Frequently asked questions

General

What is Heron and what does it do?

Heron is a passive DNS monitor for home networks. It watches DNS queries passing through your network and shows you which devices are connecting to which domains. It does not block, filter, or modify traffic.

Who is Heron for?

Heron is for anyone who wants to see what their devices are doing online. It is useful for people curious about network traffic, those learning about DNS, and anyone who prefers local tools over cloud services.

Is Heron a firewall or security appliance?

No. Heron is a monitoring and awareness tool. It shows you what is happening on your network. It does not block traffic by default.

Privacy and Data

Does Heron store my browsing history?

No. Heron uses volatile memory (RAM). When the device loses power, all logged DNS queries disappear. There is no persistent storage for user data.

What happens when I unplug Heron?

All recorded data disappears. The device keeps nothing on disk or flash. This is intentional: the point is live awareness, not long-term storage.

Does Heron send data to the cloud?

No. Heron has no cloud backend, no accounts, and no telemetry. The web interface is served directly by the device on your local network.

Can I verify that Heron doesn't store data?

Yes. The firmware is open source and the hardware is based on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, which has no onboard storage for logs. You can inspect the code and confirm that nothing is written to flash.

Technical

What hardware does Heron run on?

Heron runs on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W (RP2350) with built-in 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.

How do I access the interface?

Once Heron is connected to your network, open a browser and navigate to the device's local IP address. The interface is served directly by Heron.

Does Heron work with any router?

Heron works with any router that lets you change the DNS server settings. Most home routers support this, but some ISP-locked routers do not.

Is the firmware open source?

Yes. The firmware is written in MicroPython and published on GitHub. You can read it, modify it, and flash your own build.

Setup and Use

How do I set up Heron?

Connect Heron to power, join it to your Wi-Fi through the setup mode, then set your router's DNS server to Heron's IP address. The quick start card included in the box walks you through it.

Do I need technical knowledge to use Heron?

Basic network knowledge helps, especially changing DNS settings on a router. The interface itself is designed to be readable without a networking background.

What do I see in the interface?

A list of DNS queries seen on your network: which device made the query, what domain was queried, and when. No deeper packet inspection, no content analysis. Just DNS.

Purchase and Support

Where can I buy Heron?

See the shop page or the product page for current availability and pricing.

What if something goes wrong?

Contact support at [email protected]. Emails are answered personally. The documentation is comprehensive, and the firmware is open source, so the community can help too.

Is there a warranty?

Yes. Heron comes with a standard hardware warranty. Details are available on the product page.