Dronenet is a feature that allows agents to deploy drones to remotely hack portals.
The Dronenet is a network of autonomous drones originally developed by the NIA and now operated by IQTech. Agents can access the Dronenet to remotely hack portals. Currently each agent can only command one drone through the Dronenet. Drones are visible in the Dronenet layer in the scanner.
An undeployed drone starts at your current location. Each time your move the drone, you must select a portal within visual range of the drone as its target. After being deployed on a portal, the drone must remain there for at least 60 minutes before it can be moved to another portal. In this way, the drone can “hop” from portal to portal and travel a significant distance from its initial deployment position.
You can hack or glyph hack the portal where your drone is deployed once. After that, you cannot hack again until the drone is moved. You will not receive portal keys from the hack, nor will the hack count for completing missions or for attendance at an event. Drone hacks do count toward the Sojourner medal, however.
If the portal where your drone is deployed changes alignment (captured, neutralized, or flipped), your drone will be forcibly recalled.
Operation
When a drone is ready for you to access, a red dot will appear inside the menu button on the scanner screen. Tap it, then tap “Dronenet.” If the drone is not yet deployed, you will see your current location. Otherwise, you will see a remote view of the portal where it is located. If the drone was moved within the last 60 minutes, you’ll see a countdown timer at the lower-right.
To move the drone, tap “Move.” A dialog prompting you to select the target portal will appear, with a “Cancel” button if you decide you don’t want to move the drone. You may wish to use a pinch gesture to zoom the view out, and rotate the view to see all available destination portals. Tap any visible portal to select it as the drone’s destination. A dialog will appear, showing the portal’s name, picture, level, and owner, and ask you to confirm that you wish to move the drone to that portal. Tap “Confirm” to move it, or “Back” to cancel. If there are already eight drones at the destination portal, an error message will display and the drone will not be moved.
Once you have moved the drone to a portal, tap that portal to bring up its portal information card. From there you can hack or glyph hack the portal as if you were there at the portal yourself.
To return the drone to your current position, tap “Recall.” You will be shown a dialog asking you to confirm that you want to recall the drone. Tap “Confirm” to do so, or “BACK” to leave the drone where it is.
Your agent profile displays the number of unique portals you have visited with a drone, the furthest you have flown a drone in a single chain of flights, the number of drone hacks you have performed, and the number of drones you have forced to be returned to their owners.
History
- 5 June 2020: The Dronenet is initially released as an “early access” feature in order to encourage feedback from the community for further development.
- 15 June 2020: The drone view now displays the drone move cooldown timer. The notification dot for the drone is changed from orange to red.
- 26 June 2020: The drone is now visible in the Dronenet screen. Only the agent to whom the drone belongs may see it.
- 3 May 2021: The Dronenet layer is added to the scanner, allowing agents to see other agents’ drones. Drone appearance is altered to allow agents to distinguish the faction of the drone’s owner. The number of drones allowed at one portal is set to eight. The “Drones Returned” metric is added to the agent stats. The Maverick medal is added.