FAQ

Sunshine is a replacement cloud for the unu Scooter Pro, built and run by the community after unu GmbH went insolvent. It brings back what the shutdown took away: live location on a map, battery and state telemetry, automatic trip logging with statistics, remote lock and unlock, seatbox and horn control, movement alerts, and sharing a scooter with other people. It is a web app, so it runs in any browser on desktop or phone, and it is free to use. More about the project.

Sunshine is run by Starsong GmbH in Berlin, the company behind rescoot.org, with contributions from the community. It has no connection to unu GmbH or emco electroroller GmbH: no unu code, no unu infrastructure, no unu staff. Running costs are covered by Starsong and by the optional paid connectivity plans; the cloud itself is free.

The Sunshine app and API are free. What you pay for is connectivity: either your own SIM with a data plan (about 50 MB/month), or, for compatible factory SIMs, a Sunshine connectivity plan. There is no subscription for the software itself.

The unu Scooter Pro from 2020 onward, with the MDB/DBC board architecture. That covers both stock ScooterOS and machines running Librescoot. Older unu models and other brands are not supported, because Sunshine talks to the specific hardware and services the Scooter Pro exposes. The About page lists the supported models.

Three things: connectivity (keep and reactivate the factory SIM if yours is compatible, or fit your own), a free Sunshine account at sunshine.rescoot.org, and the Radio Gaga installer, which you run once over SSH. The setup guide walks through each step, including the SIM swap and how to get help with it. If you would rather not open the scooter up at all, tell us about your scooter.

No. Sunshine is a web app: open sunshine.rescoot.org in any browser. You can add it to your phone's home screen (Share, then Add to Home Screen on iOS; the browser menu on Android) and it behaves like an app, notifications included. There is no separate app store download. You can try the live demo without an account first.

Yes. Sunshine runs on servers in Germany, and location, battery, and trip data stay there. The privacy policy has the detail, and you can delete your account and its data at any time from account settings.

unu GmbH went insolvent in 2024. The cloud was switched off and the SIM cards that fed the scooters were deactivated, so everything connected stopped at once: no tracking, no remote lock, no trip history, no firmware updates. The scooters themselves keep working as vehicles, which is why the community rebuilt the missing half. The About page has the longer version.

No. The company no longer exists and the infrastructure was shut down. Nothing about the original service is coming back, which is exactly why Sunshine and projects like Librescoot exist.

Yes. You own the scooter, and Sunshine is an independent service: no unu code and no unu intellectual property. Modifying your own hardware is legal; the risks are mechanical rather than legal, which is why the setup guide is careful about the soldering steps.

No. Sunshine is built and operated by Starsong GmbH, and it does not rely on any service unu or emco still runs. The only thing it needs from the scooter is the hardware and the firmware that is already on it.

Not always. If the factory SIM is still in your scooter, Sunshine may be able to reactivate it through a connectivity plan for compatible original SIMs: link the scooter, have the connection verified, and manage it from the scooter's page. You only need a new SIM if you would rather use your own data plan, or if the factory SIM is gone. The setup guide covers both paths, and if soldering is not for you, tell us about your scooter.

Any SIM with a data plan and coverage where you ride. Physically there are two options: solder a new MFF2 chip in place of the original, or fit a small adapter board with a nano SIM slot that lets you swap SIMs by hand later. Most people choose the adapter.

Around 50 MB a month for normal use: periodic telemetry, events, and trip data. There is no fixed IP requirement and no special contract, so the cheapest prepaid or IoT data plan works.

Yes. You can do it yourself, pull the MDB and mail in just the board, or drop the whole scooter off at a Berlin repair shop. The setup guide lists the options and the people who do the work. If you would rather avoid the hardware entirely, take the connectivity survey.

Any SIM that has data and coverage where you ride. IoT SIMs, prepaid SIMs, and normal mobile plans all work; the scooter needs no public IP and no inbound connection. If a SIM needs an APN configured, you set that once in the scooter's modem settings.

Usually not. Most carrier SIMs negotiate their own APN. Some IoT SIMs are different and need the APN entered in the scooter's modem settings, which you can do over SSH. If the scooter has signal but never connects, an APN mismatch is one of the first things to check.

