Scout R1 guide.
One button, one light.
Scout sits between your phone and your headset. Calls sound the same, and Scout records both sides to its memory card.
Getting started
- Put a microSD card in Scout. If it's new, .
- Plug Scout into your phone's USB-C port.
- Open the Scout app. The player at the bottom says Connected. If the card is new, erase it first: Settings → Memory card → Erase memory card.
- Plug your headset into Scout: a 3.5 mm headset into the jack, or a USB-C headset into Scout's own USB-C port.
- Make a call. The light pulses purple while Scout records.
The button
- Click
- Start a manual recording. Click again to stop it.
- Double-click
- Change mode: Auto, Manual, Passthrough, and back to Auto.
- Hold 1.5 s
- Hear your own voice in the headset, or stop hearing it. A rising tone means on, a falling tone off.
Modes
The light's colour shows the mode.
- Auto
- Scout records whenever the phone uses the microphone, for a call or a voice memo, and stops 5 seconds after it lets go. The light is dim between calls and pulses while recording. Recordings shorter than 5 seconds are deleted, since a notification sound can open the microphone too.
- Manual
- Scout records only when you click the button or tap Start recording in the app. The light is steady while paused and pulses while recording. A recording you stop within 2 seconds is deleted, in case you started it by mistake.
- Passthrough
- Scout is a plain headset adapter and records nothing. Music plays in stereo. Clicking the button starts a manual recording.
Other lights
- Cyan
- Disk mode, for getting your recordings off.
- Orange flash
- Less than 5 minutes of space left on the memory card. Flashes every 10 seconds.
- Red
- Something is wrong. See Troubleshooting.
Your recordings
Tap Sync in the player at the bottom of the app. It copies new recordings to your iPhone or iPad. The first time, iOS asks you to choose the memory card: pick the drive itself, not a folder on it.
Hold the button while you plug Scout into a computer, iPhone or iPad. The light turns cyan, and the memory card shows up as a drive. Click the button to go back to recording. A card reader works too.
Recordings are stereo WAV files in folders named REC. The other person is on the left channel and you are on the right. Long calls are split into 30-minute files. Encrypted recordings end in .WAE, and only the Scout app can open them.
Advanced
Change settings
In the app: Settings → Scout for how Scout behaves, and Settings → Memory card for the recording quality.
Scout reads its settings from a file on the memory card when it starts. Make one with the settings editor.
Always on mode
Scout records from the moment it gets power and can't be stopped. Pressing the button starts a new file. Turn it on by choosing Always on as the startup mode, in Settings → Scout.in the settings file.
Swap memory cards
You can take the card out while Scout runs. A recording stops when the card comes out and goes on in a new file when a card goes in. Sample rate and encoding belong to the card, so each card keeps its own.
Update the firmware
When there's an update, Settings shows a red badge on Scout's row. Open it and tap Update, and keep Scout plugged in until it's back.
Get the firmware and the steps on the firmware update page.
Troubleshooting
Red light, one blink at a time
Scout can't find a memory card. Push the card in until it clicks, or try another one. Recording starts again once a card is in.
Red light, two blinks at a time
No headset is plugged in. Plug one into the jack or Scout's USB-C port.
Red light, three blinks at a time
The phone hasn't connected to Scout. Unplug Scout and plug it back in, without a hub or adapter.
Red light, four blinks at a time
Scout has a hardware failure. Unplug it and plug it back in. If it keeps happening, email support.
A single red flash during a recording
Scout lost a moment of audio, usually because the memory card was slow. The app marks the recording. If it happens often, try a faster card.
The light is cyan and Scout doesn't record
Scout started in disk mode because the button was pressed as it got power. Press the button once.
I can't hear my own voice
Scout leaves your voice out of the headset unless you ask for it. Hold the button for 1.5 seconds.
My USB-C headset is silent
When a 3.5 mm headset is plugged in too, Scout uses that one. Unplug it.
The buttons on my USB-C headset do nothing
Scout doesn't pass them on to the phone. Answer and end calls on the phone.
The app doesn't see Scout
See App support.
Erase a new memory card
We recommend erasing a new card in Scout, for best performance.
- Hold the button while you plug Scout into your phone. The light turns cyan.
- Double-click. The light blinks red.
- Within 3 seconds, press and hold the button for 10 seconds. The light flashes red and yellow, faster as you go. Let go early to cancel.
- The light turns green when the card is empty. Click to go back to recording.
Erasing deletes every recording on the card. The settings file stays.