LoadNode FAQ & Help

LoadNode is a precision reloading app for iPhone, iPad and Android: a logbook and analysis tool for handloaders. Record your loads, track velocity with live SD and ES, sync a Garmin Xero C1 or C2 or an Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro chronograph (pull a session or capture live), measure groups from a photo in MOA or MIL, get AI group analysis, and see your cost per round. Everything except AI analysis, cloud sync and the optional weather autofill works with no signal at the range.

No. LoadNode is local-first: no account, no internet, start using it immediately. An optional free sign-in adds cloud sync and photo backup (part of Pro) if you want your data on more than one device.

Almost entirely. Firearms, recipes, load jobs, charge ladders, SD/ES and group measurement all work with no connection, and the bundled catalog of 192 cartridges, 198 bullets, powders and primers lives on the device. AI group analysis, cloud sync and the optional weather autofill need a connection; density altitude itself is worked out on your phone from the conditions you enter, so a logged session needs no signal.

Both. LoadNode is out now on the App Store for iPhone and iPad, and on Google Play for Android. Your logbook is the same on either, and a Pro purchase is per store: buy it once on the platform you use.

No, and it never will. LoadNode is a logbook and analysis tool, not a load manual. It never provides charge weights, powders, or recipes, and it never suggests one. Always develop loads from current data published by the component and powder manufacturers, start low, and work up carefully.

There is a free tier that works as a full logbook for up to two firearms, plus a one-time Pro upgrade ($29.99 at launch, $39.99 regular, no subscription). See Free vs Pro below.

Yes, and not only for velocity. In Settings choose MOA or MIL, inches or centimetres, fps or metres per second, and your temperature, pressure and range units. Every screen follows what you chose, including the charts, the PDF reports and the home-screen widget. Your data is stored one way underneath, so switching a unit converts what you already logged rather than reinterpreting it.

LoadNode has four tabs: Firearms, Quick Stats, Costs, Settings, with the round LoadNode button in the centre. That button always carries the current screen’s actions (Add, Save, New Recipe…): one action runs straight away, several open a small menu. The core loop:

1. On Firearms, tap the centre button → Add Firearm.
2. Open the firearm, tap the centre button → New Recipe to record your components.
3. Centre button → New Job to set up a test (charge ladder or seating depth).
4. On the job, the centre button starts the ladder session; from a charge row, Measure group scores your target.

Each step is detailed in the sections below.

1. Tap the Firearms tab (bottom-left).
2. Tap the round centre LoadNode button and choose Add Firearm (a brand-new install also shows an Add Firearm button in the middle of the screen).
3. Fill in the form: Name is required (e.g. Tikka T3x 6.5 CM). For Caliber, tap Choose a cartridge and search the 192-cartridge list. If yours is not there, leave the picker empty and use Or type a chambering underneath, adding the Bullet diameter (in) so the bullet list filters to the right projectiles. The rest are optional: Manufacturer, Model, Action (Bolt / Semi / Lever / Revolver / Pump / Other), Barrel length (in), Twist rate (e.g. 1:8), and Rounds fired so far.
4. Tap the centre LoadNode button: it’s the Save Firearm action on this screen. If you filled in the barrel fields, LoadNode creates the first barrel automatically.

The free tier tracks up to two firearms; Pro is unlimited.

1. Firearms tab → tap the firearm.
2. Tap the Barrels card.
3. Tap the centre LoadNode button → Add Barrel.
4. Fill in what you want: Name (e.g. Proof Research 24″), Caliber (leave blank to use the firearm’s, or set it for a swap barrel in another chambering), Length (in), Twist rate, Manufacturer, Contour, Material, Rounds fired so far, Accuracy life (rds) (used for the wear %), an install date, and Notes. Turn on Set as active barrel to make new jobs and round counts attribute to it.
5. Tap the centre LoadNode button (Add Barrel) to save.

Multi-barrel profiles are a Pro feature.

Firearms tab → tap the firearm → tap the Barrels card → on the barrel you want, tap Set active. The current barrel shows an Active badge, and new jobs and round counts are attributed to it.

On the Barrels screen each barrel shows ROUNDS, and if you set Accuracy life (rds) it shows LIFE USED as a percentage (it turns orange at 80% and red at 100%), plus BEST GROUP and BEST SD. On the firearm’s main screen, a Throat erosion chart appears once you have logged two or more jam (CBTO) measurements (Pro). See how to track throat erosion.

Yes, and nothing about it is second class. On the firearm form (or the barrel form), leave Choose a cartridge empty and fill in Or type a chambering: a wildcat, an improved case, anything. Add the Bullet diameter (in) underneath and the bullet list filters to the right projectiles; leave it blank and every bullet is offered. The name you typed is then used on every screen, report and share card.

Yes. Give the barrel its own Caliber on the barrel form (leave it blank and the barrel simply uses the firearm’s). A barrel chambered differently from its action gets its own bullets, brass and primers in the pickers, its own bullet hole size when you measure a group, and its own name everywhere, instead of borrowing the rifle’s. Multi-barrel profiles are part of Pro.

Deleting a firearm (the trash icon on its screen, or swipe left in the list) warns: “This removes the firearm and its recipes and jobs. This cannot be undone.” Deleting a barrel (the trash icon on the barrel card) lets you choose Delete barrel, keep history (keeps the jobs and recipes shot on it) or Delete barrel & all its data.

A recipe that is also used on other firearms is not lost with the firearm it was developed on: it moves to one of the other firearms it is used on. Only a recipe used nowhere else goes with it.

1. Firearms tab → tap the firearm → tap the Setup card.
2. Under Kind of firearm, check the kind. LoadNode settles it from the action where it can (“Settled by the action. Pick another if it is wrong.”); otherwise pick one: AR-pattern, Bolt-action rifle, Other semi-auto rifle, Lever action, Semi-auto pistol, Revolver, Shotgun or Other. The kind decides which parts are suggested.
3. Under Add a part, tap a suggestion (on an AR-pattern, for example, Buffer, Buffer spring, Gas block or Bolt carrier group; on a bolt-action rifle, Stock or chassis, Bedding or Barrel tuner), or tap Custom part for anything the list does not have. The centre LoadNode button offers Add Custom Part too.
4. Swipe a part to take it off the list. Sessions that kept a copy of the setup keep it.

Recording the list is part of Pro. On the free tier the Setup card is still there, and a list that came from a restore or a sync can be read, but not changed.

Every new session keeps a copy of the firearm’s setup as it stood when the session was created, so a later change to the firearm never rewrites what an older session was shot with. The session screen shows the copy under Setup, with the date it was copied. If the firearm’s list has changed since, it says so: “The firearm’s setup has changed since this copy was taken.” Tap Update from firearm to replace the copy with the current list (Pro). A session that kept no copy offers Copy from firearm (Pro).

The copy is printed in the session report, the firearm history PDF shows the list as it is on the firearm now, and the CSV export carries both.

