Track Mode: arm it once, let it pull your AiM sessions all day
Track Mode is a toggle in LapLift Sync, the companion app, that watches your AiM logger through the day and pulls each new session automatically — no cable, no per-stint connect. Arm it in the morning, put the phone down, and check LapLift between stints or at the end of the day.
It is a beta, and it works two different ways depending on how your phone talks to the logger. One of those ways is far more reliable for an unattended full day — but it is also the one nobody sets up by instinct, because it means turning your normal mental model backwards. This guide covers the setup, why the backwards way is the recommended one, and what to do when something looks stuck.
What you need
- An Android phone. Track Mode's hands-off version is Android-only — see the note below.
- A Wi-Fi AiM logger (Solo 2, MyChron, or an EVO/MX-family dash) with the LapLift Sync companion app installed.
- A free LapLift account, signed in on the phone.
iOS can run Track Mode, but not hands-off. iOS only allows an app to join a Wi-Fi network while it is in the foreground, so the background auto-pull this guide describes is Android in practice. On iPhone, keep the app open in the pit — it still does the connect/list/pull/upload work for you, just with the screen on and the app in front.
One-time setup: point the logger at your phone
The setup most people expect is the phone joining the logger's own Wi-Fi. Track Mode supports that (see the section below), but the recommended setup inverts it: the logger joins the phone's hotspot instead. That is a one-time change in AiM's Race Studio 3, done from a laptop before you leave for the track.
- Open Race Studio 3 and connect to your logger as usual.
- Switch the logger's Wi-Fi mode from its own access point to existing-network mode — it will join a network you specify instead of hosting one.
- Enter your phone's mobile hotspot name (SSID) and password as that network.
- Save and disconnect. The logger now looks for your phone's hotspot every time it powers up.
Two settings on the phone's hotspot cause almost every confusing first-time failure. Set the hotspot to the 2.4 GHz band — AiM loggers do not join a 5 GHz hotspot. And turn off the hotspot's auto-off / battery-saver timeout — left on, Android will quietly kill an idle hotspot, and the logger simply drops off the network with no obvious cause. Both are one-time phone settings, not something you touch per track day.
The morning ritual
Once the one-time setup above is done, arming Track Mode for a track day is four steps, in this order:
- Turn your phone's hotspot on.
- Open LapLift Sync.
- Switch on the Track Mode toggle at the top of the AiM section.
- Put the phone down. Keep it within Wi-Fi range of the car and leave the hotspot running — Track Mode does the rest.
Track Mode keeps a background service running and stays connected to your logger's network all day to do this, so it does use more battery than the app sitting idle. In most installs the logger itself is on car power, so this is a phone-side cost only.
What you should see while it is working
With Track Mode armed, the AiM section of the app replaces the manual connect screen with a status view: a phase line (watching, connecting, checking, or pulling), a Check now button for an on-demand pass, and four running counters — Pulled, Uploaded, In flight, and Failed. Below that is the list of sessions this run has seen and what happened to each.
A line at the bottom of that view is worth knowing before you see it and wonder if something is wrong: “Disconnects between checks so your logger keeps recording. Keep this phone within Wi-Fi range of your logger.” That disconnect between cycles is intentional — the logger only records while nothing is connected to it, so Track Mode lets go between passes on purpose, then reconnects for the next check.
The other mode: the phone joins the logger's Wi-Fi
Track Mode also works the way most people expect: leave the logger in its default own-access-point mode and let the phone join the logger's Wi-Fi network instead of the hotspot setup above. It is a real, working mode — fine for a short outing you are going to babysit, or before you have set the hotspot up.
It is not the recommendation for an unattended full day, for three reasons found on the bench:
- Android does not reliably rejoin the logger's Wi-Fi on its own when a normal internet Wi-Fi network is also saved on the phone — during testing, the network had to be picked by hand more than once.
- While the phone is joined to the logger's network, it has no internet — the network the logger hosts does not route anywhere. The app cannot check in with LapLift's server mid-day until the phone leaves that network.
- It is slower — roughly 215 KB/s measured, against roughly 320–400 KB/s for the hotspot setup.
| Hotspot (recommended) | Own-AP (phone joins logger) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who joins whom | Logger joins the phone's hotspot | Phone joins the logger's Wi-Fi |
| Network picker problem | None — the phone never changes networks | Phone can fail to auto-rejoin with another Wi-Fi saved |
| Internet mid-day | Yes — LTE carries it while the hotspot serves the logger | No — the phone has no internet while joined |
| Measured throughput | ~320–400 KB/s | ~215 KB/s |
| Best for | An unattended full day | A short outing you're watching |
Troubleshooting
Three situations account for most of what looks like a stuck Track Mode:
- Logger not found: the status line reads something like “Looking for your logger on this network…”. This is Track Mode watching, not an error — it means the logger has not shown up on the phone's hotspot yet. Confirm the hotspot is on, is on the 2.4 GHz band, and that the logger is powered and configured to existing-network mode with the right SSID and password.
- Connection refused right after an interruption: AiM loggers accept one client at a time. If Track Mode's connection ends ungracefully — the phone walks out of range, the hotspot drops — the logger can refuse the next connection attempt for a few minutes while it clears the old session. Track Mode's own retry copy names this directly and keeps retrying on its own; an ignition or power cycle on the logger clears it instantly if you don't want to wait.
- Hotspot dropped mid-day: if the phone's hotspot turns itself off, the logger loses its network and Track Mode has nothing to reach. This is almost always the auto-off / battery-saver timeout from the one-time setup — go back and confirm it is disabled, then turn the hotspot back on.
Questions
Is Track Mode out of beta?
No — it ships as a beta in this app-store release. The core loop (detect, connect, pull, disconnect, upload) is bench-validated, but treat it as new: keep an eye on it the first few times you run it, especially on a logger model you haven't tried it with before.
Why does the logger join my phone instead of the other way around?
Because it is the more reliable setup for a full unattended day: the phone's own network never changes, so there is no Wi-Fi picker for Android to get wrong, the phone keeps its internet connection the whole time (over LTE) so it can talk to LapLift's server mid-day, and it measured faster on the bench — roughly 320–400 KB/s against roughly 215 KB/s for the phone joining the logger's own Wi-Fi.
Can I use Track Mode on iPhone?
You can run it, but not hands-off. iOS only lets an app join a Wi-Fi network while it's in the foreground, so the background version this guide describes is Android only. On iPhone, keep LapLift Sync open at the pit — Track Mode still automates the connect/pull/upload, just with the app on screen.
Will Track Mode drain my phone's battery?
It uses more battery than the app sitting idle — it keeps a background service running and stays connected to the logger's network all day. The logger itself is typically on car power, so this cost is on the phone side only. Keep it plugged in if you can.
My session hasn't shown up yet — is it stuck?
Check the status line first. “Watching” or “Looking for your logger…” means Track Mode simply hasn't seen the logger yet, not that it failed — that's normal between stints or while the car is on track. If it's actively retrying after a drop, that's the single-client rule clearing itself; give it a few minutes or power-cycle the logger.
Do I still need Race Studio?
Only for the one-time setup — switching the logger to existing-network mode and entering your phone's hotspot credentials. After that, Track Mode handles every track day itself; you don't open Race Studio again unless you're changing the logger's network settings.
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