Relay Bridge
Relay connects an off-grid (Meshtastic) group to a Flaresat cloud group so that messages, pins, routes, and areas sync automatically — in both directions — between the mesh and the internet.
What it does
When Relay is active, a bridge device (your phone, connected to both the mesh via Bluetooth and the internet via cell/Wi-Fi) acts as a live gateway:
| Direction | What syncs |
|---|---|
| Mesh → Cloud | Messages, pins, routes, areas from LoRa devices appear live in the linked cloud group |
| Cloud → Mesh | Cloud messages and map items are transmitted over LoRa to all off-grid devices |
Everyone stays on the same map — whether they have internet or not.
Setting up Relay
- Open the off-grid group you want to bridge.
- Go to Group Settings (tap the settings icon in the group header).
- Tap Link to Cloud Group.
- Select the cloud group you want to bridge to (you must be a member of both).
- Tap Confirm. Relay activates immediately.
The bridge device must remain connected to both Bluetooth (Meshtastic radio) and the internet for sync to continue. If the connection drops, relay resumes automatically when both are restored.
How deduplication works
Multiple members can run the bridge simultaneously without creating duplicate map items or message loops. Flaresat uses a deterministic ID derived from each item's cloud ID, so all bridge devices produce the same mesh ID for the same cloud document — deduplication happens at the network level.
- Items older than 30 seconds at mount time are skipped to avoid replaying history.
- Cloud-originated packets are tagged so they are never re-relayed back to the cloud.
Unlinking a group
To stop Relay:
- Open Group Settings on the off-grid group.
- Tap Unlink Cloud Group.
- Confirm. Sync stops immediately.
Existing items that were already synced remain in both groups — unlinking does not delete anything.
Tips
- Keep one bridge device active if possible. Multiple bridges work, but one is enough.
- The bridge device does not need to be a dedicated device — any member can run it from their phone as long as they stay connected.
- Relay works for all item types: text messages, pins, routes, and areas. Voice notes are not relayed.
- Style changes (color, icon, label edits) and deletions are also synced bidirectionally.