1. Open the firearm, tap the round centre LoadNode button and choose New Recipe.
2. Enter a Recipe name (required, e.g. 140 ELD-M match load).
3. Under Components, tap Bullet, then Powder, Primer and Brass in turn. Each opens a searchable list filtered to your caliber, split into Catalog (bundled) and My… (your saved entries).
4. Optional: under Lots & brass prep record bullet/powder/primer/brass lots, tick Brass annealed, and set expected brass life; under Starting Load enter a reference Charge (gr), COAL (in) and CBTO (in).
5. Tap the centre LoadNode button (Save Recipe).

Yes. In any component picker (bullet, powder, primer, brass), tap Add Custom Bullet / Powder / Primer / Brass at the bottom of the list, fill in the fields (for a bullet: manufacturer, name, diameter, weight, optional BC), and tap Save & Use…. It is selected on your recipe immediately and saved under My… for next time.

They nest: Firearm → Recipe → Load Job → Charge → Shots. A recipe is the component set (what you load). A load job is a specific range session or test of that recipe. A charge is one rung of the ladder (one powder weight or seating depth) with its own velocities and SD/ES. Shots are the individual readings.

On a recipe, tap the centre LoadNode button → Duplicate & tweak (Pro). It clones the spec as a v2 pointing at its parent and resets the proven numbers (confirmed MV/SD/best group belong to the parent’s testing). The editor then shows Version of … with diff chips for exactly what changed: charge, CBTO, primer, lots, annealing, so the lineage shows which tweak went with which numbers.

Yes. A recipe records the brass, its lot number, and whether it is annealed, so when your SD shifts you can see whether a brass or lot change was involved. Pair it with consistent brass prep.

Yes: in the load-job wizard you enter your CBTO at jam and the jump you chose, and LoadNode computes the resulting Loaded CBTO from your own measurements. See seating depth and jump.

Yes (Pro). On a recipe, under Lots & brass prep, record neck tension the way your tooling measures it: choose Bushing size, Mandrel size, Interference (thou), or Seating force, then enter the value. It shows up in your reports, the range card, the group-photo info box, and the recipe lineage diff, so when your SD shifts you can see whether tension changed. It’s descriptive only: LoadNode records what you used and never recommends a value.

Yes (Pro). On a recipe, under Lots & brass prep, enter Shoulder bump: how far you set the case shoulder back when full-length sizing, in thousandths. It appears in reports, the range card, the group-photo overlay and the lineage diff. It is descriptive only: LoadNode never suggests a value, and the right bump for your chamber is your own headspace-comparator call.

Yes, and the plain copy is free. On a recipe, tap the centre LoadNode button and choose Make a copy. The copy has no parent link and inherits none of the results it did not earn, and it is given a name unique on that rifle so two copies cannot become indistinguishable in a picker. Duplicate & tweak (Pro) is the other one: use it when you want a linked v2 of the same load. A copy is what you want when you are starting three separate loads, one powder each.

Yes. The Firearms tab has a second face: tap Recipes on the switch at the top and you get every recipe across every rifle, with a count on each side of the switch. Each row names the rifle the load belongs to, because in a list that crosses firearms that is the first thing you need to know. Tapping a row opens that recipe under its own rifle.

A load carries Development, Active, Archived or Retired. Archived and Retired both mean you are finished with it, and that now means one thing everywhere: the load leaves the rounds you can load figure in Inventory with the exclusion stated, it is badged in the list, and it is marked in the Load Book and the dossier. It is still offered in the session pickers, because a session you shot last season may well be on a load you have since retired.

Yes, free, when the firearms share a cartridge. The recipe keeps the firearm it was developed on, and each firearm keeps its own results.

1. Open the recipe (Firearms tab → the firearm → tap the recipe).
2. On the Used on card, tap Use on another firearm and pick the firearm. If it has several barrels, pick the barrel, or Any of its barrels.
3. LoadNode checks the cartridge first. A firearm or barrel chambered for another cartridge is refused (“A different cartridge”). If a cartridge is not recorded, it asks rather than assumes, and adds the recipe only if you tap Use it there.

The recipe then shows in that firearm’s recipe list, marked From the firearm it was developed on, and in the load-job wizard like any of its own. It is one recipe: a change to it changes it on every firearm listed. Results stay with the firearm that fired them: pooled statistics, Compare loads, the Load Book, session reports, load cards and the firearm history all show that firearm’s own figures. If a load’s cartridge and a barrel’s ever disagree, lists, pickers and PDFs mark it (“Cartridges do not match”).

• Stop using it on one firearm: on the recipe’s Used on card, tap Stop using next to that firearm, then Stop using it. The recipe stays on the others, unchanged. It is refused while that firearm has sessions on the recipe (“Still used there”): change those sessions’ recipe, or delete them, first.
• From a firearm it is shared with: swipe the recipe in that firearm’s list, tap Remove, then Take it off. Deleting it from the recipe screen offers Take it off this firearm or Delete everywhere.
• On the firearm it was developed on: deleting it warns that it is also used on the other firearms and goes from all of them. Sessions that used it stay, but no longer show its components or cost.
• Deleting that firearm does not take the recipe with it: it moves to one of the other firearms it is used on.

Notes. Rifles, loads and equipment all take notes, and the hint under each box tells you exactly where that note will appear. A load note prints on the load card, in the session report, in the Load Book and in the dossier, and it follows the load into a duplicate.

Yes, free. When you create a recipe, switch it from Handload to Factory ammo and enter what is on the box: the product, the maker, and if you like the bullet, the lot number, the box price and the rounds per box.

Factory loads are marked as factory everywhere they appear, in recipe lists, reports, share cards and the CSV export. They never take components from your inventory. With Pro you can put them beside your handloads in Compare loads.

Open the firearm, tap the centre LoadNode button and choose New Job. The New Load Job wizard has four steps:

1. What are you testing?: enter a Job name, pick a Testing type (Charge weight, Seating depth, Neck tension, or Mixed), and optionally base it on a recipe and add a goal.
2. Measure jam point (optional): type your CBTO at jam and tap Add (add several readings to average them); record the Method.
3. Seating depth: enter the Desired jump (thou off the lands) you have chosen. LoadNode computes the resulting Loaded CBTO from your own jam measurement and jump.
4. Session details: range name, brass firings (New / 1× … 5×+), distance, date, optional weather (tap Use current weather), and notes.

Tap Create Job.

1. Open the load job and tap the centre LoadNode button: Start ladder session (or Open session once it has rows).
2. In the footer, type the charge weight you loaded into Add charge (gr) and submit, the shot pad opens for that rung.
3. Tap velocities on the keypad and tap Add shot for each. The live Shots / Avg / SD / ES bar updates as you go (SD shows green at 10 fps or below, amber above).
4. Tap a shot chip to exclude a flyer, or long-press it to edit, mark a called flyer, or delete. Close the pad and repeat for the next charge.

SD (population standard deviation, the chronograph convention) measures how consistent your velocities are; ES (extreme spread) is the highest minus the lowest. LoadNode shows both live per charge and lets you exclude an obvious flyer from the stats. More on what a good SD is.

