each find in turn. Use Next → and ← Previous, and Summary → to reach the summary.
  2. The summary shows a map of your walk and finds, today's finds, field notes and whether the app's advice held.
  3. Tap a find to enrich it. Press and hold a find to delete it.
  4. Tap Continue → when you're done.

Next, the app offers a backup. Tap ↓ Back Up Now to save a backup file of all your data to your phone's Downloads, or Skip this time.

Report to your FLO

  1. On Session Complete tap ✉ Contact FLO.
  2. Tick the finds to report, then tap Continue.
  3. Choose your county under Select Your FLO, or type their email.
  4. Check Your Name is correct.
  5. Tap ⤴ Share with photos to send through your email app with photos attached, or Open in Mail App → for text only.

FLO reports include the permission name and each find's position, because the FLO needs them to record the find properly.

Share with your dig leader

  1. On Session Complete tap ✉ Share with Dig Leader.
  2. Untick anything you don't want to include.
  3. Enter the dig leader's email and your name.
  4. Tap ⤴ Share with photos or Open in Mail App →.

This report has no location and no permission name.

Share online (Facebook groups, forums)

  1. Tap 📣 Share online · no location. You'll find it on Session Complete, and on each session in Finds → Sessions.
  2. Untick any finds you don't want to show. Scrap starts unticked.
  3. Edit the post text if you like, and choose whether to ✓ Include depths.
  4. Tap ⤴ Share and pick the app to post with.

No farm name, location, map links or notes are included, and the GPS data is removed from the photos.

07

Your finds

Browse sessions and finds

  1. Open Finds from the bottom bar.
  2. Sessions lists every dig, newest first. Tap one to open it, see its finds, set the ground type and the Coil you used, or add or replace the field photo.
  3. All Finds lists every find you've logged.
  4. Map shows all your finds and walks. Switch between Finds, Trails and Both and the map stays where you are, zoomed in or not. Tap a pin or a walk for details.

🗑 Delete this session only appears on finished sessions with no finds.

Enrich a find: photos, material, weight and size

  1. Tap any find to open Enrich Find.
  2. Add field photos and Cleaned photos (front, back, side…) with 📷 Another or 🖼 Library, up to six of each.
  3. Fill in Name / Description, Material, Period, Weight (g), Length / Ø (mm) and Width (mm).
  4. Tap Save Record.

Tapping outside the form closes it without saving, so always tap Save Record.

A cleaned photo makes a big difference to an FLO.

Zoom, scale and measure photos

  1. Tap any photo to open it full screen.
  2. Pinch, double-tap or use - + to zoom, and drag to look around. Swipe to the next photo.
  3. To add a size scale (from Enrich Find): tap 📏 Scale, tap both edges of a coin in the photo, then pick that coin (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 or £2).
  4. With a scale set, tap 📐 Measure, tap both ends of the find, then tap Set as length or Set as width.
  5. Back in Enrich Find, tap Save Record to keep the scale and sizes.

Photos with a scale show a scale bar, and it's included when you share them online.

Add a past find

  1. In Finds → All Finds tap + Add a past find.
  2. Pick the permission, then tap the map where it was found.
  3. Fill in What is it? and Year found, plus anything else you know.
  4. Tap Save past find, or Save & add another.

Past finds show on your maps but don't count towards session statistics.

08

Intel: learn your land

How Intel is laid out

  1. Open Intel from the bottom bar. It has five tabs: Summary, Places, Conditions, Kit and Finds.
  2. At the top, pick a permission (All permissions ▾) and a time span (All time ▾, This year or Last 30 days). Every tab follows your choice.
  3. Each tab opens with a one-line briefing, then cards. Tap Show details on a card for the fine print.

The Early days badge means a result rests on only a few sessions. Treat it as a hint, not a rule.

Only finds you star as ⭐ Keepers count as good finds. Star them as you log them, or tap ☆ on a find in Finds → All finds.

Scrap is left out of the comparisons, and past finds stay in Gallery → Past, so neither can skew the numbers.

