Using the Mesh
Once your radio device is connected and your Radio group is set up, using Flaresat feels nearly identical to an online group, but everything is transmitted over LoRa radio.
Dropping pinsβ
Drop a pin exactly as you would in an online group:
Long-press on the map.
Fill in the label, icon, and color.
Tap Create.
Flaresat encodes the pin into a compact binary format and transmits it over the mesh. Teammates with their devices in range will see the pin appear on their map within seconds.
Drawing routes and areasβ
Works the same as online groups. After you finish drawing:
Name and style the route/area.
Tap Create.
Large routes (many points) are automatically split into fragments and reassembled by receiving devices. If the mesh is congested or packets are lost, Flaresat uses erasure coding to reconstruct the data even if some fragments don't arrive.
Edits and reshapes also transmit. If a member edits a route's label or reshapes its path, the full updated geometry is re-transmitted over the mesh so all radio group members see the change.
Sending messagesβ
Open the chat panel and type a message just like in an online group. Messages are transmitted over the mesh and appear in teammates' chat feeds.
Type @ in the message input to mention a map item by name, the mention becomes a tappable link to that location for all recipients, just as in online groups.
Note: Voice notes are not supported in Radio mode, LoRa bandwidth is too limited for audio data.
Each Radio group retains the last 200 messages locally. Messages older than that are dropped once the limit is reached.
Message delivery statusβ
Each outgoing message displays a delivery indicator so you always know whether your radio got it:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending (clock icon) | The message is queued, your device hasn't transmitted it yet, or it's waiting for the radio to be free |
| Sent (single check) | Your radio device accepted the packet and broadcast it over the air |
| Failed (cross icon) | The radio did not acknowledge the packet after the retry window expired |
A Sent status means the packet left your device, it doesn't guarantee that a specific teammate received it. In a mesh, packets are relayed automatically, so even if the direct link failed, intermediate nodes may still deliver it.
If a critical pin or message shows Failed, try resending it or moving to a location with better line-of-sight to nearby nodes.
Location sharingβ
Enable Appear on Map in Group Settings β Privacy (tap Menu β Settings β scroll to Privacy). Your GPS coordinates are broadcast over the mesh roughly every 8 seconds, rate-limited to keep LoRa bandwidth available for map data and messages.
Teammates see your dot on their map, labeled with your name, updating as you move.
Location updates pause if you background the app. To keep broadcasting with the screen off, activate Live Share from the LIVE button on the map. See Location Sharing β for full setup.
Background modeβ
Flaresat keeps a background radio task running as long as the app has not been fully terminated (swiped away from the app switcher). While backgrounded, it stays connected to your radio device and continues listening for incoming packets.
This powers two things while your screen is off or you're using another app:
- Incoming message notifications, mesh packets arriving while you're away trigger a local notification so you don't miss anything
- Live location sharing, if Live Share is active, your GPS keeps broadcasting over the mesh
Requirementsβ
| Platform | Setting |
|---|---|
| iOS | Settings β General β Background App Refresh β enable for Flaresat |
| Android | Settings β Apps β Flaresat β Battery β set to Unrestricted |
If the app is fully terminated, the background task stops. You will not receive Radio group notifications until you reopen the app.
Trackers, other mesh nodesβ
Any radio device in range that broadcasts a GPS position will appear as a tracker on your map. This includes:
- Other Flaresat users in your mesh
- Non-Flaresat devices running Meshtastic or MeshCore that share their location
Each tracker is labeled with the node's name from its firmware config. If the name isn't available, the label falls back to Node XXXX (the last 4 characters of the device's node ID).
Non-Flaresat nodes still relay packets through the mesh, they're part of the network backbone even if they don't run Flaresat.
Range and reliabilityβ
LoRa is a long-range, low-bandwidth radio protocol. Key things to understand:
- Range varies a lot, open terrain gives you miles; dense forest or buildings reduce it significantly
- Mesh = automatic relaying, packets hop between nodes, extending total coverage beyond any single device's range
- Latency, a message might take 2β15 seconds to propagate through several hops, depending on hop count and congestion
- Bandwidth is limited, large amounts of data (like a route with hundreds of points) take more time to transmit
What happens if a packet is lost?β
Flaresat's FlareMesh protocol includes erasure coding, a technique where additional redundancy data is sent alongside the main payload. This means even if some fragments of a large item (route, area) are lost in transit, the receiving device can still reconstruct the full item from the remaining fragments.
For small items (pins, short messages), a single packet is usually sufficient.
Mesh without internetβ
The mesh works entirely independently of any internet connection. As long as radio devices are in range of each other, directly or through intermediate nodes, the network functions.
This makes it suitable for situations where internet is unavailable, restricted, or deliberately avoided.