Open a load job and tap Analysis (Pro): the bar-chart icon in the header, or Charge Analysis in the action sheet. Velocity vs charge plots each charge’s average velocity as a dot with a whisker of ±1 SD of the individual shots: that is shot-to-shot spread, not confidence in the average, and the caption tells you how many shots each dot rests on. Group vs charge puts group size and average velocity on one picture with two axes, both plotted against charge weight, not against each other. Its caption repeats what the app says on screen: each charge shows its smallest recorded group, so a charge with more groups gets more chances at a lucky low point, and a flat spot in a short ladder is usually sampling noise rather than a property of the load, which is why LoadNode marks nothing. The same screen opens Compare charges and Composite (pooled groups). Both charts are plots of your own recorded data, with no verdict attached.

Not in the way most apps claim to, and that is deliberate. Open a load job, go to Analysis (Pro) and then Compare charges: LoadNode pools every group you have shot at each charge weight and reports dispersion as a range rather than a single number, because a 3 or 5 shot group carries far more uncertainty than a ladder test usually admits. Where two charges overlap inside that uncertainty it says so instead of crowning a winner, and where the sample supports the estimate at all it says roughly how many shots at each charge in total it would take to tell them apart, counting the ones you have already fired. It never names a winner, never marks a charge as best and never calls one a node. See finding a velocity node for why flat spots in a short ladder are usually noise.

A dedicated job type (Pro). When you create a load job, pick Neck tension as the testing type and choose how you’re varying it (bushing size, mandrel size, interference, or seating force). Each ladder rung is a different tension instead of a different charge; log velocities and measure groups as usual. The job’s Analysis tab then charts SD vs tension and group size vs tension with the same honest uncertainty as the charge comparison, so you can see what your data says without the app prescribing a value.

Yes, with Pro. Open the firearm and tap Compare sessions, then pick the load jobs you want side by side. Each charge is shown with the uncertainty on it, and where the conditions differed enough between sessions to matter, LoadNode says so rather than letting you read the difference as load behaviour. As everywhere else, it reports what your data can and cannot separate and never names a winner.

Yes. A session’s name, goal and notes are editable after it exists, and so are the jam, the jump and the loaded CBTO. A jam you measure later still feeds the throat erosion chart, and it is dated as measured, when you took the reading, rather than when you typed it in, so a reading taken in March and entered in September does not land at the wrong end of the chart.

Yes, in either direction. The jam, the jump and the loaded CBTO are one fact written three ways: type either the jump or the loaded CBTO and the other fills in, seeded from the recipe when the recipe has one. Correct the jam afterwards and the app moves the side you did not type, not the side you did. Delete the jam and the derived side goes with it, rather than leaving a number nobody entered.

Yes, on every ladder type: charge, seating, neck tension, tuner and primer seating.

1. Open the ladder session.
2. Above the add box, turn off Open shot entry after adding. LoadNode remembers the choice on this device.
3. Type a value and press Done on the keyboard: the rung is added and the keyboard stays up for the next one.
4. At the range, tap a rung to log its shots.

If the shot pad opens on a new rung you have not fired yet, it offers Keep for later (keeps the empty rung) and Remove (takes it off). LoadNode never proposes a value: every rung is one you typed.

Yes. As well as a charge ladder you can step seating depth, neck tension, tuner position and primer seating depth (the last two are Pro). Each is a test type of its own, and each charts SD and group size against what it actually stepped rather than against a charge. Primer seating is measured in thou below flush, and flush is zero, which is a real setting you can log. To shoot strings of one load with nothing stepped, use a group test.

A session type for shooting strings of one load, with no ladder to set up. Choose a factory load when you create the session and it becomes a group test on its own; for a handload you have already settled on, pick Group test as the testing type.

On the session, tap Add string for each string you shoot and log its velocities and its group the usual way. Logging is free. With Pro, Group Analysis pools the strings into one group and compares them with each other.

Any chronograph works for manual entry. For automatic Bluetooth sync, LoadNode supports two families (a Pro feature, on Android and iPhone):

• Garmin Xero C1 and C2: either model can pull a saved session onto your ladder, and the C2 also does live capture, with velocities landing on the ladder as you fire.
• Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro (the Athlon Rangecraft Velocity PRO Radar Chronograph): sync the sessions stored on it, and watch shots land live while a session runs on the radar.

More chronograph support is on the roadmap.

On the shot pad, type the velocity on the keypad and tap Add shot: repeat for each shot. This works with any chronograph. If you have a Garmin Xero C1 or C2 or an Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro you can sync a saved session automatically instead, and a C2 or an Athlon can capture shots live (below).

Two ways to get velocities off a Garmin Xero, both landing on the same charge ladder:

• Sync (pull): shoot your string, press End Session on the Xero, then pull the saved session into LoadNode. Works with the C1 and C2.
• Live capture (C2 only): tap Go Live and each shot lands on the ladder the instant you fire, with SD and ES updating shot by shot. Nothing to sync afterwards.

Use Sync if you already shot the group or you have a C1; use Live on a C2 to watch the numbers build as you work the ladder. On an Athlon, live needs no button: start a session on the radar with a shot log open (see the Athlon questions below).

Sync is a Pro feature. First, turn the Xero on and make sure your phone’s Bluetooth is on.

1. Open the Firearms tab → your firearm → the load job → centre LoadNode button (Start ladder session / Open session) to reach the Charge Ladder.
2. Tap the Chrono button at the top-right of the Charge Ladder. The Chronograph screen opens.
3. Tap Scan for chronograph. On Android, allow the Bluetooth permission when prompted. It shows “Looking for your Xero…”.
4. Under Found chronographs, tap your device (e.g. Xero C1 – 8099 or Xero C2 – 3342). It shows Connecting… then Connected.
5. Go back to the ladder, the button now reads Chrono ✓ (green). The connection stays live as you move around the app.

Yes, if you want it to. In Settings → Chronograph, turn on Automatically connect on app start (a Pro option). LoadNode remembers your last-paired chronograph (a Xero or an Athlon) and reconnects it when you open the app, no scanning. A green Chrono connected badge shows when it’s ready; a red one means it couldn’t reach the device (open the Chrono screen to retry). Leave the toggle off to connect manually as usual.

Live capture is a Pro feature and needs a connected Garmin Xero C2.

1. On the Charge Ladder, tap the charge you’re testing to open the shot pad.
2. Tap Go Live. Pick the projectile, enter bullet weight, choose the velocity range, then tap Start session.
3. Fire. Each shot lands on the ladder as the bullet crosses the radar, with Avg / SD / ES updating on every shot. A one-tap Undo drops a stray (a sighter, or a neighbour’s shot).
4. Move to the next charge by opening its row, the session keeps running and new shots follow the open charge.
5. Tap End Session (or just close the log) to finish and save it on the device.

