Privacy
Privacy Policy
Wildcat Mesh is an iPhone app for your own Meshtastic and MeshCore LoRa radios, made by Seth Egger.
We do not collect any data. The app has no accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking, and it has no servers of ours to send anything to.
What stays on your iPhone
- Your chats, contacts, the radios in My Mesh, block list, gifts and settings are stored only in the app's storage on your iPhone. Deleting the app deletes them.
- Secrets you enter (repeater admin passwords, the Den access token, a remembered hunt channel) are kept in the iPhone Keychain.
- The Home Screen widget reads a small summary the app writes on the same iPhone.
- The camera is used only to scan QR codes for channels and fox hunts. Nothing it sees is saved or sent.
Your radios and the mesh
- The app talks to your radios over Bluetooth. Bluetooth stays active in the background only to keep your radios connected.
- Messages you send are transmitted by your radio over the LoRa mesh. Anyone on a channel can read what is sent on it, and the Public channel is readable by everyone nearby. Private channels are encrypted by the radio firmware with the channel's key. Radios that relay traffic to the internet (MQTT) may carry mesh messages further.
- If you choose to set your radio's position from the phone, your radio broadcasts that position on the mesh.
Location
Location is used on your iPhone for Fox Hunt, Daily Fox, Territory, Geo Gifts, coverage walks and, if you choose, setting your radio's position. It is never sent to us. A Geo Gift you leave carries its hint area (a circle near the spot, or the exact spot if you choose) in readable form, and when you open someone's gift, Wildcat sends an "opened" receipt over the mesh so its sender knows you reached the spot. Maps are shown with Apple Maps.
The optional Den
If you set up a Den (a base station you run yourself, for example on a Raspberry Pi), the app connects only to the address you enter, on your own network or VPN. Nothing goes to us.
Firmware check
Starting with version 1.1, when you tap Check for updates (Node settings → Firmware, or Menu → Firmware), the app downloads a public list of the latest Meshtastic and MeshCore firmware versions from this website. Nothing about you or your radios is sent, and your radio's version is compared on your iPhone. The app never does this on its own. As with any website, our host (GitHub Pages) may log the requesting IP address; we don't receive it.
Reports and sharing
- Report… opens an email draft addressed to the developer with the message you're reporting. Nothing is sent unless you send that email.
- Hunt invites and gift links leave the app only when you share them (for example with a QR code or the share sheet).
- Notifications are local to your iPhone. There is no push service.
Children
The app does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published at this address with a new date.
Contact
redthoroughbreds@gmail.com. If you email us, your address and message are used only to reply or to act on a report.