For compatible factory SIMs, Sunshine offers connectivity plans. That is the option if you would rather keep the original chip and reactivate its connection. If you fit your own SIM, you use your mobile provider's plan instead, and Sunshine stays free. The setup guide covers both routes.

Radio Gaga is the small service that runs on the scooter and talks to Sunshine. It sends telemetry, events, and trip data over MQTT, receives remote commands, and buffers data when the connection drops. It runs alongside the stock firmware rather than replacing it, so nothing about the scooter's normal behaviour changes. Its settings are documented in the configuration reference.

No. For Sunshine you need Radio Gaga, and it runs on the stock firmware. Librescoot is a separate project that replaces the firmware entirely and adds offline navigation, a custom dashboard, keycard management, and more; it can also connect to Sunshine through its uplink service, but it is a bigger undertaking.

Yes. Radio Gaga sits on top of it and changes nothing about how the scooter rides, locks, or charges. You keep the stock behaviour and add the cloud connection.

One command over SSH, about five minutes. It downloads and verifies the binary, writes the config, and installs a systemd service. The longer part is the SIM, which is hardware work.

Radio Gaga buffers telemetry while the scooter is offline and flushes it when the connection returns, so gaps in coverage do not lose trips. To tune how much it buffers or how aggressively it reports, see the configuration reference.

Yes. Sunshine works with stock firmware through Radio Gaga and with Librescoot through its uplink service, so the same account and app cover both. A scooter can move from one to the other without changing your Sunshine setup.

Create an account with your email at sunshine.rescoot.org; it is free. Once you are in, register your scooter by its VIN and follow the setup. If you get stuck, the #cloud channel on Discord is where the community and the team hang out.

Location, battery, and trip data are stored on servers in Germany and are not shared with third parties. You control what is visible: sharing is invite-based and per-permission, and you can delete your account and all its data at any time. The privacy policy has the full detail.

Yes, from account settings, and it removes your data rather than just disabling the account. If you only want to stop sharing a scooter or revoke someone's access, you can do that from the scooter's page without touching your account.

Yes. Register each scooter by its VIN and they all appear under the same account, each with its own page, telemetry, and trips. If you share a scooter, that person's access is scoped to that one machine.

Yes. Invite them from the scooter's page and choose what they may do: view only, or view and control. Sharing is per scooter, so you can lend one machine without exposing the rest of your account.

Yes, through the API. Create a token in your account settings and use it against the documented endpoints for scooters, trips, locations, and events; OAuth is available if you are building something for other people. The developer docs cover both.

Start with the SIM: is the data plan active, is there signal where the scooter is parked, and is the APN correct? Over SSH, systemctl status radio-gaga shows whether the service is running, and journalctl -u radio-gaga -n 20 shows what it is doing. A scooter that never comes online is almost always a SIM, APN, or coverage problem; the setup guide and the configuration reference go deeper.

Install links are short-lived on purpose, since they grant full access to the scooter. Generate a fresh token from the scooter's page in Sunshine and run the installer again; nothing on the scooter needs cleaning up first.

The installer runs on the scooter, so it needs SSH access and a working internet connection there. If it cannot download or verify the binary, check that the scooter can reach sunshine.rescoot.org and that you are using the current one-line command from the scooter's page.

Commands need the scooter connected at that moment. The safety-critical ones, lock and seatbox, are deliberately never queued for an offline scooter: a failed command is better than an unlock firing later when you are not there. Non-critical commands may be queued and delivered when it reconnects.

GPS needs a clear view of the sky, so a scooter indoors, in a garage, or under a cover can lag or drift. The scooter's page shows when it was last seen; if the timestamp is current but the position is odd, give it a few minutes outdoors before assuming a fault.

Updates install on their own; you do not have to do anything. If you want to force one, trigger it from the scooter's page or re-run the installer. Version information and update channels are on the scooter's page, and the configuration reference covers the flags.

Ask in the #cloud channel on Discord, where the team and other riders answer support questions, or send a message from the contact page. Including your scooter model, what you tried, and a few log lines makes it much faster to help.