When you tap Go Live, LoadNode asks for the same three things the Garmin app does, because they drive measurement quality:

• Projectile: rifle, pistol, shotgun, air rifle, arrow or other.
• Bullet weight: pre-filled from your recipe’s bullet; feeds the device’s energy / power-factor math.
• Velocity range: for firearms, 600–1,700 fps or 1,700–5,000 fps. This sets the radar’s measurement window; pick the band your muzzle velocity falls in. Air rifle and arrow use the slow band automatically.

Your last setup is remembered, so the next trip to the same rifle is two taps: Go Live → Start.

This is the pull workflow: it works the same for the Garmin Xero C1 and C2. (On a C2 you can also capture live: see above.)

1. Shoot your group, then press End Session on the Xero itself.
2. In LoadNode, on the Charge Ladder tap the charge row you fired to open the shot pad: you’ll see a green Chrono live badge.
3. Tap Sync shots from chrono. The Pick a session sheet lists your saved sessions newest-first (the top one is marked Latest), each showing time, shot count and average.
4. Tap the session you just shot. LoadNode pulls it and shows a review with Avg / SD / ES; if the row already has shots, choose Append or Replace with chrono shots.
5. Tap Add N shots: they drop straight into the ladder with live stats.

If it says there are no sessions, make sure you pressed End Session on the Xero; if the link dropped, power-cycle the Xero and reconnect from the Chrono screen.

No. Every live shot is tagged with the device’s own session and shot identity, so if you later Sync the same saved session from the Xero, LoadNode recognises what it already captured live and skips it, the review simply shows nothing new to add. Capture live and still pull the saved file for peace of mind, without doubling your data.

The Xero’s radar sleeps after a spell of inactivity to save power; while asleep it records shots on the device but doesn’t push them to the app. If the live view stops updating, tap Turn on radar when it appears (LoadNode shows it after a radar timeout) and keep shooting. Anything missed while the radar slept is still on the device: Sync the saved session afterwards to backfill.

Make sure the Xero is powered on and nearby, your phone’s Bluetooth is on, and that you have Pro (sync is a Pro feature). On the Chronograph screen tap Scan for chronograph; on Android, allow the Bluetooth permission prompt. If a session won’t pull, press End Session on the Xero first; if the link dropped, power-cycle the Xero and reconnect from the Chrono screen. Both the C1 and C2 are supported for sync; for the Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro, see the Athlon questions in this section.

The connection to your Xero did not finish in time. The code in brackets at the end of the message is the Bluetooth reason: code 2 and code 3 both mean LoadNode stopped waiting before the link was complete, and on Android code 201 after a long wait means the phone itself stopped waiting. Same cause, same steps. Try these in order:

1. Wake the Xero with a button press, keep it within a few feet of your phone, then tap Try again and pick your Xero from the list.
2. Make sure it is not connected to another app or phone, such as Garmin ShotView: close that app, or turn Bluetooth off on the other phone.
3. Still failing? Remove the Xero from your phone’s Bluetooth settings (Android: Settings → Connected devices, or on Samsung Settings → Connections → Bluetooth; tap the gear next to the Xero, then Forget or Unpair. On a Pixel, a Xero that is not connected right now is under Previously connected devices. iPhone: Settings → Bluetooth, tap the ⓘ next to the Xero, then Forget This Device), then connect again from LoadNode, and accept the pairing request if your phone asks. If the Xero is not listed in your phone’s Bluetooth settings at all, skip this step. A stale Bluetooth pairing can make the connection hang instead of failing cleanly, and pairing again clears it.

If none of that helps, tap Share debug log on the same screen and send it to support: it shows where the connection stopped.

Sync is a Pro feature, on Android and iPhone. Turn the radar on and make sure your phone’s Bluetooth is on. The radar talks to one app at a time, so close the Athlon Ballistics app first (on Android, force-stop it from the phone’s app settings if it keeps the link).

1. Open the Charge Ladder (Firearms → your firearm → the load job → the centre LoadNode button) and tap Chrono at the top-right.
2. Tap Scan for chronograph. On Android, allow the Bluetooth permission when asked.
3. Under Found chronographs, tap the radar: its name starts with AthlonVPR.
4. The first time, your phone asks for a pairing code. Type the six-digit code the radar shows on its screen. It is a new code each time you pair.
5. It shows Connected, and back on the ladder the button reads Chrono ✓.

After the first pairing you do not need the code again. With Settings → Chronograph → Auto-connect on app start turned on, LoadNode reconnects your last chronograph when you open the app.

With an Athlon there is no Go Live button: the session belongs to the radar, and LoadNode listens to it.

1. With the radar connected, open the shot log for the charge you are testing.
2. Start a session on the radar, the way you normally do, with its session type and projectile weight.
3. Fire. Each shot lands in the open shot log as you shoot, with Avg / SD / ES updating on every shot.
4. Moving to the next charge? Open its shot log and the shots that follow land there.
5. End the session on the radar when the group is done. Closing the shot log in LoadNode leaves the radar’s session running.

1. End the session on the radar first: a session that is still running cannot be read yet.
2. Open the shot log for the charge you fired and tap Sync shots from chrono.
3. The Pick a session sheet lists the sessions stored on the radar, newest first by time; each row fills in its projectile weight, shot count and average as LoadNode reads it.
4. Tap the session. LoadNode shows a review with Avg / SD / ES; if the row already has shots, choose Append or Replace with chrono shots, then add them.

Velocities come in exactly as the radar recorded them, in whichever unit you chose in Settings.

LoadNode joins the session that is already running, and every shot from then on lands in the open shot log. The shots fired before you connected are still on the radar: when the session is over, Sync it and LoadNode adds only the shots it missed. The shots it already captured are recognised and skipped, so nothing is counted twice.

1. Make sure the radar is on, close to your phone, and that you have Pro.
2. Close the Athlon Ballistics app, and turn Bluetooth off on any other phone or tablet that has used the radar. The radar connects to one app at a time.
3. If pairing failed or the code was mistyped, remove the radar from your phone’s Bluetooth settings (Android: Settings → Connected devices, then the gear next to it and Forget; iPhone: Settings → Bluetooth, the ⓘ next to it, then Forget This Device), then scan again in LoadNode and type the new code the radar shows.

Still stuck? Tap Share debug log on the Chronograph screen and send it to support.

Use Rounds fired at this charge on the shot log. The number reaches component stock, brass, barrel life, cost, your season totals and every report, and it reaches no velocity statistic, because a round the chronograph did not see has no velocity to average.

It asks for the TOTAL you fired at that step, not the number that went missing. That matters more than it sounds: fire ten, chronograph seven, then mark all ten holes on the target, and a box asking for the missed rounds would get an honest 3 and charge you for thirteen. LoadNode takes the largest of the three accounts it has, your chronograph record, the impacts on the target, and your own number, so the same round cannot be counted twice whichever way you log it.

