Feature
Showcase mode
The three slots you edit in the app: text, QR and animations on the glass.
The app
The Apex app: set up your panel, then edit it with no signal.
One app gets a panel running and then keeps working when the signal does not. It hands your Apex Mini its Wi-Fi details over Bluetooth, pairs it to your account, and afterwards edits and publishes straight to the panel — standing in a car park, with no reception. The web panel does most of the same job from a browser.
Free, for iPhone and AndroidBluetooth setup, Wi-Fi to pairEdits publish with no receptionWeb panel in any browser
First run
Bluetooth first, then the pairing code.
Setting up a new panel is three steps. The app finds your Apex Mini over Bluetooth and sends it your Wi-Fi name and password. The panel restarts, joins that network, registers itself with Apex and shows a pairing code. The app reads that code over Bluetooth and pairs the panel to your account.
So Bluetooth is how the panel is handed its network details, not a way around needing one. First-time pairing needs working Wi-Fi and an Apex account. Codes are six characters with no lookalike letters, expire after ten minutes and work exactly once.
If the app cannot read the code — a phone that wandered out of range, a panel that rebooted early — you can type it in by hand, either in the app or in the web panel. Pairing also sets the panel's timezone from your phone, snapping to the nearest of the fourteen zones it supports, so the clock is right the first time you look at it.
- Step one
- The app sends Wi-Fi credentials to the panel over Bluetooth
- Step two
- The panel joins the network and registers with Apex
- Step three
- The app reads the pairing code and pairs it to your account
- Pairing code
- Six characters, valid for ten minutes, single use
After pairing
Editing works with no signal.
Once a panel is paired, the app takes the short route whenever it can. With your phone connected to the panel over Bluetooth, a save writes to the panel first and syncs up to your account in the background — so what is on the glass changes as you tap, rather than after a round trip through a server you may not be able to reach.
That is what makes the Showcase editor usable at the meet. Change your handle between runs, point the QR at the giveaway instead of your profile, turn a slot off because the weather turned — none of it needs reception, and none of it needs the panel to be on Wi-Fi.
The channel itself is deliberately unglamorous: chunked JSON with a checksum on every piece, up to eight kilobytes a write, each one confirmed by the panel before the app moves on. It is the least interesting part of the app and the reason the interesting part works in a basement car park.
- Text, Animation or QR per slot, with playback controls and a slot carousel
- Previews that render the way the firmware does, so what you see is what the panel draws
- Docked settings with a live Docked preview, which the web panel does not have
- Panel details, Change network and Unpair on the device screen
The web panel
The browser version, for the rest.
The web panel is the same account and the same panels, edited from a laptop. It handles Showcase and Docked settings with a live Showcase preview, pairs a panel by typed code, and owns the two features that are not in the mobile app at all.
Messaging and friends live there. You can send a friend up to three messages a day, up to seven days ahead, five hundred characters each, and they land in the notification feed on their Apex Mini. The People page is where friend requests, groups and blocks are handled. Neither of those exists in the app yet.
The trade is that the web panel saves through our servers, so your browser and the panel both need to be online. No Bluetooth means no editing in a car park. The niche Docked extras — the Minecraft page and the virtual pet — are web-only too.
One honest note on messaging. A panel downloads everything queued for the next seven days and shows it as it arrives, so the morning, afternoon and evening slots are an order rather than a delivery time. Group messages do not reach an Apex Mini at all.
In the app
What else is in there.
Past panel setup, the app carries My Devices, the Showcase editor, Wi-Fi settings, Meet a Panel, the Apex Calendar with its Nearby event discovery and RSVPs, your notifications, support tickets and settings. The device screen itself has a live preview of what the panel is showing, the display mode switch and the Docked settings.
Meet a Panel is app-only. It is how two owners introduce their panels in person, and there is no browser version because the whole handshake runs over Bluetooth.
