Companion v0.9.4 — the multiconfigurator changed its name, learned to back up firmware and got a dark theme
The official OpenIPC graphical configurator — the one everybody in the community calls the multiconfigurator — quietly changed its name and grew noticeably over the past six months. It is now called Companion, and the current version is v0.9.4. Here are the highlights of releases v0.8–v0.9.4, and why you should update if you are on v0.9.0.
🔹 First, about the name
The app used to be called OpenIPC Config, and "multiconfigurator" in the docs and chats. As of release v0.7.14 (4 January 2026) the build files are named Companion-* instead of OpenIPC-Config-*, and the openipc-configurator repository was renamed to OpenIPC/companion.
This matters for one reason only: your old links still work — GitHub redirects them to the new repository and you land on the same releases. The download page simply shows a different name now.
Do not confuse it with OpenIPC Config by MarioFPV — that is a separate tool, and it is the one you need for NVRs, which Companion still does not support.
🔹 Firmware backup and restore
The most important addition in v0.9.0 (10 April). The Firmware tab gained a Backup / Restore section that takes a full dump of the camera's flash: the app kills the streamer to free RAM, dumps every /dev/mtdblock* partition with dd, generates MD5 checksums and downloads a ready .tar.gz to your machine.
Restore works from the same place, but with guardrails: checksums are verified locally, the layout is confirmed by reading /proc/mtd from the device, and only then are partitions written with flashcp. If MD5 verification fails, the restore is aborted before anything is written to flash. Plus there is a mandatory "I accept the risk of permanently bricking this device" checkbox — the operation is irreversible.
For FPV this is essentially insurance: take a backup of the stock firmware and you can experiment freely.
🔹 Dark theme and a rebuilt interface
- Dark theme with a toggle in the header; text and warning colours were made theme-aware so nothing disappears against a dark background
- The Advanced tab was replaced by Preferences — with proper persistence of the app's settings
- Firmware-focused mode in Preferences hides every tab except
FirmwareandPreferences. If you only use Companion as a flasher, turn it on - A splash screen at startup, and tabs now load lazily — the app opens noticeably faster
- The log panel became collapsible and remembers its height; the follow-the-latest-line behaviour was fixed
- Firmware selection on the Firmware tab was redrawn: radio-button cards instead of sections separated by "OR"
- A Report Bug button in the header links straight to GitHub Issues
🔹 Fewer first-run headaches
- the default username is
root(you no longer type it at all) - sensible default IP and password are filled in on first run
- the default bootloader storage is
nor - on Linux the config path was fixed: it is now
LocalApplicationDatarather than a folder next to the binary
🔹 Important: don't stay on v0.9.0
v0.9.0 shipped a bug in the uploaded-image upgrade path. Companion uploaded kernel and rootfs to /tmp and ran sysupgrade without the -z flag — so the device still took the "online" route: synchronising time via ntpd, checking GitHub for an update to the sysupgrade script itself, and only then starting the flash. Hence the delays and failures.
v0.9.1 (11 April) fixed the command to sysupgrade --force_ver -n -z --kernel=… --rootfs=… — -z forces the local offline path. The developers published the post-mortem in the repository.
🔹 macOS: the app finally launches
Three releases in a row went to fixing macOS: notarization and stapling were added to CI (v0.9.0), single-file publishing was dropped (v0.9.3), and v0.9.4 (19 April) added .NET entitlements — without them the signed app simply would not start. If you tried Companion on a Mac before and it silently refused to open, get v0.9.4.
🔹 Other changes
- v0.8.0: added the Greg APFPV firmware source; added 88x2cu to the Wi-Fi card detector; preset sync is disabled by default; the update-check URL was hardened
- Presets: the
Presetstab was hidden back in January (v0.7.15) — the mechanism is being redesigned, so current builds cannot apply a preset from the app. Thepreset-config.yamlformat and the fpv-presets repository are still there - Mobile builds: Android remains alpha — it can hang when working through a tunnel on Radxa; iOS is in progress
🔹 Documentation
We put together a full guide to the app:
- Companion — the official OpenIPC configurator — installation on Windows/macOS/Linux, connecting, the tabs, presets, firmware backup and restore, log paths and troubleshooting
Repository: github.com/OpenIPC/companion · releases · demo on YouTube