Polyfence is in Early Access. APIs and limits may still change. Your feedback shapes what we build.
Reference boards · proof of concept
Six boards across WiFi, cellular and LoRa, all running the same C engine as our API, checked byte for byte against the same reference run. Zones are evaluated on the board, so a tracker with no signal still catches the crossing and delivers it when the link returns.
The Heltec has been flown, driven and taken on trains; the other five are not field tested yet. Separately, on the bench, the cellular board ran four hours unattended. It delivered 62 crossings that had queued through network outages and recovered from six stuck-modem episodes on its own.
That is as far as it goes. This is a proof of concept we keep running, not a hardware product: no support at scale, no SLA, and the firmware is not under active development while focus is back on the mobile SDKs and the zone platform. Reference boards are for prototyping; for production hardware use the C library.
The roster
Flashing a board, drawing zones for it, and those zones reaching the device are three different things. All six have firmware, and zone assignment works for every one of them on our side. What differs is whether we have watched a stranger finish the setup unaided. So far that is one. Each card says how that board reports, and where it stops.
One board goes from plugged in to reporting with nothing left to do by hand. We walked it end to end down the path a new user takes. Setup runs in desktop Chrome or Edge and needs a free Polyfence account; the wizard mints the device’s key.
Heltec Automation · ESP32-S3
The one we have watched run unattended. ESP32-S3 with LoRa SX1262, UC6580 GPS and a 0.96-inch colour screen that names the zone it just entered.
ReportsOn its own over WiFi, no computer in the loop
The wizard will flash all of these. What we have not done is watch someone outside the team take one all the way through on their own, so there is no setup link here yet. Each card says how that board reports and where it stops.
Espressif (generic / various) · ESP32-C3
The cheapest way to see Polyfence working end to end. WiFi and native USB, but no GPS on board. Add a GPS module before it can report where anything actually is.
ReportsOn its own over WiFi, once you add a GPS module
Experimental firmware
Seeed Studio · nRF52840
Battery-powered tracker with LoRa SX1262, GPS and a small screen. Its radio joins a network and its data reaches the server; reporting over LoRaWAN on its own is written but not finished, and not being worked on right now.
ReportsOnly while the setup page is open on your computer
Experimental firmware
LilyGo · nRF52840
Wearable, worker-safety form factor. nRF52840 with LoRa SX1262 and L76K GPS. Same chip family as the Wio Tracker L1, so the same geofencing runs unchanged. Only the size and shape differ.
ReportsOn its own over LoRaWAN, through your gateway
Experimental firmware
LilyGo · ESP32-S3
ESP32-S3 with a SIM7080G LTE-M / NB-IoT modem: the proof that a board can reach Polyfence over the mobile network with your own SIM and nothing in between. This firmware proves that link with a fixed heartbeat; live GPS is not in this image. The API key and APN go in at build time; the wizard cannot set them yet.
ReportsOn its own over the mobile network
Experimental firmware
LilyGo · ESP32
The most-asked-for ESP32 board for asset and livestock tracking: 18650 battery holder, LoRaWAN radio and GPS. Positions reach the map over LoRaWAN through your own gateway, and crossings recorded out of coverage are delivered when the device comes back in range. It joins the network only after its first GPS fix, so indoors it stays silent; this one has not reported yet.
ReportsOn its own over LoRaWAN, through your gateway
Experimental firmware
Your own hardware
The roster is a curated set, not the ceiling. Polyfence is a geofence layer before it is a tracker: the same zones you draw here run on hardware you already have, through a portable C library that needs nothing but a C compiler and the standard maths library. It compiles for nRF52, ESP32, STM32 and RP2040, and needs no account, no wizard and no dashboard.
If your board can reach the internet over WiFi, cellular or LoRa, it can run Polyfence.
Want official firmware for a board that is not here? Tell us → We are not adding boards at the moment, but what people ask for is how we decide when to pick this back up.
Board names, product images and trademarks are the property of their respective manufacturers. Polyfence is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by them; product photos are used to identify supported and compatible hardware.
Free during Early Access. No credit card.