On iPhone there is a home-screen widget showing whether your panel is online, nearby or offline, in small and medium sizes. The app also ships a Bluetooth troubleshooting guide, because the most common pairing problem is a stale Bluetooth bond on the phone rather than anything wrong with the panel.
Updates and support
Signed updates, and a thread you can follow.
Firmware updates are pushed by us to panels, and a panel checks for one every five minutes while it is online. Every image carries a SHA-256 hash and an ECDSA signature; the panel verifies both and refuses anything that does not check out, which is also why you cannot flash your own build onto one. You get a notification when an update has finished installing.
Support runs as real tickets rather than a contact form that vanishes. Open one in the app or in the web panel, get a reference like APX-1043, and carry on the conversation in the app or straight from the email reply — both land back on the same thread, and closing one is never the end of it.
Platforms
What it runs on, plainly.
The Apex app is free, for iPhone and Android. It is a phone app: there is no iPad layout and no CarPlay. The web panel runs in any modern browser on any machine, and it is the same account either way — pair on the phone, keep editing on the laptop.
Two things only the phone can do: Bluetooth setup and network changes, and Meet a Panel. Two things only the browser can do today: messaging and friends, and the Minecraft and pet settings. Everything else — the three Showcase slots, Docked settings, the calendar, support — is on both.
App and web panel
Which surface does what.
Both talk to the same account and the same panels. The difference is what each one can reach.
The app's offline routes all run over Bluetooth. The web panel needs your browser and the panel to be online at the same time.
App vs web panel
Bluetooth Wi-Fi setupApp only
Pair a panelApp reads the code, web takes it typed
Showcase editorBoth, with a live preview
Docked settingsBoth; the live Docked preview is app only
Editing with no signalApp only, over Bluetooth, after pairing
Messaging and friendsWeb panel only
Meet a PanelApp only
Apex Calendar and RSVPsBoth
Minecraft page and petWeb panel only
Support ticketsBoth
Home-screen widgetiPhone only
PriceFree, with no subscription
Questions
Questions about the app.
Is the Apex app free?
Yes. You buy the panel; the app is free for iPhone and Android, and the web panel in your browser is free too. There is no subscription for setting up or controlling a panel.
Does the app work without internet?
After the panel is paired, yes. The app talks to the panel directly over Bluetooth, so editing and publishing work with no Wi-Fi and no reception. The first pairing is the exception: that needs Wi-Fi and an Apex account.
How do I pair Apex Mini with my phone?
Open the app and let it find the panel over Bluetooth, then give it your Wi-Fi details. The panel restarts, joins the network and shows a six-character pairing code, which the app reads and confirms. Codes expire after ten minutes and work once.
Why can't my phone find or pair with the panel?
On iPhone the usual cause is a stale Bluetooth bond left behind when the panel rebooted. Forget the panel in your iPhone's Bluetooth settings, turn Bluetooth off and on again, then retry. The app includes a troubleshooting guide that walks through this.
Can I use a browser instead of the app?
Mostly. The web panel edits Showcase and Docked settings, pairs a panel by typed code, and is the only place with messaging and friends. It has no Bluetooth, so it cannot set up Wi-Fi, edit with no signal, or run Meet a Panel.
Can I control more than one panel?
Yes. Panels are listed under My Devices in both the app and the web panel, each with its own settings. There is no bulk tool for pushing one change to many panels at once.
How do firmware updates work?
We push updates to panels, and a panel checks for one every five minutes while it is online. Each image is signed, and the panel verifies that signature before installing anything — an image that does not verify is refused. You get a notification once it has finished.
Does the app work on Android?
Yes. The app is for iPhone and Android and does the same setup and editing on both. The one gap is phone notifications on the panel: iOS shares those over Bluetooth natively and Android does not, so the Docked feed only mirrors iPhone notifications.
Early access
First batch, first served.
We're building the first run now. Get on the list for first access when it ships — plus the early pricing that comes with it.