How PhoTether decides
PhoTether recognises a camera from its Bluetooth advertisement — the GATT service it publishes, or the name it broadcasts — and loads the profile written for that family. Each profile knows that family's pairing sequence, its transfer method and its quirks, because those differ enough between bodies that one generic implementation would not work.
If the app does not recognise the family, it does not connect. That is deliberate: sending commands to a camera nobody has tested is how you discover that a body accepts a request and then stops answering anything else, and recovering from that can mean power-cycling the camera. Refusing is the safer failure.
The cameras
| Camera | How it connects | What works |
|---|---|---|
| Leica SL3, Q3 | Bluetooth LE, then the camera's own Wi-Fi access point. Also wired USB. | Live View, remote shutter, exposure control, browsing and transferring the card, and GPS push to the camera. |
| Leica M11, M11 Monochrom | Bluetooth LE, then the camera's own Wi-Fi access point. | Pairing, browsing and transferring the card, and GPS push. Includes a viewing boost for underexposed monochrome frames. |
| Panasonic Lumix S1RII (beta) | Bluetooth LE, then Wi-Fi — over the camera's REST interface rather than PTP. | Connection, Live View, transfer and GPS push. Still in testing; see the note below. |
About the Lumix S1RII
It is marked beta because it works differently enough to be worth saying so. It pairs on an unencrypted Bluetooth link rather than bonding, it advertises a rotating Bluetooth address with no name, and it is driven over a REST interface instead of PTP.
One consequence is worth knowing before you rely on it. Because the camera's Bluetooth address changes between sessions, PhoTether identifies it by family rather than by body, which means you can pair one Lumix at a time. The Leica bodies advertise a fixed address, so you can pair several and switch between them.
Wired USB
Wired tethering is Leica-only, and needs a phone that supports USB host. The SL3 presents a still-image PTP interface over USB and PhoTether offers itself when you plug one in. It deliberately ignores the camera's mass-storage interface, so plugging in does not mount the card as a drive.
On a phone without USB host support the app installs and works normally over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi; the USB option simply never appears.
Firmware
PhoTether reads your camera's firmware revision while it connects, but it does not check that revision against a list and will not refuse a connection because of it. No firmware version is blocked, and none is required.
What that means in practice: support for each body was developed against the firmware current at the time, and a manufacturer firmware update can change behaviour the app depends on. If a camera that used to work stops working after a firmware update, that is worth reporting to [email protected] — it is the kind of change only a report will surface.
What PhoTether needs from your phone
| Requirement | Why |
|---|---|
| Android 10 or later | Joining a camera's own access point without giving up your normal network needs an API introduced in Android 10. |
| Bluetooth Low Energy | Required. Every camera is found and paired over Bluetooth LE, and geotagging is pushed across the same link. |
| USB host support | Optional, and only for wired tethering. |
If your camera is not listed
It will not work, and the app will say so rather than half-connecting. Adding a body is not a configuration change — it means working out that family's pairing sequence and transfer behaviour against the camera itself.
If you would like a camera supported, or you have one of the bodies above and want to help test it, the beta programme is the place to say so.
PhoTether is an independent application. It is not made, endorsed, sponsored or supported by Leica Camera AG, Panasonic or any other camera manufacturer. Leica, Lumix and the model names above are trademarks of their respective owners, used here only to describe which cameras the app works with.