Camps can now open their space to the community and burners can submit events directly through the dust app or https://dust.events.

We're excited to announce a new feature for burn organizers: automatic content moderation. Dust can now scan camps, art, and events for potentially problematic content, helping you maintain a safe and welcoming environment for your community.

Why Moderation?​

As your burn grows, manually reviewing every camp description, art piece, and event submission becomes increasingly difficult. With moderation enabled, Dust automatically scans content as it's submitted or changed, flagging anything that might need your attention.

What Gets Scanned?​

Moderation reviews text content across:

• Theme Camps - Names and descriptions
• Art - Names and descriptions
• Events - Titles and descriptions

Moderation Styles​

You have full control over how moderation works for your burn. Choose from three options:

• No moderation - Content is not scanned. You manually review everything.
• Flag - Problematic content is flagged for your review, but remains visible in the dust app.
• Flag and Hide - Problematic content is automatically hidden until you review it.

The "Flag" option is great if you want visibility into potential issues without censoring any content. "Flag and Hide" provides more protection by keeping questionable content out of the app until you've approved it.

Automatic Publishing​

If you choose the Flag and Hide then content that is not flagged will be published automatically (done every 24 hours). Any content that is flagged will be hidden from the dust app. Additionally if you unapprove a camp or art piece it will also be hidden when published.

What Does It Detect?​

Dust uses AI-powered moderation designed to detect:

• Sexual content
• Hate speech
• Harassment
• Self-harm content
• Graphic violence
• Threats and hostile language

Getting Started​

1. Go to Settings in your burn
2. Find the Moderation option
3. Choose your preferred moderation style
4. Click Publish

That's it! From then on, all new and updated content will be automatically scanned. Any flagged content will also trigger an email to admins.

Review Flagged Content​

When content is flagged, you'll see it marked in the Camps, Art, or Events list. You can then review the content and decide whether to edit it, or remove it. After saving a change to flagged content you will get a popup notifying you if the content is still flagged or not.

For more details, check out the Moderation documentation.

We hope this feature helps you build a safer, more inclusive burn. As always, let us know what you think!

We've made significant improvements to how you import data into Dust. Whether you're bringing in theme camp and art data from spreadsheets or syncing locations from Google Maps, the new import tools give you better visibility and control.

CSV Import Preview​

The CSV import for theme camps and art now shows a detailed preview before you commit to changes. Items are grouped into three categories:

• New: Items that will be created
• Updated: Existing items with changed fields (shows exactly which fields changed)
• Existing: Items with no changes

This makes it easy to verify your import before applying it, and helps catch issues like duplicate entries or unexpected changes.

KML Import Preview​

The KML import has been completely redesigned with a comprehensive preview system. When you import a KML file from Google Maps, you'll see:

• Location Changes: Camps or art with updated coordinates
• No Changes: Items where coordinates already matching what is in dust
• New or Mismatching Items: Placemarks that don't match existing records (eg Theme Camps that are not in dust yet, or whose names don't quite match)
• Items Not in File: Existing camps/art that are missing from the KML file
• Restrooms and Other Placemarks: Special pins like restrooms and shuttle stops

The preview helps you identify naming mismatches between Google Maps and Dust, so you can fix them before importing.

Better Error Handling​

Both import tools now provide clear error messages when something goes wrong:

• File validation errors (empty files, invalid format)
• Coordinate parsing issues

You'll know exactly what needs to be fixed before you can proceed.

Smart Matching​

The import system uses intelligent matching to connect your data:

• External IDs: Match by unique identifier for reliable updates
• Name matching: Case-insensitive with fuzzy matching for minor variations
• Handles variations: Ignores "Camp" prefixes, emojis, and special characters

Getting Started​

Import options are available from the menu on the Camps and Art pages. For detailed instructions, check out the Art, Camps or Google Maps Import documentation.

We hope these improvements make managing your burn's data easier. Let us know what you think!

We're excited to announce a new feature that makes collecting information from theme camp and art leads much easier: Questions. This built-in system replaces the need for external Google Forms and streamlines your registration workflow.

What Are Questions?​

Questions are custom fields you can add to camp and art registration forms. They let you collect specific information you need from organizers during the registration process—all within Dust, without requiring separate forms or manual data consolidation. Answers to questions are private between you and the artist/theme camp.