What each tab shows

  1. Summary: your keepers against scrap and finds not yet starred, what's working, what to watch out for (including trashy ground) and your personal bests.
  2. Places: finds per hour and per km, every session as keepers, not starred and scrap, your fields, the Finds map and Hazards and marks.
  3. Conditions: what each permission has taught the app about ground and weather, and how often its calls were right.
  4. Kit: coils, frequencies and sensitivity compared, as keepers an hour and time used. Tag the coil on each session in Finds → Sessions; frequency and sensitivity come from the settings you set at the start of a session or with ⚙ Log Settings.
  5. Finds: good finds by material and by depth, and your highlights. Any good find without a material is listed under By material: pick it there and the page updates.

Most comparisons need at least two finished sessions. The more you log, the better it gets.

Draw your fields

  1. In Intel, open Places and tap ✏️ Draw your fields on the Fields card.
  2. Tap + Draw a field, then tap round the edge of the field. Your old walks show faintly to help.
  3. Name it and tap ✓ Save field.
  4. Intel then compares finds per km walked in each field.

Maps in Intel

  1. On Places, the Finds map shows where your finds cluster. Tap 👆 Tap to interact with map first, then zoom in to see individual finds.
  2. Hazards and marks shows every hazard and mark. Drag a pin to correct where it is.
  3. Contact Your FLO now lives in Settings. It saves your local FLO's details and starts a general email.
09

Diary

Plan digs and reminders

  1. On the Home welcome screen tap 📖 Diary.
  2. Tap the gold +, choose a Type (Dig, Permission, Reminder, Equipment, Settings or Note), set the Date and write a Note.
  3. Tap Add to Diary.
  4. Tap ✓ to tick an entry off, or × to delete it. Use Upcoming, Done and All to filter.

Overdue entries are marked ⚠. Deleting doesn't ask you to confirm.

10

Gallery and banner photos

Gallery

  1. 🏆 Top 5: tap Choose your top 5 finds, pick your best finds one at a time, then use ↑ Up and ↓ Down to set the order. Tap a photo to see it full size.
  2. The Art has eleven historical paintings, each with the story behind it.
  3. My Photos is your own field album. Use 📷 Take Photo or 🖼 From Library.
  4. Tap ✎ on a photo to label or delete it, or ↓ to save a copy.

Use your own banner photos

  1. Tap the 📷 on a screen's header picture.
  2. Choose a photo. To go back later, tap 📷 again and choose ↺ Use the original.
11

Backup and laptop planning

Back up and restore

  1. Go to Settings → Data & Backup and tap ⬇ Back Up My Data. A backup file with all your data, photos included, saves to your phone.
  2. Or tap ✉ Share Backup (email / Drive) to send it straight to Gmail or Google Drive. On the laptop app, ⬆ Restore from Backup opens it.
  3. To restore, for example on a new phone, tap ⬆ Restore from Backup and choose the file.

Your finds live on your phone. Without a backup they can't be recovered if the phone is lost, so email yourself a ✉ Share Backup after each session.

Restoring adds to what's already on the phone. It doesn't wipe anything.

Plan on a laptop, detect on the phone

  1. Open the app on your laptop and add your permissions, planning pins and fields.
  2. On the laptop go to Settings → Laptop Planning and tap ⬇ Export plan for phone.
  3. Send that file to your phone, then tap ⬆ Import plan from laptop and choose it.

Importing a plan never touches your finds, sessions or walks.

12

What gets shared where

Your location stays private

  1. Share online and Share with Dig Leader leave out the farm name and location, and online photos have their GPS removed.
  2. Sharing a single find or a field photo also leaves out the farm name and position.
  3. FLO reports include the permission name and find positions, because recording them properly depends on it.
  4. Everything else stays on your phone, apart from backups you choose to send yourself.
13

Free, always

Support a good cause

  1. Fieldcraft Heritage is free, with no ads and no subscriptions, and we never handle any money.
  2. If it helps you, tap Free, always · ❤ Support a good cause on the Home screen, or open Settings.
  3. Choose the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Alzheimer's Research UK or Mossy Earth's rewilding. You give directly on their own website.

Fieldcraft Heritage is free, made by a hobbyist for hobbyists. Questions or ideas: waller642@gmail.com · wildliferelicguild.com