This Compact Flipper Zero Add-On Provides Badge, SAO Compatibility on Its GPIO Header

Pseudonymous electronic artist and badge life fan "Awkward Intelligence" has put together a multi-function add-on for the Flipper Zero "hacker's multi-tool" — offering compatibility for Sh*tty-Add-On (SAO) badge accessories to the device.

"This idea originally started when I realized that I could add pinouts to the bottom of my SAOs that would allow them to work on Flipper Zero," Intelligence explains of the project. "The idea evolved to its current form. The main idea is to use the GPIO [general-purpose input/output] pins from the Flipper to interact with other SAOs and badges."

The Flipper Zero was unveiled two years ago as a pocket-friendly "hacker's multi-tool" housed in an unusual chassis and with a bright orange display playing host to a virtual pet styled after the "cyberdolphins" of the world of William Gibson's Johnny Mnemonic. Keep using the tool's features — which include sub-gigahertz, 125kHz radio-frequency identification (RFID), and near-field communication (NFC) radios, an infrared transceiver, iButton interface, and a readily-accessible GPIO header to the upper side.

It's this interface Intelligence has focused on for the msFlipper, an add-on that connects to the Flipper Zero's GPIO header and provides two of its own: one to connect to SAO badge add-ons, and one to connect to badges themselves. As an added bonus, there's room for a single resistor and LED on the rear to provide a light-up logo behind the PCB's replica Flipper Zero display.

"The GPIO pins for the Flipper have a mirror pinout," Intelligence explains. "[The] idea was to populate all with right angle male headers and use female head wires to make connections. The version of this that was distributed at ToorCamp doesn't have these considerations but the DEF CON batch will."

More details on the project, and Gerber files to produce your own board, are available on Intelligence's Hackaday.io project page.