1. From a charge row tap Measure group (once a charge has a saved group the link reads View group and opens it read-only; editing is behind Edit markup + a confirm).
2. Tap Take photo or Choose from library: shoot the target square-on.
3. Calibrate the scale: line up a known reference under the crosshair and tap Set scale point ①, then the second point and Set scale point ②.
4. Enter the distance between those two points, pick in or cm (quick buttons 0.5″ / 1″ / 2″), and tap Set scale.
5. Set point of aim: pan your aim point under the crosshair and tap Set aim point.
6. Mark impacts in firing order: pan each hole under the crosshair and tap Add hole (or tap the photo). Pinch to zoom for accuracy; tap a marker then Delete or Done to adjust it.
7. The results bar shows Group (in and MOA/MIL), Mean R and Shots. Everything up to here is free. Tap Save to keep the group and link it to the charge: saving is a Pro feature.

Measuring and reading the numbers is free on every tier. Saving a measured group to a charge, and exporting or sharing the marked-up target, are Pro.

Angular units (MOA / MIL) and group-size units (inches / centimetres) are set once in Settings → Units and apply everywhere. On the measure screen, tap the sliders icon (top-right) to set the shot Range (yd / m), Bullet Ø, and Scope clicks. The in/cm toggle on the calibrate step only affects the distance value you type there.

Group size (center-to-center / extreme spread) is driven by the two widest shots; mean radius is the average distance of all shots from center and is a more stable accuracy measure. LoadNode shows both. See mean radius vs group size. To get a mean radius over 20 to 50 shots instead of one target, see Composite (pooled group) analysis.

Yes. On the measure screen tap the sliders icon and set Scope clicks to ¼ MOA or 0.1 MRAD. LoadNode then gives the click correction to move your point of impact to your point of aim. Available on the free tier.

Yes, and showing it is free. On the measure screen tap the sliders icon and turn on Info box on photo, then pick which fields to show (Bullet, Powder + charge, Brass, Primer, CBTO, Jam, Seating Depth, Neck tension, Shoulder bump, Distance, Group size, Mean radius, Date). Drag the box to place it: it’s pinned to the photo, so it stays put over your chosen spot (it won’t drift onto your shots) when you export. Drag its corner handle to resize it, and the text scales with it. Exporting or sharing the target (Pro) burns it into the image.

Yes (Pro). On the measure screen, tap the share icon and pick a format: Annotated target (with data), or a Result card in Square (1:1), Portrait (4:5) or Story (9:16). The download icon saves the annotated image straight to your photo gallery.

Yes (Pro). After you save a group, tap Match holes to shots, then assign each numbered hole to one of your chronograph shots (shown as #N · velocity) and tap Save matches. This shot-by-shot link is what powers the AI group analysis.

Yes (Pro): saved groups auto-link to the exact charge and recipe, so your photo, measurements and load data stay together.

Charge: swipe the charge row left: in the ladder session or on the job screen, and confirm; this also removes the shots logged under it. Group: swipe it left in the job’s Groups list and confirm, or open the group and use Delete group (which also removes its impacts). Every delete asks first, so a stray swipe can’t lose data.

Yes. On the charge ladder, tap the group icon on the charge you shot and choose Enter what my target measured instead of Measure from a target photo. Fill in the size the target reported and the number of shots. LoadNode records it as entered, never as something it measured, works out the angular size from the range on the job, and keeps it beside your photo-measured groups.

Composite analysis (also called pooling) takes several small measured groups and combines them into one big sample, so a load is described by the 20 to 50 shots you actually recorded instead of by one lucky 5-shot target. Every group is shifted onto its own centre first, so zero shifts, different aim points and point-of-impact wander between targets don’t inflate the dispersion figures.

Those are two separate things and the screen keeps them separate: group-to-group movement is reported as point-of-impact wander, and how far the group centres sat from your point of aim is reported below it as a POA offset, which is zero or sight error rather than wander.

It then reports the statistics that use every shot and settle down as the sample grows: mean radius, R50, R95 and the vertical-versus-horizontal split, with the uncertainty around them stated rather than hidden. Nothing that re-centring takes out goes missing: it is reported in those two blocks instead, never buried in the dispersion figures. It is a description of your own recorded data: it never tells you what to load.

Whether you have enough data to answer the question you are asking, and if not, roughly how much more shooting it would take. That is the expensive question in load development: it is easy to burn a hundred rounds chasing a difference your sample was never able to resolve.

Pooled across every group you have fired, the numbers behind a charge stop swinging with each new target, and the 95% interval printed beside the mean radius visibly narrows as you add groups. On the Compare charges screen a pair of charges reads either Different or Not resolved, and where the arithmetic supports a number it tells you roughly how many shots at each charge in total it would take to separate them, counting the ones you have already fired. It never names a winner and never calls a charge a node: it tells you what your data supports, and the decision stays yours, against current published data.

1. Open the Firearms tab and tap the firearm.
2. Tap the load job (the session) whose groups you want to pool.
3. Open Analysis: the bar-chart icon in the header, or Charge Analysis in the action sheet.
4. Tap the Composite (pooled groups) card.

The screen header reads Composite. The card appears on every job type: charge ladder, seating depth, mixed and neck tension. Analysis and Composite are Pro.

Chips along the top of the Composite screen switch the scope, and everything on screen recomputes: This session (the default: every measured group in that load job), one chip per ladder row that has at least one measured group, labelled by its charge weight where the row carries one and by the row’s own label where it does not (a neck-tension or seating-depth rung, for instance), and Whole recipe, which appears only when the job was based on a recipe.

Whole recipe is the cross-session view: every group from every session you have shot on that recipe. That is normally how you reach 20 to 50 shots, because it pools work done weeks apart. When two rows would produce the same chip text, the chips and the scatter legend add #1 and #2 so you can tell them apart; the numbering follows their position in the list, not the date. That is a retest on a charge ladder, but it is the normal case on a seating-depth or neck-tension job, where every rung can share one charge weight.

Mean radius is the average distance of a shot from the centre of its own group. Every shot contributes, so it is far steadier than a group size decided by the two widest holes. R50 is the radius that half of your recorded shots fell inside (the empirical median, sometimes called CEP), and R95 is the radius 95% of them fell inside. R50 and R95 are read straight off your own shots, not produced by a model.

The wording on screen is deliberate: small samples understate a load’s true spread, so read R50 and R95 as a floor, not as a prediction of future shots. Figures show to 2 decimals in MOA and 3 in MIL (1 MIL is about 3.44 MOA, so MIL needs the extra digit or two different values collapse into the same text). Background: mean radius vs group size.

Because measuring each shot’s distance from its own group’s centre systematically shrinks it. Centring on a sample centroid rather than the true centre shrinks every residual to √(1 − 1/n) of its true size, a loss of about 29% at 2 shots per group, 18% at 3 and 11% at 5. The raw pooled average is an honest description of the re-centred sample, but it flatters the load.

So the large figure at the top is the corrected estimate: a dispersion parameter (σ) fitted to all the pooled residuals, with the degrees of freedom spent locating each group’s centre taken out and the remaining square-root bias corrected, then converted to a mean radius by the Rayleigh factor √(π/2) ≈ 1.2533. The smaller line beneath, labelled Observed in the recentred sample, is the raw average, kept so the unmodelled shape of your data stays visible. They are two different quantities, and quoting one as the other is simply wrong.

