Stuck? Here's how to get help.

1. On the phone, open the Android download link.
2. Tap the downloaded file.
3. Android may say the browser isn't allowed to install apps. Turn on Install unknown apps for that browser, come back, and tap Install.

It needs Android 8 or later. It isn't in the Play Store, so the phone will be extra careful. That's normal.

Google Play Protect is careful with any app that doesn't come from the Play Store. Bee Yard Wingman is The Bee Guy's own app, signed with his own key. Tap More details, then Install anyway. On the "Harmful app blocked" box, Install anyway is the grey words above the blue Got it button.

If Android asks to "Allow permission" or "Scan app" while updating, both are normal. Turn on Allow permission for Bee Yard Wingman, or let it scan, then tap Install.

1. Open app.beeyardwingman.com in Safari.
2. Tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.
3. From now on, open it from the Home Screen icon. It opens like an app and works with no signal. Safari asks the first time it needs the microphone or camera.

There's no iPhone app in the App Store. The web app on your Home Screen is the iPhone version. All the ways to get it.

No. Updating keeps everything. Only uninstalling erases your records.

The Android app checks for a newer version each time it opens. To check yourself, go to Settings, then App version, and tap Check for updates. While it downloads, a bar fills up with a percentage. Wait for it to reach 100%.

If the download stops, there's usually no signal, or public Wi-Fi is stalling on the download (about 40 MB). Turn Wi-Fi off so the phone uses its cell data, then tap Try again. You can also install the new version straight from the download link. Your records are kept either way.

On your phone. On the web app, they're kept inside that browser on that device, so keep using the same one.

On iPhone, clearing Safari's website data can erase them. In the Android app, clearing the browser doesn't touch them. Either way, save a backup now and then so a lost or broken phone doesn't take your records with it.

Go to Settings, then Backup, and tap Save a backup. It makes one file with everything, photos included. Email the file to yourself or put it in Google Drive, somewhere that isn't the phone.

Go to Settings, then Backup, tap Restore a backup, and pick the file. It shows how many hives, inspections and photos are in the backup, and asks before it replaces anything. Restoring replaces everything in the app with what's in the backup, so tap Yes, replace only when you're sure.

1. On the old phone: Settings, then Save a backup. Send the file to yourself.
2. Install Bee Yard Wingman on the new phone.
3. On the new phone: Settings, then Restore a backup, and pick the file.

Keep the old phone as it is until you've checked your hives are all there on the new one.

• Tap to Record needs Android 13 or later.
• Turning speech into text with no signal needs Android 12 or later with Google's speech services.
• On older phones, or when listening won't work, use Just Record. It saves your voice like a voice memo to play back later. It works on any Android 8 or later.

If you tapped Don't allow when it asked for the microphone, Android won't ask again. Turn it on in the phone's Settings, then Apps, then Bee Yard Wingman, then Permissions, and choose While using the app. In Bee Yard Wingman, Settings, then Check this phone, tests the microphone and camera.

If it warns that it's too noisy to hear you, turn your back to the wind.

Some Android phones need to download their speech-to-text once before listening works with no signal. In Bee Yard Wingman, go to Settings, then Listening. If it offers Download speech-to-text, tap it. The phone does the download and may show a notification. Do it at home, where there's signal, before you head to the bee yard.

There, voice goes through the web browser. Chrome works best: on a computer it can turn speech into text with no signal. Safari and Edge can turn speech into text too, but they need signal to do it. Firefox can't turn speech into text at all.

If your browser can't, you can still talk your notes: tap in the notes box, then tap the microphone key on your phone's keyboard. Or just type.

It fixes most of them by itself, like "brewed" to brood and "nuke" to nuc. Correct the field by hand, and email the word to support@beeyardwingman.com so it can be added.

No. Every question can be answered by tapping, and the app stays silent. More about voice.

Your records work with no signal: inspections, mites, queens, honey and treatments. So does the Bee Buddy Voice, the bloom calendar, and Just Record. Speech to text works too, on Android 12 or later, once the speech download is done.

The weather filling in needs signal at that moment. So do the "Photos in flower" links and the speech download. What works with no signal.

Give the apiary its zip code: Hives, then Apiaries, then the apiary, then Edit. The weather then fills in by itself when you have signal. It never uses the phone's location.

Go to Settings, then App version, and tap Help & FAQ. There's a search box to find your question. It's built into the app, so it works with no signal, right there at the hives.