HOW IT WORKS

Every phone is a postman.

Your message is sealed on your phone, then handed to whatever is nearby. Phones that can’t read it carry it until it reaches the person it’s for, for up to 72 hours. No tower, no server, no account.

01 · THREE STEPS

Sealed. Carried. Delivered.

Keys are made on your phone and never leave it. Everything that travels between phones is already locked, so the phones in between only ever hold envelopes they can’t open.

  1. You write. It’s sealed.

    Keys live only on your phone. The message is locked before it ever leaves.

  2. Phones pass it along.

    Nearby Meshtrike phones carry it, sealed. They can’t read it or tell who it’s for.

  3. It arrives. Two ticks.

    Their phone confirms delivery. Until then the app shows exactly where your message is.

02 · DELIVERY TICKS

Never says “sent” while it’s still on your phone.

A mesh can be slow. That’s fine, as long as you always know where your message is. Every message shows one honest state.

  1. Waiting

    Still on your phone

    It hasn’t left yet. The app tells you why, for example that nobody is in range.

  2. Sent

    It left your phone

    Another phone or route has it now, sealed, and is carrying it on.

  3. Delivered

    Their phone confirmed it

    Two ticks only appear once the recipient’s phone sends a receipt back through the mesh.

03 · THE ROUTE PILL

Always tells you how your message travels.

It updates live under every contact’s name. When several routes work, the fastest one wins. When none do, your message waits safely and the pill says so.

  • Nearby · Bluetooth

    Bluetooth

    10–30 m per hop · text instant

    Phones find each other on their own and link directly. Text and voice notes travel instantly. This is the backbone of the mesh.

    NEEDSJust the app

  • Nearby · Wi-Fi (fast)

    Wi-Fi Direct

    50–100 m 10–50× faster

    Photos, files and calls switch to a direct Wi-Fi link between phones. No router, no hotspot, no internet.

    NEEDSThe MeshGRID add-on

  • Long range · LoRa

    LoRa radio

    Kilometres short text

    Pair a small Meshtastic LoRa radio with your phone and short texts reach kilometres between radios, even where nobody else is around.

    NEEDSA Meshtastic radio

  • QR handoff

    QR handoff

    Camera to camera about 1 MB in a few minutes

    When radio is jammed, sealed messages move as a stream of QR codes from one screen to another phone’s camera.

    NEEDSJust the app

  • Internet · private route

    Internet, via Nym

    Worldwide off by default

    For contacts far away. Already-sealed messages go through the Nym mixnet, which hides who talks to whom from anyone watching the network.

    NEEDSThe MeshGRID add-on

  • Carried by the mesh

    Carried by the mesh

    Grows as people move up to 72 hours

    Nobody in range is the recipient? Phones carry the sealed message as their owners walk around, until it meets the right phone.

    NEEDSOther Meshtrike phones nearby

04 · THE MESHGRID ADD-ON

Two apps, so the messenger never touches the internet.

Meshtrike doesn’t even hold Android’s internet permission. Everything that needs more than Bluetooth lives in a separate, optional add-on called MeshGRID. It adds Wi-Fi Direct for speed and a private internet route over the Nym mixnet, and it only ever carries messages that are already sealed.

Get MeshGRID MeshGRID questions
  • Optional. Meshtrike works fully without it, over Bluetooth, LoRa and QR handoff.
  • Can’t read your messages. They are sealed on your phone before MeshGRID ever sees them.
  • Only talks to the real app. It serves only a Meshtrike app signed with the same release key.
  • Internet route off by default. When you turn it on, traffic goes through the Nym mixnet.

Without MeshGRID, files over 256 KB go only to direct neighbours over Bluetooth.

KEEP READING