Tours & Onboarding | Carrier Wave Manual

Carrier Wave includes guided tours and an onboarding flow to help new users get started quickly and discover features they might otherwise miss.

Onboarding Flow

First Launch

Onboarding walks you through a short setup before opening the app.

Step 1 — Your callsign:

Enter your callsign — Primary operating callsign
Auto-lookup — Carrier Wave queries QRZ to verify and fetch your name, QTH, and grid square, displayed inline
IARU region — Detected automatically from your callsign and persisted silently (changeable later in Settings)

Step 2 — How do you operate? (optional): Four role cards let you describe your typical operating style:

Activator — You mainly operate from parks, summits, or other references
Hunter — You mainly chase activators
A Bit of Everything — A mix of activating and hunting
New to Ham Radio — You’re just getting started

This step is optional and can be skipped. Your choice biases defaults — for example, hunters see Hunt Spots first on the home hero card and land on the Hunter Log — but it never hides features. You can change your selection anytime in Settings → My Profile → Operating Style or Settings → Logger → Operating Style.

Tap Get Started to open the app.

Getting Started Card

After onboarding, a persistent Getting Started card appears on Home. This replaces the old multi-step onboarding flow — optional service connections are now framed by the value they unlock rather than presented as required steps.

Each row explains what the service provides:

“Auto-upload confirmations to ARRL” — Connect LoTW
“See DXCC progress and callsign lookups” — Connect QRZ
“Upload logs to Parks on the Air” — Connect POTA
“Join the community” — Enable community features

The card shows a progress bar. Tap any row to deep-link to the relevant Settings page or the Friends tab. Items tick off automatically as you connect services. The card also links to Explore Features — a curated gallery of marquee features and enable toggles for experiments. The card can be dismissed manually or self-hides once all items are complete.

Returning Users

If you reinstall Carrier Wave or set it up on a new device:

iCloud sync restores your settings and QSO database
Service credentials need to be re-entered (stored in device Keychain)
The onboarding flow detects existing data and skips the callsign step

Intro Tour

The intro tour provides a guided walkthrough of Carrier Wave’s main features. It’s offered after onboarding and accessible anytime from Settings -> Help -> Take the Tour.

Tour Stops

The intro tour visits each major area of the app:

Home - Activity grid, statistics, streaks, service status
Logger - Starting a session, callsign entry, commands
Logbook - Searching contacts, session browsing
Spots - POTA spots, RBN, P2P opportunities
Map - QSO visualization, park boundaries
Friends - Friends, challenges, achievements
Settings - Key configuration options

Each stop highlights the most important features with:

Spotlight overlay pointing to the relevant UI element
Brief explanation (1-2 sentences)
Next/Skip/Done navigation

Tour Duration

The full intro tour takes approximately 2-3 minutes. You can skip at any point and resume later.

Logger Tour with KI5GTR Guide

The Logger tour provides an in-depth walkthrough of the logging interface, guided by KI5GTR (the Carrier Wave developer’s callsign):

Tour Content

KI5GTR walks you through a simulated QSO:

Starting a session - Session wizard, mode/frequency selection
Callsign entry - Type a callsign, see the QRZ lookup populate
Quick Entry - Demonstrate the single-line entry format
RST and fields - How signal reports and optional fields work
Logging the QSO - Tap the log button, see the toast confirmation
Commands - Type SPOT, BAND, MAP to see command system
Session management - End session, view in Logbook tab

Interactive Elements

The Logger tour uses interactive overlays:

Simulated data populates fields as the tour progresses
Animated arrows point to buttons and fields
“Try it yourself” prompts let you practice each step
KI5GTR dialog bubbles provide context and tips

Accessing the Logger Tour

Offered automatically after the first session start wizard
Available from Settings -> Help -> Logger Tour
Triggered if you tap the ? icon in the Logger header

Mini-Tours

Mini-tours are brief, contextual walkthroughs that appear when you first encounter a feature:

When Mini-Tours Appear

Mini-tours trigger on first use of specific features:

Feature	Mini-Tour Content
POTA session	Park entry, spotting, rove mode basics
Activity Log	Station profiles, quick entry, spot list
CW Transcription	Audio setup, frequency tracking, auto-fill
FT8 Suite	Waterfall, decode list, TX control
WebSDR	Receiver selection, recording, playback
Smart Needs	Need categories, configuration, alerts
Community	Friends, challenges, privacy
BLE Radio	Scanning, pairing, sync behavior

Mini-Tour Format

Each mini-tour consists of 3-5 spotlight steps:

Welcome - Brief description of the feature
Key controls - Spotlights on the most important UI elements
Quick tip - One actionable tip for getting the most from the feature
Done - Dismisses the tour

Dismissing and Revisiting

Dismiss a mini-tour at any step by tapping “Skip”
Dismissed tours don’t reappear automatically
Revisit any mini-tour from Settings -> Help -> Feature Tours
Reset all tours clears the “seen” state for all mini-tours

Tour Settings

Settings -> Help

Take the Tour - Start the full intro tour
Logger Tour - Start the Logger-specific tour
Feature Tours - List of all mini-tours with “seen” status
Reset All Tours - Mark all tours as unseen (they’ll reappear on next feature use)

Tour Preferences

Show mini-tours toggle - Disable if you prefer to discover features on your own
Tour animation speed - Normal or Fast for experienced users