For example, you might want to know:

• Camp size and land requirements
• Art installation dimensions and safety considerations
• Power and equipment needs
• Accessibility accommodations
• Ticket grant requirements

Why We Built This​

Many burn organizers have been using Google Forms alongside Dust to collect additional information. While this works, it creates friction: organizers need to do extra setup for form filling, data gets scattered across different systems, and its hard to manually sync responses between platforms.

Questions solves this by keeping everything in one place.

Getting Started​

To start using Questions:

1. Log in to the admin portal at edit.dust.events
2. Navigate to Settings (gear icon)
3. Click the Questions tab
4. Add questions for theme camps and/or art installations
5. Set questions as required or optional
6. Add helper text to guide organizers

Questions you create will automatically appear in the registration forms for camps and art. Responses are kept private between you and the organizer.

Here's an example of additional questions that were added as part of the art registration:

Learn More​

For detailed documentation on creating and managing questions, check out the Questions documentation.

We hope this feature makes managing your burn's registration process smoother. As always, we'd love to hear your feedback!

November brings some quality of life improvements to the dust app that make it easier to find music events and keep your map up to date. We've also got some updates for regional organizers to improve the placement experience and overall performance of dust.

Music Tab "All"​

The music tab now includes an "All" option that lets you search and view events across all days. Previously you had to swipe through each day to find events, but now you can see everything in one place. This is particularly useful when you're looking for a specific artist or event but aren't sure which day they're performing, which was feedback from this years Burn and our integration with Rock Star Librarian.

Map Updates on Resume​

When you resume the dust app after switching to another app or unlocking your phone, the map will now automatically update. This ensures you're always seeing the most current information about events and locations without having to manually refresh.

Geolocation Updates​

Similarly, your geolocation on the map will now update when you resume the app. This means your position marker will be accurate even if you've moved around while the app was in the background, helping you navigate the playa more effectively.

Diacritic Search Support​

Search has been improved to find words with diacritics. For example, searching for "Crepe" will now properly find "Crêpe" and other similar matches. This makes it easier to find camps and events regardless of how you type the search term.

Theme Customization​

Burns can now customize the primary color of the dust app to match their branding. This allows each regional burn to have a unique look and feel that doesn't clash with dust's pink/red color.

Map Placement Improvements​

You can now easily move camps and art on the map. Go to any camp or art and click Place then you can click any camp or art and then click where you want it to be moved to. Click Save when you are done.

New Database!​

We recently migrated our database infrastructure from Cloudflare D1 to Turso. For you this will mean administering your regional burn will feel snappier!

For the technically minded, we made the choice to switch to Turso because it allows us to have sycing replicas: allowing much faster access because of replicas of the database hosted around the world. We are still keeping the rest of our infrastructure in Cloudflare, the decision was made because we were not confident in Cloudflare D1's beta implementation of read replicas.

Here's compendium of the Mutant Vehicles of Burning Man 2025: https://updates.dust.events/brc-mutant-vehicles-2025.pdf

Check out the video for the new dust features for Burning Man 2025:

Dust features for 2025

Calendar Export​

You can export your favorite events and reminders to your phone's calendar! Press the calendar icon on the favorites page.

Go Offline​

Before you get to the playa be sure to choose the “Go Offline” option to make sure all images and audio are stored on your device because you can’t rely on having any cell service when you are there.

Friends​

You’re going to want to note down where your friends are. If you know their camp then add them from the camp page, or you can add friends by their address on the home page. You can see your friends on the map by pressing the "Friends" button on the home page.

Find my Bike​

It is easy to lose your bike at large camps, so mark it on the map before you leave your bike, so that you can find it later.

You can also use this feature to pin secret camps, mutant vehicle locations, etc.

Reminders​

Going to a private party or have a volunteer shift? Add it as a reminder and get a notification before it happens. Reminders are listed on the home page.

Restrooms​

Porta potties are hard to find in the dark and sometimes you’ll need to find the nearest one. Press the "Restrooms" button on the home page.

Ice​

Want to find out opening hours, prices and locations for Ice? Use “Ice” on the home page.

Art Audio Tour​

Want to hear about the art on the playa? Many art pieces have an audio guide. Look for the audio icon.

