// flagship · ios
MeshTrail app icon
// MeshTrail v1.0.2
$0.99 · iPhone & iPad · iOS 17+

Out there, on your own terms.

MeshTrail is an offline-first backcountry navigation, survival, and field-guide app for iPhone. Built around real topo, geology, and public-land maps, with native support for Meshtastic LoRa mesh radios so your group stays connected when cell service ends.

iOS 17+ · iPhone & iPad 9 layers · topo / geo / sat Offline · zero signal required Meshtastic · LoRa BLE
Download on App Store → See what's inside
Field tested MeshTrail topo map with mesh nodes
9
// map layers
2.0 GB
// bundled offline tiles
400+
// species in field guide
0
// signal required
// tap a feature

The whole app, at your fingertips.

Click any feature on the left to see it on the device.

// built for these people

Who's actually using it.

MeshTrail was built for the kind of trips where the bars run out and the cell tower is half a state away.

Hunters & anglers

Public-land overlays, solunar tables, streamflow gauges, state regulation links, GPS waypoints for blinds & honey holes.

BLMUSFSSolunar

Backcountry hikers

Offline topo + USGS quads, track recording with elevation profile, GPX export, AR horizon to name the peaks around you.

TopoGPXAR Horizon

Search & Rescue

Meshtastic mesh keeps the team connected when cell & VHF won't reach. Real-time GPS broadcast, encrypted PSK channels, last-known-position pings.

LoRaEncryptedReal-time

Field geologists

Macrostrat geology layer with rock units & ages, AI rock ID for samples, photo-tagged outcrops in the lifelist, GPS-stamped notes.

MacrostratRock IDLifelist

Surveyors & field crews

Public-land boundaries, accurate GPS tracking, photo waypoints, GPX export to drop straight into ArcGIS or QGIS.

GPS TrackBoundariesGPX

Preppers & off-gridders

Survival reference, fire-starting techniques, knots, edible plants, water sources, mesh radio coordination — all offline forever.

SurvivalMeshOffline
// what's inside

A real toolkit, not a thin GPS app.

Every feature was built because we wanted it ourselves on a trip. Then we shipped it.

01

Offline-first maps

Nine map sources bundled or downloadable on demand: USGS topo, OpenStreetMap, satellite, hillshade, BLM & USFS land, geology, and 3DEP elevation.

02

Meshtastic mesh

Pair any BLE Meshtastic radio and exchange text, GPS, and channel updates with your group across miles of off-grid terrain.

03

Field guide

Animals, plants, edibles, rocks, weather, knots, fire, scat & tracks — searchable, illustrated, and stored locally so it works in airplane mode.

04

AI species ID

Snap a photo of a plant, animal, track, or rock and get a best-guess identification on-device with confidence scores and field notes.

05

Track recording

Long-running GPS track recording with battery-friendly sampling, elevation profile, and GPX export. Idle timer disabled while moving so it never sleeps mid-hike.

06

Sky & horizon

Live star chart, planet finder, sun & moon positions, and an AR horizon overlay that names the peaks around you using a built-in DEM.

07

Hunt, fish & forage

Solunar prediction, gauge-linked whitewater run database, regulation links, and state-by-state season info for hunting and fishing planning.

08

Weather & biome

NWS forecasts, radar, lightning, sun/moon cycles, and a live biome readout based on your GPS — alpine, sage steppe, mixed conifer, riparian, and more.

// map sources

Nine layers of ground truth.

Mix and match offline. Stack hillshade under satellite. Drop geology over public-land boundaries. Built around the data agencies already publish — no paywalls, no proprietary tile servers.

USGS · TOPO

USGS Topo

Classic contour-line topographic quads from the US Geological Survey.

OSM · STREET

OpenStreetMap

Roads, trails, parks, and landmarks from the world's largest open map.

ESRI · SAT

Satellite

High-res aerial imagery for terrain and ground cover reference.

USGS · 3DEP

Hillshade

Relief shading derived from 3DEP elevation data — slope and aspect at a glance.

BLM · PUBLIC

BLM Land

Federal Bureau of Land Management boundaries — know where you can camp.

USFS · FOREST

National Forest

USFS administered land, including motor-vehicle use maps and ranger district lines.

MACROSTRAT · GEO

Geology

Bedrock geologic units, ages, and rock types from the Macrostrat project.

USGS · 3DEP

Elevation

Raw 1/3 arc-second elevation grid for horizon-line generation and slope analysis.

// when cell service ends

Built for the mesh radio generation.

MeshTrail pairs over Bluetooth to any Meshtastic-compatible LoRa radio. Once paired, every node in your group becomes a relay — your message hops across the network until it reaches its target.

See teammates on the map in real time. Send compressed text, GPS pings, and channel chat. Use the radio's GPS as a backup. All of it works in airplane mode with no cell coverage and no internet.

