Samsung Camera to Mastodon Bridge
16.08.2025 , HS 7
Sprache: English

Das Titelbild des Beitrags

A FOSS reimplementation of the social media upload API used by Samsung cameras, written in Python/Flask, based on reverse engineering of camera firmware.


Between 2009 and 2015, Samsung released over 30 WiFi-equipped compact and mirrorless camera models that could email photos or upload them to social media. In 2021, they shut down the required API services, crippling the WiFi functionality. To revive the WiFi feature, the firmware of multiple camera models was reverse-engineered to understand the protocol and to “circumvent” the WiFi hotspot detection implemented by Samsung. Based on the gained knowledge, a FOSS implementation of the API was created using the Python Flask framework, allowing to post to Mastodon right from the camera. The project supports ~75% of the camera models, looking for hardware donations and better-skilled reverse engineers to close the gap. It was exemplarily deployed on an inexpensive LTE modem running Debian, allowing on-the-go use of the camera WiFi.

The speaker’s profile picture
Georg "Ge0rG" Lukas has been involved in some embedded Linux projects for over two decades, is the maintainer of two Android apps (yaxim XMPP client and APRSdroid for digital amateur radio messaging), and runs a public XMPP server.