Bench setup

A Flipper without a microSD card is a demo unit. Almost every useful app, infrared library, Sub-GHz file, and NFC dump lives on the card. Format it FAT32, insert it fully, and keep a spare.

First hour on the bench

1. 01Charge it. A starving battery during a write is how you corrupt a card.
2. 02Insert a microSD (official docs require one). 8–32 GB is plenty.
3. 03Install qFlipper on your computer, or the official mobile app, from Flipper's own site.
4. 04Update to current official firmware before installing community apps.
5. 05Open Flipper Lab and install only apps you can name a legal use for.

Controls you will actually use

The directional pad and center button are the whole UI. Back/hold-back leaves an app. The left GPIO header is 3.3 V logic — treat it like a microcontroller, not a 12 V car harness. USB-C is charging, qFlipper, BadUSB, and USB–UART.

Why this manual stays on official firmware

Community forks exist. They often remove safety rails the vendor put in because those rails get in the way of attacking systems you do not own. You will learn more, faster, by mastering stock: file formats, the Sub-GHz receiver, NFC read/write on tags you bought, GPIO, and DuckyScript. If a skill only works after you flash a fork advertised as 'unleashed,' it does not belong in an own-gear lab.

File hygiene

Name files after the device they belong to: 'living-room-tv.ir', 'desk-ntag-url.nfc'. Never store dumps of credentials that are not yours. A dump on an SD card is still a copy of an access device.