Show HN: FlopperZiro – A DIY open-source Flipper Zero clone

[boznz]

The LilyGo T-Embed CC1100 has similar hardware capabilities of the FlipperZero plus WiFi/bluetooth and runs the Bruce Pentest firmware all for under half the price of the flipper. The Bruce firmware works well on it but is not as polished as the flipper zero but both hardware and software are open source and easily modded.

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

The popularity and usefulness of many devices like the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi doesn't stem from the hardware capabilities, but the "communities of scale" (lots of people use it -> it's much easier to find compatible software, hardware, guides etc.)

I would expect this to be the same for the Flipper Zero.

[iraton]

Yes i know It, but when i started It this, It didn't exist yet

[netsec_burn]

Also the Kiisu which is 1:1 with capabilities, plus a few more.

[Chihuahua0633]

Do this device and the other alternative mentioned (Capibara Zero) have the same level of software support as the Flipper Zero? I imagine the strong community behind the Flipper Zero is a big factor in its ongoing popularity.

[iraton]

Exactly, the flipepr have a enormous community that help, beyond all the people that work for flipper. So in this case is no, the software support is not even remotely comparable

[general1726]

It is exactly same problem like Raspberry Pi vs all other (cheaper, better) single board computers.

[Technetium]

The firmware repo was archived Apr 12, 2025. I don't think it's going to be revived or be feature-competitive.

[s-mon]

Wondering what the hotels in Vegas around Defcon will think of it this year lol.

[seanicus]

As someone who's been an IT ops support on a hacker-firendly conference, from an admin perspective - not great! But at an operational level our team could just blame Kevin Mitnick (RIP to a real one) for any single thing that we wrong in the building,

[Neywiny]

Not seeing it mentioned here but the big difference from a first glance is the RF capability. This is little more than a 433 MHz replay attacker. Maybe you can generate arbitrary data out, as long as it's the ook modulation. I'm sure there's a great use-case for this, but avoid any delusions of grandeur, this is very cut down.

[thekevan]

" Important Notice: This is just a fun project, it was started to pass the time, it is not at all professional and is not intended to be. Is not an alternative for professional device."

[iraton]

yes i know that is simply a replay attack, for now i was all that i want, in the future I will see what can be done

[net01]

Similar project https://kiisu.io/kiisu-v4a/ runs flipper code and modded flipper code

[aitacobell]

But does it look like a Tamagotchi?

[iraton]

In the first version i added It, probably on the initial commit you can see It, but It have a problem with the microcontroller that i use, so for now i removed it

[voidUpdate]

> Read rf signal and emulate it or save it

I assume it checks that you actually have the licensing requirements to be transmitting on whatever frequency?

[diggan]

Why not assume people are responsible for following their local laws instead? They're not selling anything, so kind of feels it has to fall on the user, not the person who shares a thing.

[conradev]

I wonder if modern smartphones could bus power one of these in a phone case. I love my Flipper, but it's a chonker and I have to charge it.

[iraton]

Yes is possible, it doesn't consume too much, but the hardware remains bulky

[the__alchemist]

What is going on with the PCB? It looks like the soldered several dev boards to a big PCB. I can't think of a good reason to do this.

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

A good reason to do it (IMO, as someone who has done it) that it's a lot faster, easier, and often cheaper than designing a fully custom board.

Not only would designing a fully custom board require a lot of error-prone effort, getting a lot of components in tiny quantities can be prohibitively expensive.

Good engineering includes optimizing for cost (monetary and non-monetary), and I'd argue that for many hobbyist one-off projects that won't be manufactured at scale, dev-boards-on-PCB is good engineering.

[nic547]

I've done the same thing for a few reasons.

- Certain things need good layouts - I think I can see a DC-DC Converter, you need to minimize certain loop areas, etc. You also need to ensure that you use the correct footprints for the chips. Way easier to just use a bunch of modules with a simple pcb.

- It reduces the components you need to aquire - you need to select a inductor with the correct specs for the dc-dc converter, a bunch of different resistors and capacitors for all sorts of uses or you just purchase a cheap module from china.

- It's easier to solder. Fancy chips with packages with no leads are not trivial to solder. LED's might be a bit sensitive to temperature and can get destroyed by a not-so-great solderer. Small pitches on IC make it easy to create solder bridges or bad connections.

[iraton]

Yes, you're nit the first telling me this. At first i wanted to make full custom pcb with smd components. But it cost me too much to make just one and some components were difficult to find, so i opted to make more like a shield so is more easy to find the componets and piu easier to solder than SMD for those who have never done it before. This is the same.The last one is also valid for the reason why it was written in Arduino and not in C, that at least even those who are not so familiar with it can modify it

[kennywinker]

Some good reasons off the top of my head:

It’s easier to do pcb-layout wise. Allows you to re-use most components between board revisions, or when you’re done with the project. Probably less ewaste overall because of that.

[trq01758]

This is like asking a painter why the hell he used ready made paints and did not create his own for each color he needed. Not everybody has a hobby of spending time and money fixing tracing mistakes of PCB revision 11, playing with working contraption is fine as it is.

[05]

It's microservices, but for hardware.

[dylan604]

I mean, yeah, why not? You take a bunch of off the shelf boards and put them together on the PCB as is. To make a PCB with all of the components on it would not be very DIY. That's a custom board and out of scope for DIY.

[blurbleblurble]

I love the name

[iraton]

thanks, i have a lot of fantasy

[kevo1ution]

really excited for the NFC support

[iraton]

i'm working on it but the nfc module that i use have some limitation,let's see what comes out

[vsviridov]

FlopperOne when? :)

[karolist]

There's also https://capibarazero.com/

[anfractuosity]

Don't suppose anyone has seen in person one of the clones of the flipper zero that are on Aliexpress?

[zeroq]

I know this is a hobby project, but the whole appeal of Flipper Zero is that you can get one for $200 and it instantly grants you a seat on Joe Rogan or Shawn Ryan show where you can wave it front of camera, flip a switch and say "all you base are belong to mine".

[segmondy]

nope, the whole appeal of flipper zero to me and for my friends is what you can do with it, not that you can get one for $200.

[0xdeadbeefbabe]

Mr. Ryan hands out gummy bears.

[iraton]

yes, but it's not fun

[forgetbook]

This rocks; the idea of flipperzero phoning home is the(my) primary concern given its use case

[varenc]

It's a very dumb device. If you don't put in a separate wifi module it literally has no way to phone home.

[gaudystead]

Would you be willing to elaborate on the FZ phoning home?

[jmole]

What use case?

I got mine to make a backup copy of the remote controls that I'm worried about losing, which happen to be sub-GHz and infrared.

[forgetbook]

Edit for all replies: I'm coming from a place of lack of education; it's not that I know FZ is phoning home, it's that I know I wouldn't be able to tell if it was.

[ThrowawayTestr]

The firmware is open source