go-haystack

go-haystack

Go Haystack lets you track personal Bluetooth devices via Apple's massive "Find My" network.

It uses OpenHaystack together with Macless-Haystack to help you setup a custom FindMy network with tools written in Go/TinyGo. No Apple hardware required!

Contents

• Build Your Own Beacon
• Linux Beacons
• TinyScan
• How to install
• How to use
• How to test
• Keys
• Testing
• Firmware
• TinyScan hardware

Build Your Own Beacon

This package provides firmware written using TinyGo and the TinyGo Bluetooth package.

As a result, any of the following hardware devices should work:

• Adafruit Bluefruit boards using nRF SoftDevice
• BBC Microbit using nRF SoftDevice
• Seeed Studio XIAO nRF52840
• Other Nordic Semi SoftDevice boards
• Boards using the NINA-FW with an ESP32 co-processor
• Espressif ESP32-C3 and ESP32-S3 boards that use the radio in the chip, such as the Seeed XIAO ESP32C3 and the XIAO ESP32S3. The targets are xiao-esp32c3, xiao-esp32s3, esp32c3-supermini, esp32s3-supermini, esp32c3-generic, esp32s3-generic, qtpy-esp32c3 and m5stamp-c3. These boards need TinyGo 0.42 or later.
• Boards such as the RP2040 Pico-W using the CYW43439 co-processor

The beacon code is located in this repository in the firmware directory.

Linux Beacons

You can also run the beacon code on any Linux that has Bluetooth hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi or other embedded system.

The beacon code is the same for embedded Linux as for microcontrollers, and is located in this repo in the firmware directory.

Give it the keys as one argument, separated by commas, and the time on each key as a second argument:

cd firmware
go run . KEY1,KEY2,KEY3 5m

Use the advertisement keys from the .keys file of the device. See Keys.

TinyScan

Go Haystack also includes TinyScan, a hardware scanner for local devices.

TinyScan runs on several different microcontrollers boards with Bluetooth and miniature displays, such as those made by Adafruit and Pimoroni

The TinyScan code is located in the tinyscan directory in this repository.

TinyScan can also show the names of your own devices. Flash it with the same device names that you used with haystack keys, and it then shows the name of the device with a * mark instead of the key:

haystack flashscan clue blackgopher redgopher

Add -onlymine to hide every beacon that is not one of your devices. See TinyScan for more information.

How to install

Apple ID

You must have an Apple-ID with 2FA enabled. Only sms/text message as second factor is supported!

anisette-v3-server

Start anisette-v3-server

docker network create mh-network
docker run -d --restart always --name anisette -p 6969:6969 --volume anisette-v3_data:/home/Alcoholic/.config/anisette-v3 --network mh-network dadoum/anisette-v3-server

macless-haystack

1. Start and set up your Macless Haystack endpoint in interactive mode:

docker run -it --restart unless-stopped --name macless-haystack -p 6176:6176 --volume mh_data:/app/endpoint/data --network mh-network christld/macless-haystack

You will be asked for your Apple-ID, password and your 2FA. If you see serving at port 6176 over HTTP you have all set up correctly

Hit ctrl-C to exit the process once it has been configured.

1. Restart the macless-haystack server

docker restart macless-haystack

See https://github.com/dchristl/macless-haystack/blob/main/README.md#server-setup for the original instructions.

go-haystack

Install the go-haystack command line tool

go install github.com/hybridgroup/go-haystack/cmd/haystack@latest

How to use

Showing the version

haystack version

Returns the version of the tool, with the revision of the build if it has one:

haystack 0.2.0-dev (7180716)

Scanning for local devices

haystack scan

Should return any local devices within range:

…

Adding a new device

1. Generate keys for a device

haystack keys DEVICENAME

The keys will be saved in a file named DEVICENAME.keys and the configuration file for Haystack will be saved in DEVICENAME.json. Replace "DEVICENAME" with whatever you want to name the actual device.

This makes a set of 12 keys, which the beacon uses in turn. Add -keys for a different number. See Keys.

1. Flash the hardware with the TinyGo target and the name of your device.

For example:

haystack flash DEVICENAME nano-rp2040

This will use TinyGo to compile the firmware using your keys, and then flash it to the device. See https://tinygo.org/getting-started/overview/ for more information about TinyGo.

For a device on a battery, add -battery, which turns the serial port off. Add -txpower to lower the radio transmit power, which saves more current but shortens the range. On an ESP32-C3 or ESP32-S3 board, add -batterypin and -batterydivider to read the battery. Add -batterytype for a cell that is not a LiPo, such as a CR2032, or -batterythresholds for the voltages of any other cell. Add -rotate for a different time on each key. All flags go before the subcommand. See Battery Powered Beacons and Keys.

haystack -battery -txpower=-8 flash DEVICENAME xiao-ble

1. Upload the JSON file for that device to your running instance of macless-haystack using the web UI.

Point your web browser to https://dchristl.github.io/macless-haystack/ which is a single-page web application that only reads/writes local data. Click on the link for "Accessories", then on the "+" button. Choose the DEVICENAME.json file for your device.

That's it, your device is now setup.

Objects in your data may be closer than they appear

Eventually, if your device is in range of any iPhone, they will appear in your Macless-Haystack data in the web UI.

Note that it might take a while for the first data to show up.

Have fun, be good!

How to test

The unit tests run on the host, so they need no hardware:

go test ./...

See Testing for the microcontroller builds and for the tests on the hardware.