Dear Aviators,

We're thrilled to announce the latest update to EasyVFR 4! 🚀 This update is packed with features, boasting 14 brand-new tools, 7 enhancements, and 14 fixes. Each addition has been meticulously crafted to elevate your experience. This new beta update marks a significant step forward in our journey, and we can't wait for you to experience the enhancements.

Context Menus

We've introduced a Context menu UI element, a convenient tool that provides access to functionality directly related to an item without cluttering the map and interface. Under the hood, our context menu design is very flexible, paving the way for many upcoming use cases. Today's beta update starts with the Display, Weather, and Map Orientation context menus.

On the right side of the display, you will now find Display, Weather, and Map Orientation buttons. Tapping these buttons opens a small card offering quick options while maintaining most of the map's visibility. You can easily reposition these cards by dragging the top edge of the card.

Display Context Menu

Includes options to [Hide Buttons], show [Vertical Profile] and [Instruments Ribbon], [Lock Touch] (unlock with a three-finger tap), and access [Readability] settings.

Weather Context Menu

A new Weather button on the right side of the screen opens a card to toggle All or any individual weather layer on the Moving Map and Vertical Profile.

Map Orientation Context Menu

Tapping on the Map Orientation button (compass icon) now presents you with two new options: "Course Up" and "Auto Zoom".

• Course Up 🛤️: With "Course Up," the current leg's course will be positioned at the top of the moving map.

• Auto Zoom 🔎: Automatically zooms in and out based on the preferred zoom level for your flight phase. Whether you’re taxiing, departing, cruising, or approaching your destination, Auto Zoom adjusts the camera altitude automatically to ensure EasyVFR always provides the perfect map view. This feature is controllable via Map Orientation -> Auto Zoom on the right side of the screen. To view or set the zoom level per flight phase, press [View] or [Set], respectively. For Departure and Destination, you can also set the time at which you are in that flight phase. The Duration is calculated based on ground speed in a straight line.

• Zoom on Re-Center 🎯: When Auto Zoom is enabled, and you're flying, the "Re-Center Position" not only recenters the map to your current position but also auto-zooms, aligning with the behavior of other aviation and car apps.

AeroData Summary Bar and Route Actions

Previously, only when tapping on an airfield brought up the summary bar containing frequently used information for that object.

AeroData Summary Bar ℹ️ :  Now, tapping on any AeroData object (like VFR-Reporting-points, User Waypoints, Places, VORs, etc.) will also display it.

Route Actions in Summary Bar 📍: We’ve noted that many users were inquiring about initiating a route via map tapping. To clarify, route actions are now accessible in the summary bar, facilitating quicker addition, insertion, and removal of waypoints, despite the preliminary design.

Other Popular Improvements

Check out these additional exciting enhancements that we've included in the update to make your flying experience even more enjoyable and user-friendly!

• Upgraded Position & Radio Window: A dedicated Radio button for the Position & Radio window is now available, and guess what? In one of the upcoming releases, this window is getting a complete redesign to include a wealth of information that adapts to your flight phase.

• Geoidal Separation Model: Android users, rejoice! We've incorporated a geoidal separation model to deliver improved GPS altitude readings, bringing Android on par with iOS behavior.

• Flight Log Review for Essential Users: Good news for Essential users! You can now conveniently review flight logs directly on the map.

• Streamlined Unit Preferences: Your preferred default units are now clearly displayed in Preferences -> Units, making it easier than ever to personalize your settings.

• Full-Screen Support for Android: We've addressed a common issue with larger and newer Android devices where the screen wasn’t fully utilized. Now, enjoy a full-screen view without any hindrance.

• Enhanced Traffic Filtering: Traffic now includes a handy "Filter only in Flightmode" option. This feature is enabled by default but can be easily toggled off for Vertical Filtering when in planning mode.

There are many more new, improved, and fixed features in this release. See the release notes below for all the details.

We're confident these improvements will enhance your EasyVFR 4 experience, making every flight smoother, more intuitive, and simply enjoyable! Let us know what you think!