That pair of numbers is what you see on a sample the app judges round. When the directional test rejects roundness there is only one: the headline becomes the re-centred value itself, no 95% interval is shown, and a caption in place of the comparison line explains why (see the circular-model answer below).

It is a chi-squared (χ²) interval on the pooled residuals, scaled by the same √(π/2) factor as the headline: the band the underlying dispersion plausibly sits in, given how many shots across how many groups you pooled. It is wide on a small sample and narrows as you add groups, which is the whole point of the screen. The bounds are taken from the uncorrected χ² pivot while the headline carries the small-sample bias correction, so the headline does not sit exactly in the middle of its own band.

It is the only interval printed on the Composite screen, and on a sample the directional test flags as uneven it is not printed at all. It is not the only one in the app: Compare charges prints a 95% range on each charge’s mean radius, built from the same Rayleigh σ.

An earlier build also drew a t-based interval around the raw pooled average. It was removed because it did not work: in simulation its real coverage ran from 0.83 down to 0.39 instead of the 0.95 it advertised. Only the interval that survived testing is shown.

How tight the shots are and where the group landed are two different questions, and mixing them answers neither. Across four targets shot at four aim points, or after the zero moved, distance from one common origin would be mostly zero error rather than dispersion. So each group is shifted onto its own centre first: every impact has that group’s own mean x and mean y subtracted from it, and only then are the groups pooled.

Nothing is hidden by it. The movement that re-centring takes out is measured and shown in its own Point-of-impact wander section on the same screen, so neither number can conceal the other.

Mean wander is the average distance of each group’s centre from the average of all your group centres. It measures how much the groups moved relative to one another: barrel temperature, changing conditions, aiming differences between targets. It does not care where the rifle is zeroed.

Mean POA offset, in its own block just below with its own caption, is the average distance of those same centres from your point of aim. That is zero or sight error, not wander. A rifle zeroed 1 MOA high that stacks every group in the same place reports a POA offset of 1.00 and a mean wander of 0.00. The two are kept apart on screen precisely because they are so easy to confuse.

SD Horiz and SD Vert (the sample standard deviation of the group centres, left/right and up/down) and Max span (the largest distance between any two centres) are wander numbers too. The section needs at least 2 pooled groups, and each centre counts equally whatever its shot count, so a 2-shot group’s centre carries the same weight as a 10-shot group’s more precise one. The screen says so.

They are the up-and-down and left-and-right spread of the pooled shots, corrected for the fact that centring each group on its own mean uses up one degree of freedom per axis per group: σ = √(sum of the squared offsets / (N − G)), with N pooled shots from G groups. They need more shots than groups; when N equals G there is nothing left to estimate from and the screen shows a dash.

The app also works out the shape of the pooled cloud (how stretched it is, and along which axis) but it will not describe your sample as elongated on that ratio alone. It first asks how often a perfectly round process would throw a cloud at least that lopsided, and only uses directional wording when the answer is 10% or less. The reason is blunt: a 1.4:1 threshold is exceeded by pure noise on 94.6% of honest 3-shot samples, so the ratio on its own settles nothing. When the ratio looks big but chance explains it, the screen says exactly that instead.

Under a circular-normal (Rayleigh) model, R50 ≈ 1.17741 × σr and R95 ≈ 2.44775 × σr, where σr is the single radial dispersion parameter formed from the two per-axis sigmas. The model view is steadier than empirical quantiles at small sample sizes, and empirical and model figures converging is itself information, so it is offered as a secondary line beside the measured ones.

When the directional test rejects roundness, those circular figures are withheld, because on genuinely elliptical data they run 2.6 to 9.9% high on the mean radius. The headline then becomes the re-centred value itself, the 95% interval under it disappears, and in place of the usual comparison line the screen states that no single-number model is offered for a directionally uneven sample and points you at the per-axis sigmas instead.

Mechanically: a group needs a range and at least 2 marked impacts to be pooled at all, the wander section needs 2 or more groups, and the per-axis sigmas need more pooled shots than groups. Practically, the feature was built for the 20 to 50 shot range, and below 20 pooled shots the caption adds its own warning: Small sample: R95 is still noisy; keep adding groups.

There is no shot count at which the numbers turn certain, which is why the 95% interval is printed beside the estimate rather than left out (the exception is a sample the directional test flags as uneven: there the model estimate and its interval are both withheld and the per-axis sigmas carry the reading instead). Watching that interval narrow as you add groups tells you more than any threshold would.

Because extreme spread uses only 2 of your n shots, and its expected value grows with shot count. A 30-shot composite spread cannot be compared with any 5-shot number, so printing one would flatter or damn a load purely on how much you shot. The screen states this outright rather than leaving a gap: mean radius and R50/R95 use every shot and stabilise as groups are added, which is why those are the numbers on show. The same note travels into the PDF. More on why mean radius beats group size.

No. It never names a winner, never ranks your charges, never marks one as the best and never calls one a node, at any sample size. Pooling makes the numbers behind each charge more trustworthy; the decision stays yours, made against current published load data. LoadNode is a logbook and analysis tool: it never tells you what to load, in the app, in the AI analysis or on this site. See why flat spots in a short ladder are usually noise.

Groups are never silently dropped: any that could not be pooled are listed by name at the foot of the screen with the reason. There are exactly two reasons:

1. No range set. Dispersion is an angle, so without the distance you shot at there is nothing to compute. Open the group and enter the range.
2. Fewer than 2 marked impacts. One hole has no spread to measure.

One thing can quietly cost you impacts: a hole is only placed if that group has an aim point and a calibrated scale. Holes the app cannot place are dropped rather than given an invented position, which can leave a group under the 2-impact threshold. If nothing qualifies at all, the screen names the groups that fell out and why, instead of showing a blank page.

Yes, and that is why the maths is done in angular space. Each impact is converted to MOA using its own group’s range before anything is pooled, so a 100 yard group and a 300 yard group are in the same units before they meet, and the Whole recipe scope pools across sessions shot weeks or months apart. The conversion itself is exact. Whether shots taken at very different distances belong in one sample is your call: wind and transonic effects grow with range, and they land in the angular figures as if they were the load.

One thing does change: the inch or centimetre equivalent under the headline (whichever linear unit you have set) appears only when every pooled group shares one range. A linear size exists only at a single distance, so when the ranges differ the angular figures stand alone.

The plot is titled All impacts, groups re-centered: every pooled shot, drawn relative to its own group’s centre, with up on the target as up on the plot. The three rings are drawn at your measured values: MR (solid, the observed re-centred mean radius rather than the corrected headline above it), R50 and R95 (dashed), each labelled in your angular unit. Every source group gets its own colour and marker shape (colour-blind aware, matching Settings → Accessibility), and the legend repeats that exact marker beside the group’s label, its shot count and that group’s own mean radius, so a long legend can still be matched to the plot.