Mutant Vehicles​

Want to know more about that mutant vehicle you just saw? You can now find them under “Art” or filter by “Mutant Vehicle”. Mutant Vehicles registrations were managed through dust this year.

Rock Star Librarian​

The music section is a collection of DJ sets and Live music collated by Rock Star Librarian. Favoriting a musician will notify you before their set. This feature unlocks in the app on Tuesday 19th August.

Rock Star Librarian registrations were managed through dust this year through a collaboration with Kate Houston.

BRC Passport​

If you have got your passport from the BRC Passport Office (5:30 & B), you can find theme camps issuing stamps from the Camps page. Press the down arrow and choose "Passport Camp".

Queer Burners​

Looking for inclusive and queer-friendly camps? You can find them, thanks to queerburners.org, by pressing the down arrow on camps and choosing "LGBTQIA+ Inclusive".

Burn Planner​

We've built an integration with Burn Planner to allow you to import any events you have chosen there into dust!

Other New Features​

We've added several new features since 2024 Burning Man:

• Clear Favorites - You can clear the list of favorites.
• No Recurring Events - From the events page press the down arrow and choose "No recurring" to only see one-off events. This can be helpful to cut through the noise of repeating events.
• Camp Images - Camps now have images! You can find their image on event page too.

Say Hi!​

This year I'm camping with Kosmik Dust at the Center Camp Keyhole. Come say hi, I may even have some swag for you!

Cheers, Damian.

Dust is celebrating it's 2nd birthday!

Dust began as a gift for Burning Man 2023 and added its first regional burn SNRG in October 2023. Since then we've added regional burns along the way and for 2025:

• 40 regional burns have used dust!
• 1922 theme camps
• 7299 events
• 1320 art pieces
• 114 mutant vehicles
• 1422 music events

By comparison Burning Man 2025 has 1391 theme camps, 4404 events, 317 art pieces.

Dust now has theme camps, art and events for Burning Man 2025 - Tomorrow Today! New for this year is images for theme camps, and BRC Passport office camps.

Burning Man provides data through its Innovate program to apps like dust and other projects.

For dust, we import this data and make it available for download onto your phone. The data updates frequently and will update if you have a cell or wifi connection when you open the app and choose the burn (or if you choose "Download Update" from the more menu).

Anyone submitting updates to events can do so at playaevents.burning.org up until August 18th. Dust DOES NOT control camp, event and art data.

Important Dates​

• August 18 - Playa Event submissions end.
• August 17 - Theme Camp Locations will be displayed in the dust app.
• August 24 - Art locations will be displayed in the dust app.

Theme Camp Images​

Burning Man accepted theme camp images for the first time in 2025 and we've got them in the dust app!

BRC Passport Office​

This year's we're working with BRC Passport Office to show camps that have stamps. On the camps page of dust press the down arrow and choose "Passport Camps".

The Black Rock City Passport Office aims to foster a more interconnected, explorative, and immersive Burning Man experience by providing attendees with unique passports.

These passports not only serve as compact mementos but also inspire burners to discover new camps, engage with different communities, and collect creative stamps - deepening their connection with the Burning Man spirit and community.

More to Come​

We've got some more tricks up our sleeve for Burning Man 2025, but you'll need to wait for announcements!

We've just released a new feature for camps: accepting events from the public!

This means that for Center Camp or camps with a stage a camp lead or organizer can accept events. This had previously been a manual process for the camp lead to handle but now dust can manage this for you.

How does it work?​

After saving your camp information and editing your camp you'll see a new checkbox marked "Accept event submissions from the public". If you check this option and click Save and Publish it unlocks event submissions.

Now when someone wants to submit an event and visit your burn (ie via https://yourburn.dust.events) they will see this:

Notice the registration option for "Center Camp"? For any camps that have open registration of events turned on this is available.

Best of all, when someone registers an event at that camp the camp owner(s) will be emailed - so they can follow up if there is any scheduling issues etc.

Multi Day Imports

Another new feature that has been recently added is the ability to import events from CSV that have multiple days. Previously you could have only one date in the Date field (eg Wednesday, April 24). Now you can list multiple days like "Wednesday, April 24, Thursday, April 25, Saturday April 27th" and date will understand that the event re-ocurrs on those dates.

Events using dust in May