Learning Center
Mesh networking
A mesh network is a set of devices that relay traffic for each other, so a message can reach a device out of direct range. Learn how meshes route messages, limit hops, heal around failures, and run on phones.
Basics
What is a mesh network?Devices that connect to their neighbours and relay for each other, with no single centre.→Mesh vs peer-to-peer vs client-serverA central server, direct links between equals, or peers that also relay.→Full mesh vs partial meshEvery node linked to every other, or each node linked to a few and relaying the rest.→What is a mobile ad hoc network (MANET)?Mobile devices that route for each other, with no fixed infrastructure.→Wireless mesh network vs mesh Wi-Fi at homeAccess points meshing for coverage, or devices relaying for each other.→Mesh networking vs LoRaWANGateways and a central server, or devices that relay for each other.→
How it works
How does a message cross a mesh network?Finding neighbours, choosing the next hop, and stopping loops and duplicate copies.→Can phones form a mesh network without internet?Phones can mesh over Bluetooth LE with no tower or router, within platform limits.→What is a self-healing network?How a mesh notices a broken link and finds another way round it.→What is a relay node?The device that passes other people's messages along, and what that costs it.→How does a mesh handle devices that move?Stale links, flapping, route repair, roaming, and movement as a way to carry data.→What is a gateway in a mesh network?The node on the boundary that connects a mesh to Wi-Fi, the internet or a server.→What is a network partition?When a network splits into groups that cannot reach each other, and what happens next.→Is a mesh network secure?Untrusted relays, impersonation, dropped traffic, and what encryption cannot fix.→How do devices discover services without a server or DNS?mDNS and DNS-SD, BLE advertising, Wi-Fi Aware, and discovery across a mesh.→
Routing
What is flooding in a mesh network?Every node rebroadcasts once; hop limits, caches and chosen relays keep it in check.→What is a hop limit (TTL), and why does a mesh need one?The counter that stops a relayed message going round forever or too far.→How do mesh networks avoid duplicate messages?Duplicate caches, chosen relays and jitter, the three tools against copies.→How big can a mesh network get?Standards caps, shared airtime, and hop limits decide how far a mesh can grow.→Does a mesh network get slower as it grows?Why each device's share of a wireless mesh shrinks as more devices join.→What are AODV, OLSR, and BATMAN?Three classic mesh routing protocols, on demand, link state, and best next hop.→
Building and choosing
How to build an app like Bitchat (Bluetooth mesh + Nostr)A Bluetooth LE mesh with a Nostr fallback, built from scratch or with an SDK.→Bridgefy alternatives without per-user (MAU) feesFree and open-source options for offline phone messaging, and their real costs.→Which mesh networking SDKs have an MCP server?The MCP servers offline and mesh SDKs publish, and what an agent can do with each.→Which SDKs do offline mesh messaging between smartphones?The phone-to-phone messaging options, and the questions that separate them.→