Yes. The Pooled velocity card gives Avg, SD, ES and Shots across every logged shot in the selected scope, with excluded and flagged flyers left out and counted in the caption. SD is the population standard deviation, the chronograph convention used everywhere else in the app. Read it against the scope chip you have selected. On a single-charge chip, an SD over 20 to 50 pooled shots is a far steadier estimate of that load’s consistency than any 5-shot string. This session and Whole recipe pool every logged shot in scope, charge weights included, so their SD is driven mostly by the velocity difference between charges and is not a reading of one load’s shot-to-shot consistency. The card also reports how many pooled impacts are linked to their shot’s velocity: the subset where you know both where the shot went and how fast it was.

The dispersion numbers do. When at least 2 groups from that job pooled, the job report PDF gains a Composite, all groups pooled block carrying the sample size, the headline mean radius with its interval, the re-centred value, R50/R95, the per-axis sigmas and the pooled velocity, using the same estimator, the same directional decision and the same decimal precision as the screen. A number that reads differently in the app and in the PDF is treated as a bug, not a rounding quirk. The block always covers that session’s own groups rather than the whole-recipe scope, and the scatter plot and the point-of-impact wander block stay in the app. A single-group job gets no composite block, so one group is never dressed up as a composite.

No. Composite is pure computation over what the app already stores: your point-of-aim-relative impact positions, each group’s range, and the optional link from a hole to its chronograph shot. There is no extra capture step and nothing to switch on, so it works retroactively on groups you measured months ago, as long as each has a range and at least 2 marked holes.

Pro. Pro is a single one-time purchase: $29.99 at launch, $39.99 regular, no subscription. On the free tier the Composite screen shows an upgrade card in place of the statistics, and since the Analysis screen carrying the entry card is itself Pro, that is usually the first prompt you meet. Measuring a group and reading its numbers stays free on every tier; pooling many groups into one sample is part of Pro. What you get for it is a steadier number and an honest interval around it; it still never names a winner and never calls a charge a node.

Yes (Pro). Comparing rungs within a session, and sessions against each other, is not the same question as deciding between two whole loads. Each load becomes one sample built from every group ever measured on it, across every session, with a confidence interval on each and a test of whether they are actually separable.

Two things it deliberately does not do. It does not mark a winner. And it says above the numbers, not in a footnote, that two loads differ by everything you changed between them and by every afternoon they were shot on: barrel condition, weather, component lots and your own day all moved as well. Read it as a place to look, not a verdict.

1. Measure and Save a group first.
2. On the group screen tap Analyze with AI.
3. If the session has weather logged, choose With weather or Without weather; if some holes aren’t matched to shots yet, you can still Analyze anyway.
4. The result shows a pattern badge, a plain-language summary, and OBSERVATIONS and SUGGESTIONS sections. Tap Re-analyze to run it again.

AI group analysis is a Pro feature.

Three things, and they are about reading your own target, not about your load. First a pattern for the dispersion it sees, with a stated confidence. Then up to five observations drawn from your own numbers: the shape of the group, where the impacts sit relative to each other, and how they line up with the velocities you logged, if you matched holes to shots. Then up to three checks worth ruling out before you read anything into that shape.

The checks are the useful part, and they are measurement and technique only. Real examples, word for word: “Check the optic for parallax at this distance before reading much into the spread.” “Check that the rest and rear bag held the rifle the same way for every shot.” “Record more shots before drawing conclusions from this shape.” The point is to stop you spending components on a load problem that was never a load problem. It never gives you a charge, a powder or a recipe, and it never tells you what to try next on the load.

No. Like the rest of LoadNode, the AI never provides charge weights or recipes and never tells you what to load: it only helps you understand the data you collected, and always reminds you to cross-check published load data.

Pro includes 10 AI group analyses, granted once on purchase. They arrive with the purchase and are yours to spend whenever you like; when you want more, top up with a credit pack.

A one-off. The 10 arrive with your Pro purchase, granted once on purchase, and that is the whole of what Pro includes: Pro is a single payment, not a subscription, so there is no ongoing balance top-up behind it. Everything past the first 10 comes from a credit pack you choose to buy, and those credits never expire.

One credit = one AI group analysis. There are exactly two packs: 50 analyses for $7.99 and 110 analyses for $14.99. Credits never expire, and the larger pack costs less per analysis.

No. Credits never expire: buy once, use whenever.

The analysis receives numbers and text only: your group geometry and impact positions, the per-shot velocities matched to them, the load context you entered for that charge (charge weight and component names), plus weather if you opt in. Your target photo is never sent; it stays on your device. See our privacy policy.

Yes. If the group or its shots have changed since an analysis was written (you marked another impact, corrected a velocity, re-measured the group), the saved analysis says so, so you know its reading is describing an earlier version of the group and is worth running again.

Cost tracking lives on its own Costs tab. Enable it under Settings → Reloading costs → Track costs (Pro), set your Currency and a Default brass life (firings), then open the Costs tab for the hub.

In the costs hub: Component prices → Add a price for each bullet/powder/primer/brass; Inventory → Add stock to track on-hand counts and rounds you can still load; Equipment → Add equipment for one-time gear (used for break-even); and Factory prices → Add factory price (box price ÷ rounds) to compare against off-the-shelf ammo.

The Costs & ROI dashboard shows rounds loaded, total spent loading, savings vs factory, your break-even point against gear, cost-per-round by load, and a cost-vs-consistency view. It costs and compares your own data: it never suggests what to load.

Yes. The savings-vs-factory figure uses a factory price you can set for any cartridge, including one you typed in yourself, so the comparison reflects what ammunition actually costs you rather than a generic figure. Cost and ROI tracking is part of Pro.

Give a factory load its box price and rounds per box, and LoadNode shows the cost per round, per 100 and for each session that fired it (Pro). On the Costs screen, factory loads are compared with your handloads per round, and they are kept out of what you spent loading, so your handloading totals and savings stay about handloading.

Nothing in LoadNode converts between currencies, and nothing pretends to. Every figure on the cost screens, the job cost card and both PDFs is judged on the set of records it is actually made of. A price with no currency on it prints bare and marked rather than borrowing a symbol, and a per-load cost that is missing a component price is badged as partial and names what is missing instead of printing at half price. A load with every component priced but no charge weight is treated the same way, rather than being costed as though the powder were free.

The Quick Stats tab shows your best group and best SD: overall and per rifle: computed live from your logbook. Groups need 5+ impacts and SDs need 5+ velocities to qualify, so neither a lucky pair nor a thin 3-shot string can set a record. Tap a record to open the group or session behind it. Records are visible on the free tier: best SD works free, because logging velocities is free. Best group is built from saved groups, and saving a group is Pro, so the group record fills in once you upgrade. Sharing a record card is Pro.