Cheers,

Team EasyVFR 4

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📝 RELEASE NOTES

• NEW: Tapping near an AeroData object on the map now displays a summary bar with quick route action buttons: [Direct To], [Depart Here], [Insert], [Add to End], [Remove].
• NEW: Introduced a Context menu UI element that provides access to functionality directly related to an item, without cluttering the map and interface. Many use cases are upcoming
• NEW: Display context menu added by a new Display button on the top right side of the screen for selecting elements to [Hide Buttons], show [Vertical Profile] and [Instruments Ribbon], [Lock Touch] (unlock with a three-finger tap on the screen), and access [Readability].
• NEW: Added readability settings for Route Leg Labels and Route Leg Line thickness.
• NEW: Weather context menu added by a new Weather button on the right side of the screen for toggling weather layers on the Moving Map and Vertical Profile.
• NEW: Map Orientation context menu added by tapping the Map Orientation button.
• NEW: "Course Up" map orientation option, controllable via the Map Orientation button.
• NEW: Map "Auto Zoom "feature for when in Flying Mode, controllable via the Map Orientation button.
• NEW: [Set] and [View] the zoom level (camera altitude) per flight phase for Auto Zoom. [Set] copies the current zoom level of the moving map.
• NEW: Dedicated button for the Position & Radio window, which will soon include more information depending on the flight phase.
• NEW: Android version now uses a geoidal separation model for improved GPS altitude, matching iOS's default behavior.
• NEW: Also EasyVFR Essentials users can now review flight logs on the map.
• NEW: EasyVFR 4 menu -> Preferences -> Units now displays the selected default unit on each unit type label.
• NEW: Status Card -> Traffic now has a new option "Filter only in Flightmode". By default, this is enabled but can be switched off by the user so Vertical Filtering is also applied when in planning mode.
• IMPROVED: When the user has set the Position Source to [Internal GPS], this setting is now retained after restarting EV4 and not switched back to Automatic anymore.
• IMPROVED: Replaced "Weight + Balance" with "Mass + Balance" at several places.
• IMPROVED: When tapping Status card -> Data -> [Plates along the route], only the georeferenced plates were downloaded, not the associated PDF ones. As a result, this PDF could not be accessed when needed in flight. Now the PDF files will also be automatically downloaded for offline usage.
• IMPROVED: Better support for fullscreen Android devices.
• IMPROVED: When manually running [Extract logbook entries] via EasyVFR 4 menu -> System -> Tracklogs, EV4 will ignore any previously set internal markers to make it possible to redo a logbook entry extraction as if it was a fresh flight again.
• IMPROVED: Android Target SDK 33 is now supported.
• IMPROVED: Airmarshalls can delete an EFB PDF document using the Quick Info Wheel -> Airfield Info -> PDF.
• FIXED: On iOS, exporting the logbook breadcrumbs to GPX crashed.
• FIXED: On the Tripkit TCK, waypoints were not displaying their correct short- and full names.
• FIXED: When the Distance unit is changed from NM to something else, then the Map Layers menu -> NOTAMs -> [Max Radius to Show On Map] will now display in the selected default unit also.
• FIXED: When the Distance unit is changed from NM to something else, then the Map Layers menu -> Weather -> [Weather Briefing Path Width] will now display in the selected default unit also.
• FIXED: Downloading the 10-day Pressure & Rain Forecast chart did not work when a user was subscribed to EasyVFR Pro via Apple App Store but did not enter an email address in myEasyVFR.
• FIXED: Menu icons centering on the top, bottom, and right of the display got misaligned when instruments were visible.
• FIXED: Tripkit crash on MacOS.
• FIXED: Fixed crash when running navlog with tourist guide enabled and local flight setup (aka no route legs).
• FIXED: Sometimes EV4 would incorrectly consider an airport not within the 20 NM path width of a route for downloading plates.
• FIXED: Pro Aircraft Profiles now allow selecting Custom Aircraft Symbols again.
• FIXED: When at initial installation any aircraft type other than SEP was selected, then at the first launch of Aircraft Profiles the default Aircraft type was reset back to SEP.
• FIXED: With SafeSky enabled and no internet available at the startup of EV4, EV4 would be much less responsive in its UI than with SafeSky disabled or internet available.
• FIXED: Split view would sometimes generate a "surface could not get initialized" error.
• FIXED: SafeSky Premium license did not allow sending locations using only an EasyVFR 4 Essentials version.

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📥 BETA DOWNLOADS

📱 Mobile & Tablet

🍏 iOS, iPadOS, and Apple Silicon Mac

Minimum requirements:

• 64-bit and 2GB RAM.

Effectively:

• iPad Air 2 and higher.
• iPad Mini 4 and higher.
• iPhone 6S and higher.
• M1 MacBooks and higher.

The iPad Mini 5 and newer, and any iPad Pro perform extremely well.

Download Steps:

1. Install the Apple TestFlight app via the Apple AppStore.
2. Go to the following URL to download the latest version of EasyVFR 4 via TestFlight.
   👉 Open the EasyVFR 4 page in the Apple TestFlight app

🤖 Android

IMPORTANT: Devices with the old 32-bit Android OS are not supported

Minimum requirements:

• 64-bit OS, +3GB RAM. Android 10 and higher is advised.

We have good results with:

• Huawei MediaPad M5.
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 4.
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (except  SM-T810).
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S4, S6, and higher.
• Most modern smartphones.

Download Options:

• Google Play: You can download the beta directly via Google Play when enrolled in the beta program on the Google Play app page.
  👉 Open the EasyVFR 4 page in Google Play to enrole for beta
• Sideload (alternative): To install you must enable the option: "Allow the installation of apps from sources other than Play store" in Android Settings, Lock screen and Security. Some Android devices require you to tap&hold the link below, then choose [Download link] to store the APK on your device from where you then can install this downloaded APK.
  Download APK https://members.pocketfms.com/WebProgramDownloads/EasyVFR4/EasyVFR4_4.1.428.apk

💻 Desktop and Laptop

🪟 Windows

Minimum requirements:

• 32-bit, 2GB RAM, Windows 8 and higher is advised.

Download: Download EasyVFR 4 for Windows https://members.pocketfms.com/WebProgramDownloads/EasyVFR4/EasyVFR4_win32_4.1.428.exe

🍏 Apple Silicon Mac

See the iOS version.

🍎 Intel Macs

IMPORTANT: Intel Macs on Big Sur and Monterey need to have the latest macOS version 11.6.1 or 12.0.1 or higher installed.

Intel-based Macs can only install the below .dmg file and need to follow the below instructions.

Minimum requirements:

• Most 64-bit macOS versions. E.g. High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina. BigSur 11.6.1 and Monterey 12.0.1 and up.
• Apple Silicon M1 and greater Macs can download via the iOS AppStore.

Download: Download EasyVFR 4 for Intel Macs https://members.pocketfms.com/WebProgramDownloads/EasyVFR4/EasyVFR4_osx_4.1.428.dmg

Installation instructions:

1. After downloading the DMG file, open it and drag the EasyVFR 4 icon into the Applications folder. EasyVFR 4 is now available via Launchpad.
2. When you get the message "EasyVFR4.app can’t be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store" choose [Open in Finder] from that popup, then right-click on EasyVFR4.app and choose open. Now the same popup will appear, now with a [Open] button.
3. From there on you can launch EasyVFR 4 from the launchpad without this warning.
4. With every update, you need to redo step 2. 🔄