MeshSat iOS
MeshSat iOS turns an iPhone into a MeshSat gateway. Paired with a MeshSat node, a pocket-sized box with a Meshtastic LoRa radio and a RockBLOCK 9603 Iridium modem, one phone sends and receives over the mesh and by satellite. It reports to the MeshSat Hub whenever there is any link to it, and it keeps working when the mobile network and the internet are gone.
It is the iOS counterpart of MeshSat Android: the same screens, the same wording, the same wire formats, built from the Android app's code. Where iOS does not allow something Android does, this page says so.
Being built
MeshSat iOS is being built, screen by screen and transport by transport, and there is nothing to install yet. Like the Android app it is a prototype: it has never been deployed to a real user and has never been used in an actual emergency. Do not rely on it when lives are at risk.
Source: meshsat/meshsat-ios, GPLv3. Download: none yet. Releases, once there are any, appear on the releases page as an unsigned build for sideloading and a simulator build.
What it is built to do
- Mesh. Meshtastic over Bluetooth LE with the official protobufs: text, positions, telemetry, waypoints, node info and traceroute.
- Satellite. Iridium SBD through the node's RockBLOCK 9603, up to 340 bytes out and 270 bytes in, with a queue, retries, and sessions only when there is something to send, when the modem rings, or when you check the mailbox. Passes are predicted on the phone from orbit data that ships with the app.
- Text messages. The app opens the Messages composer with the text ready, one message per recipient. iOS does not let an app send a text by itself or read incoming texts, so replies arrive in Messages, not in MeshSat.
- Hub. MQTT with a client certificate; the phone shows up in the Hub's fleet like a field kit, reports health and positions, and takes remote commands.
- APRS through a KISS TNC over TCP or directly to APRS-IS. TAK positions from the Hub's feed on the map, receive only. Reticulum as a transport node between the links.
- Safety. Hold the SOS button for 3 seconds and the SOS goes out on every route the phone has, each retried until it is sent. A check-in timer and zones drawn on the map.
What an iPhone cannot do
Two things the Android app does that iOS does not allow: the RockBLOCK 9704 over an HC-05 Bluetooth serial adapter (there is no Bluetooth Classic serial for apps), and running as a gateway with the screen off without limits. iOS keeps the app alive for Bluetooth events from the node and, when you allow it, for location updates; the Gateway card in Setup says which mode the phone is in.
What works, and what does not
The README carries the table, one row per capability, with the date each one was verified on a phone. At the moment every row reads "Not built yet".