Milestones are bronze/silver/gold medals for real accomplishment, computed from your data (Pro): On the Books (first recipe), Ladder Climber (first 3-charge ladder), Sub-MOA Club and Half-Minute (measured groups under 1 / 0.5 MOA, 5+ impacts), Single Digits and Match Grade (SD under 10 / 5 fps over 10+ shots, with the whole 95% interval clearing the line: at exactly 10 shots that works out to a displayed SD of about 5.2 and 2.6 fps, and a longer string clears the line at a noticeably higher displayed SD because its interval is tighter: at 20 shots the Single Digits line sits nearer 6.7 than 5.2 fps), plus volume tiers up to 5,000 rounds. The group medals use the same 5-impact floor as the records; it is the SD medals that are stricter, because a medal is a claim and has to survive its own uncertainty. Tap a medal to see when you earned it. Nothing is stored: delete the data, lose the medal.

A full-screen season recap (Pro), opened from the card on Quick Stats: rounds logged and sessions, best group and best SD, your consistency trend (median SD, first half vs second half of the year), most-shot rifle, powder of the year, busiest month, and the medals you earned this season. All computed on your device from your own logbook.

Maintenance-minded warnings on Quick Stats (Pro): a barrel at 80%+ of its accuracy life (red past 100%), and hard-worked brass when a recipe’s sessions are tagged at 5×-fired or more. Each alert routes to where you act on it. Descriptive only: never load advice.

Android (Pro): long-press an empty spot on your home screen → Widgets → find LoadNode → drag it on. Open the app’s Quick Stats tab once so the widget has data: it shows rounds logged, best group and best SD, plus a barrel-life warning when one is due, and refreshes when you open Quick Stats. iOS widget is coming.

Go to Settings → Backup & restore, set a password, and tap Encrypt & back up. The backup includes all your data and your app settings, and you can optionally include your target photos. It saves through the share sheet, so you can keep it in Google Drive, your device storage, or anywhere else your share sheet offers, or move it to a new phone. To restore, tap Restore from backup, pick the file, enter its password, then choose Merge (fold it in) or Replace all. Backup and restore is free for everyone.

Yes: a backup is a password-encrypted backup file (.lnbackup, AES-256), so it is unreadable to anyone without the password. There is no plain-text or JSON copy: encryption is not an option you can turn off. Your password is never stored and cannot be recovered, so keep it somewhere safe: a lost password means the backup can’t be restored. Backups include your data and app settings, with target photos optional, and it’s free for everyone.

Go to Settings → Account, enter your email and we’ll send you a 6-digit sign-in code to enter in the app. There is no password to create and none to remember: the emailed code is the only way in. Cloud sync keeps your data and settings in step across devices, plus photo backup, all part of Pro; tap Sync now to push and pull. It is entirely optional: LoadNode works offline without an account.

No. LoadNode has no ads, no analytics profile, no cross-app tracking and no data selling: on both Free and Pro. We never sell your data; the only sharing is with the service providers that make a feature work, each one named in our privacy policy. The one diagnostic exception: crash reports (via Sentry) may be collected to fix bugs, scrubbed of your identity and your reloading data, and used for nothing else. See our privacy policy.

Photo metadata such as GPS / EXIF is stripped before any upload, so your photos do not carry location or device details to the cloud.

Yes, with Pro. Settings → Export data as CSV writes your whole logbook as plain CSV files, with a short guide describing how they join up, so you can open them in any spreadsheet. The password-encrypted backup carries all the same records and stays free on every tier: what Pro buys is the plain, open form of it.

That is deliberate, not a fault. A sync brings your records down straight away but leaves photos in your cloud backup until you open them, so a new device does not spend its storage and data on years of pictures before you have looked at one. Each photo downloads when you open it.

To get them all at once (before a trip with no signal, say), go to Settings: under Account, right below the line that says how many photos are waiting, tap Download all for offline use. It shows its progress, and once every photo has arrived the line and the button go away. A photo that did not arrive is named and is still safe in your cloud backup, and the button stays so you can try again.

Nothing is lost. If the app is closed, crashes or the phone switches off partway through restoring a backup, LoadNode finishes the restore the next time you open it, photos included, without asking you anything. That holds for backups made by older versions of the app too.

Go to Settings → Account → Delete account to remove your account and everything stored in the cloud (rows and files erased promptly; residual backup copies purged within 30 days). Data already on your device stays until you remove the app. The released app will require no account to start, and nothing locks you in.

Free is a full logbook for up to two firearms: recipes (one recipe can be used on several firearms of the same cartridge), load jobs, charge ladders with live SD/ES (with several rungs added in a row at the bench), group measurement from a photo (MOA/MIL, mean radius, firing-order marking, the on-photo info box and scope-click correction), and encrypted backup. Pro unlocks unlimited firearms, multi-barrel and barrel-life / throat-erosion tracking, Garmin Xero C1 & C2 sync (with C2 live capture) and Athlon Rangecraft Velocity Pro sync with live capture, charge comparison with confidence intervals and group-vs-charge charts, composite (pooled-group) statistics over a charge, a session or a whole recipe, saving a measured group and auto-linking it to the load, plus the annotated target export and share cards with the on-photo info box, neck-tension, primer-seating and shoulder-bump tracking plus the neck-tension test, the parts and setup list for every firearm, comparing whole loads side by side, AI group analysis, cost & ROI (including factory box pricing), cloud sync with photo backup, milestone medals with the season recap and home-screen widget, recipe versions, the Load Book / report / range-card PDFs, and CSV export. (A few comfort/accessibility settings like haptic feedback and color-blind mode are free for everyone.)

No. Pro is a single one-time purchase: $29.99 at launch, $39.99 regular, and it is yours for life. The only optional extra is AI credit packs, which never expire.

$29.99 at launch, $39.99 regular. One payment, no subscription.

Both: encrypted backup and restore is free for everyone, so you always own and control your data, even on the free tier. Every backup is protected with a password you choose (AES-256).

Open Settings and tap Restore Purchases: it is always there, whether or not you are signed in. That re-presents your store receipt and restores Pro on the device. A purchase you made before signing in is also carried over when you do sign in. Pro is per store, so restore it on the same store account you bought it with.

It almost always comes down to the scale: re-check the two calibration points and the distance you typed, and that your aim point and impacts are placed accurately (pinch to zoom helps). See measuring in MOA.

Go to Settings → Units: Group angle (MOA / MIL), Group size (Inches / Centimetres), Calibration default, and Range / distance (Yards / Metres). Changes apply across the app.

Both. By default the app follows your device’s light or dark appearance, and you can pin it either way in Settings → Appearance → Theme (System / Light / Dark). (This website has its own light/dark toggle in the corner.)

Yes: Settings → Accessibility → Color-blind friendly swaps the ‘good’ green for blue across the stats, the SD and group grading, and the target markup, so the colour cues stay distinct.

Yes: Settings → Accessibility → Haptic feedback adds a light tap tick on every button, key and control across the whole app. It’s off by default (when off the app behaves exactly as before), and it’s free for everyone, not a Pro feature.

Email [email protected] or visit the support page.

That was a defect, and it is fixed. The report could only plot against charge weight, so a seating, tuner, neck-tension or primer-seating session produced a PDF with no analysis charts at all, even though the app showed them on screen. Those four now chart against whatever the session actually stepped, and the headings and captions name it instead of calling everything a charge. Export the report again and the charts will be there.