What is Meshtastic?
you
SARAH
DAN
JEN
MIKE
RELAY
RELAY
// from the field

The whole app, on one screen.

A sampling of what MeshTrail looks like in your hand.

Topo map with mesh nodes
Geology layer
Field guide
Mesh chat
Sky chart
Track recording
Hunt & fish planning
Weather & biome
Wildlife identification
Settings & offline maps
// how we stack up

MeshTrail vs the usual suspects.

The closest comparable apps. We're not the cheapest, but we're the only one that actually talks to a LoRa radio.

MeshTrail Gaia GPS onX Hunt AllTrails
Offline maps (multiple layers)9 sourcesPremiumYesPremium
USGS topo, hillshade, geologyBundledYesTopo only—
BLM / USFS public-land boundariesBundledYesYes—
Meshtastic LoRa mesh integrationNative BLE———
On-device AI species IDCore ML———
AR horizon / peak namingARKit———
Live star chart + planet finderBuilt-in———
Searchable wilderness field guide400+ entries———
USGS streamflow / whitewater dataLive———
Track recording + GPX exportFreePremiumYesPremium
No subscription required$0.99 once$40/yr$30+/yr$36/yr
Zero tracking / analytics / adsZeroSomeSomeLots

// feature comparison · third-party brands their respective owners

// architecture

Three tiers. Zero cloud dependency.

Built on the Apple platform stack with strict separation between presentation, data, and device-integration layers.

// presentation tier

SwiftUI views

10+ tab views, AR camera, AI camera, photo gallery, field guide reader, mesh chat UI.

// presentation tier

MapKit + custom overlays

MKMapView with transparent base, MKTileOverlay for raster sources, SwiftUI overlay for mesh nodes & tracks.

// presentation tier

ARKit + RealityKit

Camera passthrough with peak labels rendered from a built-in 3DEP elevation model.

// data tier

SwiftData

@Model entities for tracks, lifelist, media, mesh chat history, offline regions, user prefs.

// data tier

XYZ tile cache

Bundled raster tiles z4-z11 + on-demand downloads to FileManager. NSCache memory layer.

// data tier

Bundled assets

Field-guide images, audio, plant/animal data. 1.6 GB of code & assets. Zero network reads.

// device tier

Core Bluetooth

Meshtastic BLE protocol over CoreBluetooth. Direct protobuf encoding/decoding.

// device tier

Core Location + Motion

CLLocationManager (GPS), CMMotionManager (IMU), CMAltimeter (barometric), magnetometer-corrected heading.

// device tier

Core ML + Vision

On-device species classifiers for plants, animals, tracks, and rocks. Fully local inference.

// under the hood

The system that runs offline.

MeshTrail is an offline-first app from the ground up — no cloud requirement, no telemetry, no analytics. Here's what makes it work.

◐

Tile pipeline

Bundled XYZ raster tile cache (Web Mercator, z4–z11) with on-demand z12+ downloads via a custom MKTileOverlay. NSCache-backed tile memory layer with parent-tile fallback for instant pan/zoom.

◑

BLE mesh stack

Direct CoreBluetooth integration with the Meshtastic protobuf protocol. Encrypted PSK channels, GPS broadcast, text chat, and remote node configuration — all over a Bluetooth LE radio link to your LoRa hardware.

◒

Storage layer

SwiftData (Apple's new persistence framework) for offline regions, recorded tracks, lifelist entries, mesh chat history, and user media. Zero cloud sync — your data stays on device.

◓

On-device AI

Core ML and Vision frameworks for species identification — plant, animal, track, and rock classifiers all run locally with confidence scores. No round-trip to a server.

◔

AR + horizon

ARKit-powered overlay that names visible peaks using a built-in 3DEP elevation model. Star chart cross-references your GPS + magnetometer + a local celestial ephemeris.

◕

Sensor fusion

CLLocationManager for GPS, CMMotionManager for IMU, CMAltimeter for barometric elevation, plus magnetometer-corrected heading. Battery-aware sampling extends recording sessions past 12 hours.

// privacy & data

Your data stays yours.

MeshTrail makes zero network requests by default. No analytics, no telemetry, no third-party SDKs, no ad networks, no account required. The only outbound connections are the ones you explicitly trigger — downloading a map region, checking weather, or pulling a USGS streamflow gauge.

Tracks, photos, lifelist entries, and mesh chat history live exclusively on your device. The map data you download is yours to keep, even if you delete the app and reinstall it from an iOS backup.

// accounts required
0
// trackers
0
// ads
0
// subscriptions
0
// price
$0.99 once
// available now

Get MeshTrail

$0.99 on the App Store. iPhone & iPad. Lifetime updates. No subscription, no ads, no tracking.

Download on the App Store
Get MeshTrail · $0.99