Cellular Mode

Cellular Mode allows Bota Pin and Pin Pro devices to operate autonomously over 4G/LTE — uploading recordings, sending heartbeats, and receiving remote commands without a paired mobile phone.

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Why Cellular Mode?

With Bluetooth Sync, recordings transfer from the device to a phone app, which then uploads to the cloud. Cellular upload removes the phone from the equation — the device uploads directly. Benefits:

• No phone needed nearby during or after recording
• Faster time from recording to transcription
• Better for shared devices (clinics, enterprise fleets)
• Enables autonomous, always-on operation

Ideal for:

• Medical clinics with shared devices
• Field sales reps without phones nearby
• Remote workers who want instant transcription
• Enterprise deployments with dedicated device fleets

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How It Works

The device makes authenticated HTTPS requests directly to the Bota API using its device token (dtok_*) and embedded cellular modem. No phone or Wi-Fi needed. Network selection, failover, and priority configuration are covered in the Connectivity guide.

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Data Usage

Recordings use the OGG Opus codec at 32 kbps. Data consumption is predictable:

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Daily Data Limits

Set a daily cellular data cap to control costs. When the limit is reached:

• Cellular uploads are blocked for the rest of the day
• Device falls back to WiFi or Bluetooth Sync
• Counter resets at midnight (device local time)

Set daily_data_limit_mb to 0 for unlimited cellular data.

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Roaming

By default, cellular uploads are disabled when roaming to avoid international data charges. You can enable roaming uploads per device if needed, but monitor data usage carefully — roaming charges can be significant. For international travel, consider using Travel Mode: disable cellular, enable WiFi only, block roaming. See Device Management — Presets.

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Battery Considerations

Cellular uploads consume more power than Bluetooth Sync. Optimize battery life with:

• Pause on low battery — Automatically pause uploads when battery drops below threshold
• Off-peak uploads — Schedule uploads during overnight hours when the device is likely charging
• Radio idle timeouts — Power down the cellular radio after a period of inactivity

These are all configurable via device settings.

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Streaming + Cellular

For long recordings, combine cellular upload with streaming upload to start uploading chunks while recording continues. This gives you:

• Near real-time transcription over cellular
• Reduced device storage requirements
• Faster time-to-insight

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Authentication

Direct uploads use device tokens (dtok_*) for authentication. Tokens are:

• Issued when you bind a device to an end user
• Bound to a specific device + end user pair
• Automatically refreshed

See Authentication for details.

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Heartbeat

When connected over 4G, the device automatically sends periodic heartbeats to the Bota API. This keeps the backend informed of the device’s status — battery level, storage usage, signal strength, and connectivity state — without any action from the end user or your application. Heartbeats enable real-time device monitoring through the Heartbeat API and power webhook alerts like device.low_battery and device.offline.

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Related

• Device Management — Configure connection and upload settings
• Streaming Upload — Upload chunks while recording
• Update Device — API reference for device settings
• Bota Pin — Pin hardware specifications